Post and her colleagues found that opioid overdoses are skyrocketing in all parts of the U.S., from rural towns and cities, to the suburbs, to urban centers. Driving this terrifying increase is the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the addition of stimulants like methamphetamines and cocaine to the illicit opioid supply, as well as increasing abuse of an even more powerful opioid, carfentanil, which is used by veterinarians to anesthetize large animals like elephants and bears. Carfentanil is 50 to 100 times more potent than fentanyl — which means it is about 1,000 times more potent than morphine.

The resulting slurry of intoxicants is so powerful that it’s even diminishing the life-saving effects of overdose-reversing drugs like naloxone. Naloxone, commonly given as a nasal spray under the brand name Narcan, can reverse an opioid overdose in minutes by binding to opioid receptors found all over the body, kicking out any opioids that may have been plugged into those receptors that were essentially slowing the body’s functions to a complete standstill. Naloxone effectively gives the body a miraculous jump start from the brink of a numbing death.