Update:
On Tuesday, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office attributed two additional deaths to the powerful drug carfentanil, following the first, on Monday.
Carfentanil has been ID'd in 2 more recent deaths in City of Milwaukee. Milwaukee on track to log more than 400 drug deaths this year.
— Medical Examiner (@mkemedexamine) April 18, 2017
Original post from April 17:
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiners Office issued two alarming tweets on Monday. The first is that a person here died from using carfentanil - a substance that is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl. It is the first reported death attributed to carfentanil in Wisconsin.
MCMEO confirms first Wisconsin carfentanil death - carfentanil is 10000x more potent than morphine. #doseofrealityWI
— Medical Examiner (@mkemedexamine) April 17, 2017
The second message from the medical examiner is that deaths in the county from fentanyl appear on track to increase by more than 60 percent over 2016. Fentanyl is a potent, synthetic opioid used to treat pain.
Fentanyl deaths on track to increase by more than 60 percent from last year. #doseofrealityWI
— Medical Examiner (@mkemedexamine) April 17, 2017
Last year, in Milwaukee County, 294 people died due to opioid use including four children under the age of three.
Both warnings were released Monday, as the one-year anniversary approaches of performer Prince's death of a fentanyl overdose. His body was discovered in his home on April 21, 2016.
According to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, carfentanil not only poses a substantial risk to users, but also to first responders who may come into contact with the substance. They are trained, and urged, to follow strict safety protocols to avoid accidental exposure.