The opioid fentanyl is far stronger than heroin and 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. The drug is mainly used as a legal painkiller usually in cases of advanced cancer. In recent years, it has been increasingly found mixed with heroin and other opioid painkillers vastly increasing the risk of harm or death.
Fentanyl is easy and inexpensive to make and drug dealers are using it to spike other substances to create counterfeit versions of drugs. Fentanyl is being cut into cocaine, causing a rise in overdose deaths of users who have no idea they've ingested the painkiller, according to the New York City Department of Health (NYC DOH).
Dr. Samuel Gutman works with a group providing medical services at large events stated:
"It's cheap and available, and it's easy to synthesize."
In 2016, 44% of 1,300 overdose deaths in New York City involved fentanyl. 37% of total overdose deaths involved cocaine and fentanyl without heroin, skyrocketing from 11% the previous year.
"All New Yorkers who use drugs, even if only occasionally, should know their drugs may be mixed with fentanyl," health commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said in a statement.
Coroners and health officials in Cincinnati, Rhode Island, and Vancouver have also all issued warnings about the recent surge in fentanyl-laced cocaine. Non habitual opioid users are often more sensitive to a small amount of fentanyl. A few milligrams of fentanyl is enough to vastly increase the overdose risk for any user. Opioid painkillers can slow and stop breathing, why they carry a higher risk than similar drugs.
After the recent death of music legend Prince, investigators found pain pills which tested positive for fentanyl even though they were marked as hydrocodone (a less dangerous opioid) and acetaminophen (found in Tylenol).
New York's health department has launched a mobile app which directs users to programs and pharmacies where they can get naloxone, the antidote for an opioid overdose, without a prescription.
"The destruction wrought by substance use disorder in our state is horrific; it's reaching pandemic levels with overdose deaths outpacing traffic deaths," said assembly team member Linda B. Rosenthal in a statement. "Fentanyl-laced cocaine is the latest front in this battle, and increased public consciousness of this new and growing threat is imperative."
For more information on fentanyl and its addiction and health risks, click on the video below:
Hi! I am a robot. I just upvoted you! I found similar content that readers might be interested in:
http://www.businessinsider.com/fentanyl-cut-cocaine-causing-overdoses-2017-6
Enslavement..