KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Johnson County, Missouri Sheriff’s Office is warning people of purple fentanyl. They say it’s Narcan resistant.
The sheriff’s office posted a safety alert about purple fentanyl on Facebook. They said about a month ago, detectives seized purple powder containing fentanyl, possibly mixed with lidocaine, originating from the Kansas City area.
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Capt. Shawn MaGee with the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department said it’s something they’ll keep an eye on.
“Here in Kansas City, due to our lab results that we’ve had, we have not seen one come back mixed with lidocaine,” he said.
MaGee said the purple color is likely a just branding technique.
“The color itself doesn’t mean it has lidocaine, it could be white, it could be all different colors,” he added.
Lidocaine is an anesthetic commonly used for pain management. The sheriff’s office said when added with fentanyl, lidocaine amplifies its side effects.
They say Narcan could reverse the side effects of the opioid, however lidocaine is not an opioid, thus Narcan will not reverse its side effects.
“We in Kansas City, Kansas, have not seen any Narcan resistant elements,” MaGee said. “Now they could be taking some kind of narcotic on top of what they’re taking or it’s mixed with cocaine, or if it was mixed with something else that could’ve made the Narcan not as effective, but it’s not 100% effective.”
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Kansas City police tell FOX4 they have seen carfentanil, a variant of fentanyl, that is being dyed purple.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, it’s 10,000 times more potent than morphine and a hundred times more potent than fentanyl.
KCPD’s Drug Enforcement Unit believes it’s illegally sourced from the western coast of the U.S. and have recovered some of this narcotic in Kansas City.
MaGee encourages people to only take what your doctor prescribes.
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“You’ve got to understand, you’re not getting this from a trusted doctor,” he said. “You’re getting this from somebody that’s just trying to make a profit and make money off of exploiting other people. So, they cut it with whatever they can and they don’t care about it.”
Again, authorities say this mixture of drugs could intensify the side effects, making it even more dangerous.
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