Middletown Offers Overdose Training Amidst Reports of Scary New Drug

MIDDLETOWN, NJ-- Middletown is offering free training on how to use Narcan, the drug used to reverse heroin overdoses, this Thursday

The training comes amidst national reports of a drug so deadly, experts say a snowflake sized amount can kill: carfentanil.

A synthetic opioid, carfentanil is 5,000 times more powerful than heroin. Its main use is as a tranquilizer for elephants, and can be absorbed through the skin, making accidental contact extremely dangerous.

The Middletown training will teach people at a high risk of encountering opiates like heroin or carfentanil how to use Narcan nasal spray to combat overdoses.

All participants will receive a free Narcan nasal spray kit, and a voucher for 30 days of free substance abuse treatment at a local treatment facility.

Heroin has been a major problem in Middletown in recent years. It was the town with the 16th highest level of heroin in New Jersey use last year, with 236 reported cases of heroin abuse.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration released a warning about carfentanil this week, urging police officers and those who might encounter the drug to learn the warning signs of accidental consumption.

"It is crazy dangerous. Synthetics such as fentanyl and carfentanil can kill you," DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg said in a statement, "I hope our first responders – and the public – will read and heed our health and safety warning. These men and women have remarkably difficult jobs and we need them to be well and healthy.”

An Atlantic County police officer was exposed to fentanyl, a drug less lethal than carfentanil but more deadly than heroin, saying, "I thought that was it. I thought I was dying. It felt like my body was shutting down."

The Middletown event will be held Thursday, Sept. 29 at 5:00 PM at the Tonya Keller Community Center (50 Bray Ave). It is limited to the first 25 participants, first come first served. For more information, call (732)-615-3250.

You can watch a DEAs video on fentanyl here.

Image via Governor Tom Wolf, flickr.