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Fentanyl 101: What everyone should know

Over the last decade, the conversation of the opioid epidemic has changed to include fentanyl. According to the CDC, the rate of fentanyl overdoses in 2020 was 18 times higher than in 2013. Fentanyl currently accounts for the vast majority of all opioid overdoses and almost 70% of all drug overdose deaths. Its impact on overdose deaths and prevalence in street drugs other than opioids (i.e., stimulants) has led many in the field to refer to fentanyl as the Fourth Wave of the Opioid Epidemic.

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Featured

 Fentanyl: One Pill Kills

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl, equal to 10 to15 grains of table salt, is considered a lethal dose. Illegally manufactured fentanyl is found in heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and in counterfeit pills. As a result, many people may not know they're ingesting fentanyl, leading to an accidental poisoning.

Articles of Interest

After Prince’s Tragic Overdose, Here’s What You Need to Know About Fentanyl

People who use fentanyl often don’t know they’re taking it. In general, fentanyl used to cut heroin is not being diverted from medical facilities but comes from clandestine labs often in other countries, synthesizing large quantities of cheap, pure fentanyl. Fentanyl has become an attractive cutting agent, since its increased sedative potency can be perceived as strengthening a batch of heroin.

Are people really falling ill from touching fentanyl? In most cases, scientists say no

The synthetic opioid, blamed for increasing numbers of overdose deaths across the U.S., is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. But experts consulted by STAT said many of the reported incidents appear to be false alarms that run counter to scientific fact and exaggerate the risks.

Doctors have been overprescribing fentanyl for years and the FDA hasn't been able to stop it

A new report shows up to half of potent fentanyl prescriptions were given inappropriately.

Fentanyl Is Stronger Than Any Opioid And It's Killing Casual Drug Users

Over a hundred times stronger than heroin, Fentanyl offers a high that's hard to come back from.

Fentanyl: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Unfortunately, the drug is also used illegally and it’s easier to produce than heroin, according to the Wall Street Journal. Drug dealers tend to prefer selling Fentanyl because the high doesn’t last as long as heroin’s. All of this has contributed to Fentanyl being a growing cause of overdose deaths.

Fentanyl: The Drug Deadlier Than Heroin

The underlying source of the fentanyl crisis in Canada traces back to 2012, when the notorious prescribed painkiller OxyContin was pulled from pharmacy shelves in lieu of a "safer" alternative, OxyNeo. This was the point in time when counterfeit fentanyl disguised as fake OxyContin pills arose, proliferated, and sparked a full-on crisis in the country—with Canada's west being a major epicentre.

Fentanyl: The king of all opiates, and a killer drug crisis

It’s stronger than heroin and more potent than OxyContin. It’s also cheap, ubiquitous, and incredibly deadly. Inside the rise of fentanyl.

Fentanyl’s New Foe: A Quick Test Strip That Can Prevent Overdoses

Heroin and cocaine users rely on the strip to see if their drugs have been contaminated with the synthetic opioid, but the practice has encountered opposition.

How fentanyl is making deadly drugs even deadlier

But it'll take more than a touch to overdose.

Sending Your Kid to College? Send Them With Fentanyl Testing Strips and Naloxone

Think of them as an essential harm-reduction tool, like condoms.

Street Fentanyl vs Emergency Department Fentanyl

Medications such as ketamine, propofol, and certainly fentanyl have been to blame for many tragic deaths over recent years, giving them infamous notoriety. The CDC, for example, reports as much as ⅔ of the 100,000 overdose deaths over a 12 month period ending a year ago are believed to be due to fentanyl. This has caused some in the general public to perceive these pharmaceuticals as very dangerous drugs of abuse without legitimate utility, similar to schedule I drugs like methamphetamine or heroin. Unlike methamphetamine and heroin, however, these agents are very commonly used class II and III medicines. They are used on a daily basis in every emergency department and operating room in the country. Chances are if you broke a bone, ruptured a vessel in your brain, or suffered a bad burn, you would be given fentanyl in the emergency department. If you needed further sedation, you would be given ketamine or propofol.

The Fentanyl Story

Fentanyl, a potent rapid-acting synthetic opioid first synthesized more than 50 years ago, has become the opioid most commonly used intravenously for intraoperative analgesia throughout the world. This has occurred because the drug has minimal cardiovascular effects, does not result in increases in plasma histamine, is relatively short acting, is easy and inexpensive to synthesize and prepare for the marketplace, and is now familiar to clinicians working in perioperative medicine all over the planet.

The Viral Story About the Cop Who Overdosed by Touching Fentanyl Is Nonsense

The terrifying tale has been reported as fact, but toxicologists doubt that it is medically possible.

Touching Fentanyl Is Not Dangerous. Will This Video Finally Prove That?

The rumors swirling that you can overdose just by touching the powder are untrue, and prevent people from getting the critical help they need.

Why Fentanyl Is So Much More Deadly Than Heroin

“Fentanyl is always mixed into something else. So you’re putting a lot of trust in your dealer. If you make a batch with just a little more, then you see overdose increases in spots in city.” So there are a lot of ways in which the use of fentanyl can go wrong.

You can’t overdose on fentanyl by touching it

The myth that you can, however, is genuinely dangerous.

Resources

Fentanyl High

“Fentanyl High is an important film. Made by students for students, it conveys important messages about the new drug landscape in terms young people can understand.” ED TERNAN, SONG FOR CHARLIE

Fentanyl Analogs

Fentanyl analogs are illicit—and often deadly—alterations of the medically prescribed drug fentanyl. The analogs have similar—but not the same—chemical structure, and they mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug.

CDC

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. It is a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the U.S. There are two types of fentanyl: pharmaceutical fentanyl and illegally made fentanyl. Both are considered synthetic opioids. Pharmaceutical fentanyl is prescribed by doctors to treat severe pain, especially after surgery and for advanced-stage cancer.