LANSING - The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and Wayne County have confirmed 19 deaths linked to carfentanil overdoses since July.

Carfentanil is often mixed with heroin and some times sold in pill form. It puts people at risk of accidental overdoes and death because the drug is so potent.

The state police are beginning to closely monitor the presence of carfentanil in Michigan.

"I don't think it will come to Meridian Township in the magnitude that you see in large cities. But I think that it's bound to come this way. And I think that we have to be prepared for it," said David Hall, Meridian Township's Chief of Police.

Hall says that the drug has no use for humans and is usually used to put large animals down such as bulls or horses. He says the a grain of salt piece of the drug placed in heroin can make the drug 100 times more potent.


The Michigan Department of Health and Human services urges all hospitals, local health departments, emergency medical service agencies, and first responders to be alert for patients with suspected heroin overdose who do not respond to naloxone in the usual way.