PHOENIX — It is a drug that federal agents say is a hundred times stronger than fentanyl, it's easy to conceal, and it's being found right here in Arizona.
ABC15 went inside the Drug Enforcement Administration LARC lab in Phoenix as the agency issues a new warning about carfentanil.
Recently, agents have reported more seizures involving the drug.
"This is terribly dangerous, very scary, and it's right here in Arizona," explained Cheri Oz, the special agent in charge of the DEA's Phoenix Field Division.
It's barely a quarter-inch in size, small enough to carry dozens in your pocket, and designed to look like common painkillers.
"They're in your community, in your schools, they're in your neighborhood, and they are everywhere," said Oz.
The DEA says it's a drug so deadly that even a microscopic amount could kill someone.
Carfentanil happens to be in the same family as fentanyl, but with a major difference: it's 100 times more powerful.
"Which means if you try a pill for the first time, you take carfentanil, you wouldn't survive," explained Oz. "This is really forensics on the frontlines."
Oz says having this type of facility so readily available is a real game changer in their fight to keep dangerous drugs like carfentanil off the streets.
Oz showed us a recent seizure in the Valley of roughly 300,000 carfentanil pills.
"We are the first place drugs are coming when they come into the country, and we are able to identify trends and let the rest of the country know what is coming," she said.
They are trends Oz fears are going in the wrong direction.
According to recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, from January through June of 2023, 29 carfentanil overdose deaths were reported nationwide.
For that same time period in 2024, it skyrocketed to 238.
"I'm a mom and I always go back to my own family," explained Oz. "Or your family. The families of everyone here. We have children we have to protect... we know that every pill we seize saves lives."
The DEA says they have seen periods of increased carfentanil activity before, but in this instance, they are seizing a greater number of pills than powder. Also, there are concerns that the carfentanil pills being seized this time around are more potent and therefore even more dangerous.
For more information from the DEA on carfentanil, click here.
