Weapons-grade chemical carfentanil surges as dangerous substitute for fentanyl

Kelley Nalewaja stands by a memorial for her son, Michael Nalewaja, seen in the photo, 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) 2026-04-18T03:57:52Z 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. (