Desirable: 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, and people are seeking it out
Profitable: cheaper and easier to obtain than other opioids
Deadly: especially when unanticipated presence in other drugs
Prescription diversion, counterfeit pills
Combined with other opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana – you get the idea
The numbers are growing exponentially
4 out of 10 pills contain enough fentanyl to be lethal (2mg – a small mosquito)
77% of teen overdoses involve fentanyl
Fentanyl deaths increased by a factor of 2.7 (almost tripled!) in just one year
Naloxone. Administered to reverse an overdose, with multiple doses often required.
One recent study indicated a 79.8% positive test rate for the drugs tested, so we know Fentanyl is extremely prevalent. Almost half of the individuals either disposed of the drug or reduced its dose based upon the positive result. The remaining half did nothing. Where people are seeking out Fentanyl, they remain undeterred by tools like fentanyl testing strips. Here are the responses from that study: Source: https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12954-018-0252-8
Source: https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12954-018-0252-8