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Everything you need to know about the newest threat in the US overdose epidemic - elephant sedative

Erin BrodwinAug 3, 2016, 19:20 IST

Ampule of fentanyl in solutionErowid Center

Fentanyl, the opioid painkiller that killed Prince and is 50 times stronger than morphine, pales in comparison to a new drug called carfentanil.

Carfentanil is a drug so strong that it's used to sedate elephants. It's 100 times as potent as fentanyl, which makes it roughly 10,000 times stronger than morphine.

And now it's showing up on the street.

Last week, a 36-year-old Ohio man suspected of selling carfentanil as heroin was indicted in connection with a death on July 10, the Associated Press reported.

But carfentanil is just one part of the far bigger issue of painkiller use and abuse.

Read on to find out where the deadly drug is likely being made, what it looks like, and what it does: