WORCESTER, Mass. — A potent new sedative has made its way into the street-level supply of fentanyl and other drugs in central Massachusetts, triggering an unexpected spike in opioid overdoses in Worcester, health officials are warning.
Recent blood tests involving patients at UMass Memorial Health have shown the presence of medetomidine, a veterinary anesthetic drug not seen before in overdose cases in Massachusetts, according to a spokesperson for the healthcare system.
The spokesperson described medetomidine as “more toxic, more dangerous, and more difficult to treat,” while also noting that it has already caused a high number of overdoses in other states and Canada.
“We have a poisoned drug supply,” said Dr. Melinde Castiel, Worcester’s Commissioner of Health and Human Services. “We continue to have overdoses, we continue to have overdose mortality.”
Medetomidine, an undetectable fentanyl adulterant that extends the sedating and analgesic effects of opioids, slows the human heart rate …