YORK COUNTY — A month after a crippling report came out showing Maine’s drug overdose deaths rose by 40 percent over the last year, the state’s — and the nation’s — opioid epidemic shows no sign of slowing down.
 
The number of drug overdose deaths rose from 272 in 2015 to 376 last year, according to Marcella Sorg’s expanded Maine Drug Death Report for 2016, contracted by the Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
 
Unsurprisingly, opioids, both pharmaceutical and illicit, counted for 84 percent of last year’s deaths — and of the 60 that occurred in York County, 55 involved opioids. Thirteen out of 15 deaths in Biddeford showed the same.
 
But concern over the impact of illicit (non-pharmaceutical) drugs is also on the rise, with news of an overdose death involving carfentanil — known as the “elephant tranquilizer” — in York County in April.
 
Tim Feeley, a spokesman for the AG’s office, said in an email to the Journal Tribune on May 10 that the medical examiner confirmed a death due to carfentanil in York County that occurred in April. However, no further details could be provided — including location and from where the drug was obtained — due to confidentiality provisions.
 
The drug, which Sanford Police Chief Tom Connolly in August called “scary beyond belief,” is a synthetic opioid similar to the popular dangerous street drug fentanyl, but 100 times stronger. It’s 10,000 times stronger than morphine and is commonly used to sedate and tranquilize elephants and other large animals for veterinary purposes.
 
It only requires about 2 milligrams of carfentanil to sedate an elephant. Police say an average dose of heroin is about 0.1 to 0.2 milligrams, and even that can be lethal.
 
In October, a 24-year-old man from York overdosed on the drug at his home in the beach area of town, requiring six doses of Narcan, an opiate antidote, to be revived.
 
York County Sheriff Bill King said Thursday he’s worried about the continually changing nature of the illegal drugs people can get their hands on. Often times, he said, drug cocktails evolve, either for transportation purposes or to strengthen the drugs’ effects. 
 
This is true of fentanyl, which is often added to batches of heroin to increase the strength of its high.
 
“These things change all the time. Am I concerned? Absolutely,” King said. “The drug thing, it’s a full-time job just to keep up with what’s going on.”
 
To add insult to overdose, police nationwide are warning residents about newer formulations of drugs that can be just as lethal — if not more — than the ones already making their way into Maine.
 
The Associated Press reported on May 11 that Indiana officials are warning the public about a dangerous drug cocktail known as Gray Death that’s begun making its way around that state. 
 
The drug, according to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, is a mixture of heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil and other synthetic opioids.
 
According to an NBC News report earlier this month, Gray Death often includes another powerful opioid analgesic, U-47700, that’s been known to cause overdoses. The agency reported that Gray Death, which comes in rock or powder form and looks like concrete, has been linked to four overdose deaths in the Gulf Region of the U.S.
 
Connolly said by phone Friday he’s not surprised to see yet another deadly mix of drugs make its way onto the market. He said the drugs, while illicit and deadly to use, are legal to manufacture because of their medical — and in the case of carfentanil, veterinary — purposes.
 
“You can open up a laboratory and manufacture it and some of it’s legal,” he said.
 
Connolly said it’s also common for traffickers to brand their drugs, at least in the case of heroin, with specific names as a form of trademark. He said “Gray Death” may be one of several names given to the potent mix.
 
“Somebody comes up with a cocktail of various opioids which is very powerful and gives people what they want … and you market it as ‘Gray Death,’” he said. ”That by itself speaks volumes when you talk about addiction being a disease and people not being able to stop using.”
 
Concern has also grown over a powerful fentanyl analog, acrylfentanyl, that is often sold online as a designer drug. The drug is more potent than its predecessor and it’s been shown to be resistant to Narcan.
 
“It’s just another form of fentanyl that was created in a lab that unfortunately people are taking advantage of,” Connolly said. “As a result you’re looking at just another brand name of an injectable opioid that’s taking over for the traditional heroin.”
 
King said Thursday he hadn’t heard of either drug, but said he’s continually worried about the new drugs that make their way into the illicit market. He said the ever-changing drugs put a strain on his staff.
 
“We’re pretty stretched-thin. We don’t do a lot of proactive work here: we answer calls, the detectives follow up,” he said. “With the minimal amount of staffing that we have we’re just trying to stay ahead of the curve.”
 
Connolly agreed keeping track of current drug trends is a struggle. He said it’s sad as a police enforcement officer to see drug traffickers take advantage of people who are addicted to drugs and feel they have to keep using.

“If you think of addiction as a disease, to an addict who is getting sick, who is going into withdrawal, there is no rational decision-making,” he said. “You have no idea these days what (drugs) you’re getting.

“It’s scary … It really is sad,” Connolly said.
 
— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or abennett@journaltribune.com. Associate Editor Dina Mendros contributed to this report.