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Deadly - and legal - synthetic opioid shows up on the Cape

It's deadly and it's legal. A synthetic opioid known as Pink Death has been linked to hundreds of overdoses across the country - now it's on the Cape.

Lawmakers are now trying to ban this dangerous drug.

"It's affecting Cape Cod right now. This is a giant game of wack-a-mole. Every time. When we whacked down fentanyl, carfentanil popped up. When we tried to knock down carfentanil - and before we can even knock that down - this Pink Death has popped up.

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Pink Death - or Pink as it's known on the street - is a synthetic opioid four to eight times more potent than heroin.

"The officers are exposing themselves whenever they're dealing with this type of situation," said Mashpee Police Chief Scott Carline.

Carline says they were one of the first to carry narcan, but drug calls have gotten more and more unpredictable.

"It used to be you had one 30 milligram Percocet. And at least you knew what you were dealing with," said Carline.

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Mashpee police say overdose calls have doubled from 2016 to 2017, but overdose deaths are down to just one recorded in that time.

But Brewster State Rep. Tim Whelan says with Pink Death on the street, it's no time to celebrate.

Other states have already banned the drug and he's co-sponsoring a bill that would make all synthetic opioids illegal in Massachusetts.

"It's an unregulated synthetic opioid that's four to eight times more potent than heroin that can be carried on the street right now. That can be waved in the face of any police officer who would be powerless to act," said Whelan.

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While laws catch up to dealers, Whelan says the state should pass Governor Baker's plan to link state drug classifications to federal drug scheduling to eliminate the lag time.

"It allows us to protect the public from having these substances, these synthetic narcotics proliferate on the street without having the eight, 10-month delay that it takes for us," said Whelan.