New drug, 5,000 times potency of heroin, now claimed one life in La Crosse

A drug that’s 5,000 times more potent than heroin has moved into La Crosse.

Carfentanil, which has caused at least one death in the city, is leading Gundersen Health System in La Crosse to give training to first responders.

“If you accidentally got the amount of a single grain of salt on your skin in mucous membranes, you could overdose on it,” Dr. Chris Eberlein of Gundersen said.

Eberlein added that the normal antidote of Narcan isn’t affective and someone might need four or five doses to be revived.

“We knew it was eventually going to come to our community,” he said, adding it likely came from Milwaukee. “It’s probably been here since fall.

“Whatever they were giving before probably ran out here and was replaced with that.”