COLUMBUS, Ohio (WOIO) - Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is urging caution Wednesday as new data shows an increase of drug seizures involving carfentanil and other deadly opioids.

Throughout 2025, Yost says forensic scientists at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation have identified carfentanil in 199 items submitted to the bureau’s laboratory for testing.

The attorney general’s office says carfentanil first peaked in Ohio in 2017 when BCI identified it in 1,119 drug samples.

Although there was a decrease of use in recent years, carfentanil was confirmed in nine samples in 2023 and 40 in 2024.

According to the Ohio attorney general, scientists uncovered 199 items containing carfentanil in 46 Ohio counties.

Central and Northwestern counties have the highest presence of the drug, acc

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