Chicago’s Evolving Drug Scene: Overdose Deaths Drop, But New Dangers Arise – An In-Depth ABC7 I-Team Report

In a climate where the nation is slowly witnessing a decrease in overdose fatalities, new alarms are being sounded about dangerous drugs infiltrating the Chicago area, according to insights gathered by the ABC7 I-Team.

Authorities at the federal level, along with community outreach groups, are raising concerns about a potential new chapter in the opioid crisis. Substances deemed to be “even worse than fentanyl” are reportedly making their way into street drugs found in both Chicago and its suburbs.

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Despite fentanyl being labeled a weapon of mass destruction by former President Donald Trump, these new drugs pose an even more severe threat.

Carissa Felbar is intimately familiar with the tragic toll of the drug crisis.

“He was my best friend. And I lost him. And then I lost like six more people, and I just couldn’t do nothing anymore,” she shared.

Felbar is now on the other side of the drug crisis. Facing the loss of her brother Matt, her own substance use disorder and the realization that help exists, she enlisted as an outreach coordinator with Liv4Lali, an organization providing substance use harm reduction.

“You can make positive choices for yourself starting now and it can be testing and seeing what is in it,” she said.

Laura Fry, the executive director of Live4Lali, told the I-Team in metro Chicago they are seeing positive tests for heroin increasing while Xylazine, the powerful tranquilizer linked to gruesome wounds and death, is dropping off. But, the group is bracing for what’s to come.

“So the cartels, the people who make these drugs and distribute them will find something new that will catch someone’s addiction and fuel it,” she said

“We are seeing an increase in carfentanil and nidazines are showing up in pills,” said Tood Smith, the Special Agent in Charge for the DEA Chicago Field Division.

The I-Team went inside the heart of the Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago division’s lab where scientists are sorting, crushing and testing seized powders and pills, searching for the latest threat.

Among the tremendous amounts of synthetic drugs are pills disguised as Adderall, which can be an instant prescription for death.

Many illicit drugs are far from pure. They often contain a cocktail mixture that can include highly toxic, dangerous drugs.

“Over the course of the last two years we’ve seized over 100,000 carfentanil pills in the Chicago field division. Had those pills gotten to the user, it could have been devastating to the work that we’ve done to reduce overdoses,” Smith said.

The Chicago Department of Public Health has issued a warning about carfentanil showing up, and an I-Team data analysis found carfentanil and nitazene related deaths in Cook County have more than doubled in 2025 compared to 2024.

Authorities suspect a decline in fentanyl potency is creating pace for other illicit narcotics to be introduced.

Carfentanil is a fentanyl analog estimated to be 100 times stronger than fentanyl.

“Whether its nitazines or whether it’s carfentanils in very small amounts can really undo a lot of the work that’s we’ve done in short order,” Smith said.

Nitazenes are a class of synthetic opioids developed decades ago but never approved for human use due to extreme toxicity. They can be missed on routine toxicology screens, putting overdose patients in danger of being misdiagnosed or undertreated with the rescue drug naloxone.

The DEA lab also catching a change in the strength of Fentanyl.

“The purity levels from our DEA laboratory have dropped significantly. 29% of all counterfeit pills that were analyzed by our lab, 29% contain a lethal amount –that is down. Just a few years ago it was as hot as high as 70%,” explained Smith.

He told the I-Team the potency shift could be one of the contributing factors in recent headway in the opioid epidemic. U.S. drug overdose deaths dropped significantly through most of 2025, continuing a downward trend that began in 2023.

Newly released data from the CDC finds deaths plummeted 27% in 2024. An estimated 73,000 people died from overdoses in the 12-month-period that ended in August 2025. That is down about 21% from the 92,000 in the previous 12-month period.

But, those numbers also show that the decline is starting to slow.

“We were getting really hopeful here, because it was like, wow, we’re not seeing the opioid deaths. What a good thing, but now we have this, and so I’m hoping it’s not trending upwards again,” said Will County Coroner Laurie Summers.

However, she added it’s premature to celebrate. Summers says as opioid overdose deaths have gone down, new and more lethal drug combinations adulterating cocaine are becoming more common and are poisoning users.

“I am just worried, because it can all be invented. It’ll be something new, and Narcan is not going to fix everything, but it has helped,” Summers said.

No one knows for sure why deaths have gone down. Possible explanations include: Increased access to the over-dose drug naloxone, expanded drug treatment and outreach, and progress in dismantling Mexican drug cartels. Researchers now also pointing to a shift in the drug supply.

In a recently published paper in the journal Science, researchers say regulatory changes in China appear to be decreasing the availability of chemicals or precursors used to make fentanyl and other illicit drugs. But those who witness what is happening on the streets and in neighborhoods don’t want people to get comfortable with the progress.

There is growing fear the U.S. will dramatically backslide on progress made the past two years in overdose deaths.

“I’m very scared because I’ve seen it, we’re already losing momentum,” Fry said. “The supply is still out there; the demand is still out there. There are not less people using drugs.”

Carissa Felder has been stocking up the Live4Lali mobile outreach van, which travels into communities offering everything from testing strips to safe use supplies, naloxone and person care products. She says along with the supplies comes her passion for honest and open conversations about safety and the emerging risks in the illicit drug market.
“We have to reduce the stigma and shame around use and talking about it. It’s the only way things are going to get better if we have honest conversations. They have to be honest conversations,” Felder said.

Harm reduction specialists say they can’t stress enough that people should not give up on the lifesaving rescue drug Naloxone. While it may not work on everything, they say a reversal for a highly potent synthetic opioid could require more than one dose.

For any suspected overdoses, they also encourage anyone to call 911.