BOSTON – A bipartisan effort is underway in the House to add the synthetic opioid carfentanil to the state’s list of controlled substances.
State Representatives Tim Whelan, a Brewster republican, and Paul Tucker, a Salem democrat, filed legislation to make carfentanil and Class A drug.
The drug is 50-100 times more potent than fentanyl, which was present in three-quarters of the 2,069 overdose deaths in Massachusetts in 2016.
“This carfentanil is something straight out of a nightmare,” Whelan said. “In some mixtures it’s up to 50,000 times – 50,000 times more potent than morphine.”
Overdose deaths related to carfentanil have already been reported in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine.
“Twenty micrograms of this product is considered to be enough to cause a human being to overdose – 20 micrograms,” Whelan said.
The bill would also carry trafficking charges for possession of 5 grams or more.
“It’s considered a derivative of Fentanyl and therefore Fentanyl trafficking legislation does cover it, but it covers it at 10 grams,” Whelan said. “We are cutting that number down. We are cutting it in half.”
The trafficking charges can carry up to 20 years in prison.
“This drug is mixed with inert ingredients. It’s cut in less than precise pharmaceutical conditions,” Whalen said. “It’s usually cut by cartel members. We have no idea how much is being put into a single dose for people to consume.”
Whelan working with Tucker on legislation for controlled substances is nothing new. The pair co-sponsored a bill in 2015 to add Fentanyl to the list of Class B drugs subject to prosecution under the state’s narcotics trafficking laws.
“That started the ball rolling and we eventually within a few months got a bill that was passed to deal with Fentanyl trafficking,” Whelan said.
Whelan has high hopes that legislators will recognize the public health and public safety crisis that is just around the corner.
“Like we did with Fentanyl, we’re going to be proactive and jump on this to live up to what is our most important charge, which is to keep the public safe and do everything in our power to ensure their safety,” Whelan said. “So we need to regulate this and we need to regulate this now.”
House Docket 3970 would also add acetyl fentanyl, furanyl fentanyl and butryl fentanyl to the list of Class A controlled substances, which includes heroin.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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