Fentanyl
Fentanyl is the most dangerous illicit drug in the world.
It is up to 100 times stronger than morphine and its effects are 50 times stronger than heroin.
What exactly is fentanyl?
Fentanyl is a synthetic ‘opioid receptor agonist’ drug similar to morphine and oxycodone, but significantly stronger.
It’s a serious drug used on patients in severe pain; it is usually injected into a vein or muscle, however, it also comes in lollipops, patches, sprays or pills.
It is prescribed for nerve damage, cancer pain, major trauma or back injuries, as well as after a severe surgery. It is most commonly prescribed when other pain medicines do not work well enough, or when a patient is physically tolerant to other opioids.
What are other names for fentanyl?
Some names for pharmaceutical fentanyl include Actiq, Fentora, Abstral, Subsys, Lazanda, Duragesic, and many other injectable formulations.
Why is fentanyl abused?
Fentanyl is abused for its intense euphoric effects; it is an intravenous anesthetic that rapidly crosses the blood-brain barrier and has little depressant effects on the heart. Due to its effects, it serves as a common, much more deadly, substitute or complement to heroin.
Oral and injectable fentanyl have been highly abused and misused. As fentanyl reports increase dramatically since the early 2000s, the number of opioid overdoses do as well.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
in 2020, more than 56,000 deaths involving synthetic opioids (other than
methadone) occurred in the United States, which is more deaths than
from any other drug class. ”
Shown is the amount of fentanyl capable of being a lethal dosage
What is the problem with illicit fentanyl?
Producing illicit fentanyl is not a ‘science’ as people may think. Most addicts are completely unaware of how dangerous fentanyl really is…only two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal.
Illicit fentanyl is usually manufactured in South America and smuggled across the border to be distributed and sold. Doses of fentanyl are mixed into other drugs such as heroin, meth, and cocaine, making the chance of death much higher as well as the chance of severe, irreversible addiction.
It is very likely for someone to take a pill without knowing it contains fentanyl.
Half of illicit fentanyl pills contain a lethal dose. Drug trafficking organizations typically distribute fentanyl by the kilogram. One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people.
Links: NIH, ADF, DEA, DEA Facts, Rehab Spot