On the heels of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s warning to the public and law enforcement officers nationwide about the health and safety risks of carfentanil, the powerful opioid often added to heroin has been discovered in central Kentucky.

Carfentanil — a synthetic opioid that is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl, which itself is 50 times more potent than heroin — has been found in Madison County, Kentucky, according to local law enforcement.

“It’s been here for a little while,” said Madison County Drug Task Force Commander Bob Mott. “I’m wondering if we haven’t had it for longer than we think.”

The drug, an analogue of fentanyl sourced possibly from China by way of South America or Mexico, can be lab-manufactured at a low cost and cut into heroin, which only makes the drug stronger and more addictive, according to a Time magazine article published last month. It is most commonly used to tranquilize elephants and large animals and can be lethal in the 2-miligram range, according to the DEA warning.

Recent years have brought an influx of drug trafficking instances and drug overdoses linked to fentanyl nationwide, but the presence of the even stronger carfentanil offers much more cause for concern as national media outlets report overdose spikes directly linked to the drug in the Midwest and Ohio.

Mott said local officials have warned officers to take precautions. If a substance looks like heroin, officers now send it for laboratory testing instead of conducting a field test, he added.

The DEA warns that improper handling of carfentanil can have deadly consequences.

“Carfentanil is surfacing in more and more communities,” said DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg. “We see it on the streets, often disguised as heroin. It is crazy dangerous. Synthetics such as fentanyl and carfentanil can kill you.”

So why is the drug making a noted appearance now? According to Time, the drug steeps the addiction linked to the country’s pervasive prescription painkillers. With “pill mills” and the like out of service, addicts have since turned to more powerful and addictive fentanyl-linked synthetic opioids for the same high.

In Madison County, Mott said the task force has had several cases where it didn’t know carfentanil was present at time of arrests, but lab testing indicated it was. He said officers have heeded the warnings and taken proper precautions.

County coroner Jimmy Cornelison said there have been no confirmed overdoses linked to carfentanil; however, there may be cases pending in which the drug shows up.

Greene is the editor of The Richmond, Kentucky Register.