Weapons-grade chemical carfentanil surges as dangerous substitute for
fentanyl
[April 18, 2026]
By HALLIE GOLDEN and JIM MUSTIAN
Nearly two decades after drug addiction sent him to rehab as a teenager,
36-year-old Michael Nalewaja had settled into a quiet life in Alaska
where he worked as an electrician.
That all came crashing down days before Thanksgiving 2025, when he and a
mutual friend unknowingly took a lethal cocktail of fentanyl and
carfentanil they may have mistaken for cocaine.
“I heard the word ‘autopsy’ and I literally just collapsed to the
floor,” his mother, Kelley Nalewaja said, recalling the call she
received from his wife. “Even if somebody had been there prepared with
Narcan — even if somebody had called 911 in time — he was not going to
survive.”
Carfentanil, a weapons-grade chemical that authorities say is 10,000
times more potent than morphine and 100 times stronger than fentanyl,
has seen a drastic resurgence across the U.S., killing hundreds of
unsuspecting drug users.
The rise coincides with a recent crackdown by the Chinese government on
the sale of precursors used to make fentanyl. Those regulations are
likely prompting traffickers in Mexico to use carfentanil to boost the
potency of a weakened version of fentanyl, according to U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration intelligence bulletins reviewed by The
Associated Press.
The surge of a drug so deadly that less than a poppy seed-sized amount
can kill a person comes as fentanyl seizures and overall drug overdose
deaths continue a multiyear decline.
“You’re talking about not even a grain of salt that could be potentially
lethal,” said Frank Tarentino, the DEA's chief of operations for its
northeast region, which stretches from Maine to Virginia. “This presents
an extremely frightening proposition for substance abuse dependent
people who seek opioids on the street today.”
Carfentanil surge
A decade ago, carfentanil exploded into the North American drug supply,
causing hundreds of unsuspecting drug users to overdose, only to see a
major dip after China banned it, closing a key regulatory loophole in
the U.S.
But the situation has shifted dramatically in recent years.
In 2025, DEA labs identified carfentanil 1,400 times in U.S. drug
seizures, compared with 145 in 2023 and only 54 in 2022, according to
DEA records viewed by AP.
Traffickers in Mexico may be experimenting with producing carfentanil
themselves, authorities say, while others could be procuring it from
China-based vendors skirting the country's regulations by spamming
online forums in other countries with ads for the drug.
Complicating matters for the cartels are the extreme dangers associated
with manufacturing carfentanil, Tarentino said.
“You can't just dabble in this,” he said. “This is not some mad
scientist on Reddit you’re going to get to go out to a rudimentary
laboratory in Mexico to make carfentanil.”
Dip in overdose deaths and fentanyl seizures
U.S. overdose deaths have fallen for more than two years — the longest
drop in decades. Experts point to several possible explanations,
including the overdose-reversing drug naloxone being more widely
available and the expansion of addiction treatment. Some have also tied
it to the regulatory changes the U.S. has pressed for in China.
Experts say that even multiple high doses of naloxone might not be
enough to reverse an overdose when carfentanil is involved.
Fentanyl seizures, along with several other illicit drugs, have also
dipped. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that fentanyl
seizures plunged to about 12,000 pounds (5,443 kilograms) in 2025 — less
than half the amount seized in 2023.
But even as fentanyl numbers fall, it remains a major focus of the DEA.
Just recently, the agency's proposed budget included a $362 million
increase centered on cartel-driven fentanyl trafficking.
“Anyone who takes a pill that is not prescribed to them by their doctor
is playing a game of Russian roulette with their life,” said Sara
Carter, President Donald Trump's drug czar. “But if those terrorists
think they can continue this chemical warfare without consequences, they
are wrong.”
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Kelley Nalewaja sits at the memorial for her son, Michael Nalewaja,
who died after unknowingly taking a lethal cocktail of fentanyl and
carfentanil in November 2025, at her home in El Dorado Hills,
Calif., Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
 Researched as a chemical weapon
While the prevalence of carfentanil still pales in comparison to
fentanyl, experts are nevertheless alarmed by the increase of a
substance researched for years as a chemical weapon and deployed by
Russian forces on Chechen separatists in 2002.
The DEA's annual quota for lawfully manufactured carfentanil —
veterinarians use it to tranquilize elephants and other large
animals — is just 20 grams, an amount that can fit in the palm of
your hand.
“It’s like a biological weapon,” said Michael King Jr., founder of
the Opioid Awareness Foundation. “If the world thinks we had a
problem with fentanyl, that’s minute compared to what we’re going to
be dealing with with carfentanil.”
In 2024, overdose deaths involving carfentanil nearly tripled
compared to the previous year, with 413 deaths across 42 states and
Washington, D.C., according to the most recent data available by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Carfentanil definitely has that potential of spreading throughout
the United States unless law enforcement really focuses in on
carfentanil and they develop intelligence as to how these drug
addicts are getting it,” said Mike Vigil, a former chief of
international operations at the DEA.
In recent months, the DEA has documented several large seizures of
carfentanil. In October, the DEA Los Angeles Field Division found
628,000 pills containing carfentanil, while in September, officials
seized more than 50,000 counterfeit M30 pills from a person at a gas
station in Washington state that turned out to be a mixture of
carfentanil and acetaminophen.
‘All about money’
In some cases, frequent drug users have become tolerant to fentanyl
and are seeking out carfentanil, despite the danger, because of the
sudden euphoria it promises, explained Rob Tanguay, senior medical
lead for addiction services with Recovery Alberta, a health agency
in Canada. It appeals to the drug market, he said, because so little
of it goes such a long way toward supply.
“The toughest part about all of this,” he said, “is that this is all
about money.”
After Michael Nalewaja's death, his mother decided against a large
funeral.
Instead, she organized a town hall in her hometown of El Dorado
Hills, California, bringing together local officials along with
mothers who had gone through something similar.
As she grieves her son, an adept salesman full of charisma who had
recently gotten a national award by the electrical union, she's
pushing for major legislative and judicial changes so others don't
go through what she did because of a drug she said was never meant
for humans.
“It’s not an OD; it’s not an overdose,” she said. “It’s a murder
weapon.”
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Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed.
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