CLEVELAND, Ohio — Authorities are seeing an uptick in seizures of a powerful fentanyl derivative in Ohio.

Since the beginning of 2025, analysts with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation have discovered carfentanil in 199 items submitted to the state’s laboratory for testing, according to the attorney general’s office.

For comparison, last year, BCI scientists identified 40 samples of the drug, which is 100 times more potent than fentanyl. In 2023, the bureau identified only nine samples.

The drug, a tranquilizer for large animals, is so powerful that just 2 milligrams of it can kill a person. In 2019, 220 people died of accidental overdoses stemming from the synthetic opioid in Cuyahoga County, records show.

The numbers have dipped since then, with just one death in 2022 and none

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