Another carfentanil fatal outbreak in Florida?

Background: In 2016 and 2017, carfentanil was implicated in the deadliest fatal outbreak involving a fentanyl analog in the United States with 1190 deaths in Florida alone. Recent surveillance signals suggest that Florida is experiencing a resurgence in carfentanil-involved deaths. The purpose of this paper is to examine carfentanil-involved overdoses using up-to-date medical examiners reports triangulated with carfentanil-related indicators at multiple levels.

The Opioid Epidemic: Moving Toward an Integrated, Holistic Analytical Response.

In many jurisdictions, public safety and public health entities are working together to enhance the timeliness and accuracy of the analytical characterization and toxicology testing of novel synthetic opioids. The improved sharing and early detection of these analytical data are intended to inform surveillance, interdiction efforts, patient intervention and treatment, all of which are critical to curbing the opioid epidemic. Forensic practitioners working to identify novel synthetic opioids struggle to provide timely results when encountering new or unknown substances, such as the fentanyl analogs.