Staten Island officials warn about new fears in drug crisis, including elephant sedative

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Experts on Staten Island and nationwide are warning that drug traffickers are mixing potentially lethal fentanyl with veterinary sedatives — including one powerful enough to immobilize elephants.

Illicit fentanyl, an opioid that, by itself, is 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin, remains a factor in the majority of accidental drug overdoses on Staten Island, in New York City and throughout the United States. The synthetic opioid is potentially deadly at a mere 2 milligrams, an amount that fits on the head of a pencil.

Officials are warning about the growing use of veterinary drugs, often combined with fentanyl and other opioids.

Such combinations increase the chances of death and disability for users who range from children buying fake prescription pills on the dark web to adults with substance use disorders scoring drugs on the streets.

The threat of veterinary drugs was one trend discussed at a meeting last week of the Staten Island Fentanyl and Overdose Task Force in the office of District Attorney Michael E. McMahon in St. George.

Fentanyl is also being mixed with industrial chemicals in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, according to information presented at the meeting.

Members of the task force previously alerted the public to the dangers of xylazine, a medication intended for use in animals such as horses. Often referred to as “tranq,” xylazine can cause an array of symptoms ranging from life-threatening to deadly.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says that ever more potent veterinary drugs are seeping into the illicit drug pipeline nationwide.

Elephant sedative 100 times stronger than fentanyl

One such drug is carfentanil, a fentanyl analogue originally intended to sedate pachyderms such as elephants. Carfentanil, which is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, is not approved for human use and is on the federal list of controlled substances, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“Because of its strength, a nearly microscopic amount of carfentanil can induce a powerful, and often deadly, effect in humans,” according to an alert in May from the DEA.

Carfentanil often is pressed with fentanyl into fake prescription pills, the Drug Enforcement Administration warned.

The city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued on alert last year that carfentanil was identified in multiple samples sold as opioids in New York City.

On Staten Island, twin brothers Richard and Ryan Gonzalez were sent to prison after authorities said they recovered carfentanil, fentanyl and heroin during undercover drug buys and a raid of their home in Great Kills.

Other drugs, medetomidine and dexmedetomidine, have been detected in the illicit drug supply in the United States since 2021, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Medetomidine is a veterinary sedative and is not approved for use in humans, while dexmedetomidine tranquilizes animals and also people in settings such as intensive care units.

Medetomidine and bromazolam have been found in samples of drugs that usually include opioids in New York City. Bromazolam is a benzodiazepine, or nervous system depressant, that is not approved for human use in the United States, according to an alert issued in July by the city Health Department.

While the fentanyl antidote naloxone can reverse carfentanil, it doesn’t work against xylazine, medetomidine, dexmedetomidine and bromazolam.

Sedative ‘rears its ugly head’

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Gamberg, deputy chief of the Narcotics Investigations Bureau, cited information about the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states based on drug testing by the Center for Forensic Science Research & Education.

The prevalence of xylazine in fatal overdoses has decreased in our borough and regionally, Gamberg said.

Although medetomidine has not yet been confirmed to have caused any fatal overdoses on Staten Island, Gamberg warned that it “has reared its ugly head” and is on the rise regionally.

Last year in the Bronx, authorities discovered medetomidine for the first time in the illicit drug supply in New York City. Through February of this year, the sedative was found in over 50 drug samples that also contained opioids citywide, according to an alert from the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Regionally, local anesthetics are sometimes being mixed with fentanyl, Gamberg said, noting that these drugs usually end with the suffix “-caine.” Just last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration seized fentanyl mixed with lidocaine in Omaha, Nebraska.

The center’s testing also indicated that industrial chemicals designed as stabilizers for plastics, coatings and sealants are “contaminating the drug supply” nationally, Gamberg said.

The industrial chemicals typically are added to fentanyl, according to the center.

“This rapid, widespread distribution is highly unusual because adulterants typically emerge in isolated clusters and spread gradually,” Gamberg said. “However, these were detected across the country almost simultaneously, suggesting a centralized source for systemic contamination of the national drug supply.”