The drug carfentanyl, a highly dangerous opioid, i.e. painkiller, which is used in veterinary medicine to anesthetize elephants and rhinos, was seized for the first time in Munich. It is not used in the medical treatment of humans: the pain-relieving effect is 7,500 times stronger than morphine. An overdose could easily lead to respiratory paralysis and be fatal, the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (BLKA) warned on Monday.
Police officers from the Bogenhausen inspection had already come across the drug in December when they checked a 54-year-old man from Middle Franconia in Herzogpark. The drug that the man, who was known for such crimes, was carrying was “apparently heroin,” as the BLKA announced. Only after a more detailed examination in the laboratory was it discovered that the substance found contained carfentanyl.
There have been numerous deaths worldwide due to the consumption of carfentanyl; in Europe, several dozen have already been reported in several countries, but none in Germany. In this country, the police first registered carfentanyl in the drug scene in 2016.