acetylfentanyl

Acetylfentanyl (spelled by LA County’s Department of Medical Examiner as two words — acetyl fentanyl) is a potent synthetic opioid analgesic that is an analog of fentanyl.

Confirmatory analysis like GC/MS is required to detect acetylfentanyl because immunoassays for fentanyl do not differentiate between the two.

Both fentanyl and acetylfentanyl are highly potent opioids. Fentanyl is 50-100 times more potent than morphine, while acetylfentanyl is 5-15 times more potent than heroin, which is significantly weaker than fentanyl.

Fentanyl is a Schedule II drug in the U.S., while acetylfentanyl is a Schedule I drug due to its high potential for abuse and lack of medical use.

Both drugs can cause adverse effects such as nausea, itching, dizziness, altered mental status, and respiratory depression, which can progress to severe toxicity and even death.

Fentanyl has some medical use, particularly in anesthesia and pain management, whereas acetylfentanyl has never been licensed for medical use and is only found on the illicit drug market.