20 Facts Everyone Should Know About Fentanyl

Are you concerned about fentanyl use?

Would you like to learn more about this deadly drug?

All the suffering, stress, and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

As you may have heard, fentanyl, heroin, and nonprescribed opioid use are increasing, potentially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a Quest Diagnostics Health Trends Study, among individuals tested, the drug positivity rate rose 35% for nonprescribed fentanyl and 44% for heroin during the pandemic compared to the period before the pandemic. Nonprescribed opioids rose 10%.

Fentanyl use can often have tragic results.

Recently a mom shared this article in our Facebook group. The article is about a 17-year-old who was a “straight-A” student with what seemed like a limitless future. He was a standout athlete in soccer and track and a talented self-taught musician. The Whitney High School senior was set to graduate in June with honors and had his sights on Stanford or UCLA. On Dec. 27, during winter break, Zach’s dad found him slumped over his desk with his head resting in his arm. He wasn’t breathing, and CPR had no effect. What was first an inexplicable tragedy has since become a cautionary tale. Zach was a victim of fentanyl poisoning.”

Dr. Laura Berman is also mourning the loss of her teenage son.

She confirmed that her 16-year-old son Samuel Berman Chapman passed away from a drug overdose.

“My beautiful boy is gone. 16 years old. Sheltering at home. A drug dealer connected with him on Snapchat and gave him fentanyl-laced Xanax, and he overdosed in his room. They do this because it hooks people even more and is good for business, but it causes overdose, and the kids don’t know what they are taking. My heart is completely shattered, and I am not sure how to keep breathing. I post this now only so that not one more kid dies.”

These kinds of stories are hard to hear. It is tragic and senseless that we are losing so many of our young people to overdose.

What is Fentanyl?

Fentanyl is an opioid pain medication, sometimes called a narcotic.

A synthetic opioid pain reliever, the drug has been approved for treating severe pain. For example, a doctor with a patient with severe pain from a disease like cancer or after surgery may prescribe fentanyl. The patches are strong prescription pain medicine.

Yet, many recent cases of illegally made fentanyl have caused harm, overdose, and death in the United States. It is often mixed with heroin, cocaine, and other drugs. The user may or may not be aware of the drug they are taking.

Fentanyl’s effects include:

• extreme happiness
• drowsiness
• nausea
• confusion
• constipation
• sedation
• problems breathing
• unconsciousness

Fentanyl can slow or stop your breathing. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are the most common drugs involved in overdose deaths.

Prevention is crucial when it comes to drugs that are so powerful and deadly. Continued conversations with teens and other loved ones are critical.

Here are twenty facts everyone should know about this powerful drug:

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

1) According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “nearly half of opioid-related overdose death involve fentanyl. An analysis of opioid-related overdose deaths found that synthetic opioids, such as illicit fentanyl, have surpassed prescription opioids as the most common drug involved in overdose deaths in the U.S.

2) This drug is 50-100 times more potent than morphine. It can enter the brain especially quickly because of its high-fat solubility.

3)  Two milligrams can kill a person and emergency personnel who touch or breathe it may even be put in danger. Unfortunately, many people addicted to opioids and other drugs like cocaine are accidentally being poisoned by fentanyl-laced products.

4) Although fentanyl is a medicine prescribed for post-surgical pain and palliative care, most of the fentanyl responsible for this surge of deaths is made illicitly in China and imported to the U.S. via the mail or Mexican drug cartels. (Volkow)

5) Naloxone is a medicine that can treat a fentanyl overdose when given right away.

6) Like other opioid addictions, medication and therapy can help people with a fentanyl addiction.

PARTNERSHIP TO END ADDICTION

7) The DEA reported a 214% increase in meth seizures and a 59% increase in fentanyl seizures in 2020 compared with the previous year.

8) Fentanyl and similar compounds like carfentanil are powerful synthetic opioids. They are 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Fentanyl is available as a schedule II prescription drug under such names as Actiq®, Duragesic®, and Sublimaze®.

9) Cartels are also using mail services to send smaller and more frequent loads of fentanyl and other highly potent drugs to criminal networks in New York, NBC New York reports.

10) Slang words for Fentanyl are China Girl, China White, Murder 8, Tango and Cash, Pink.

11) The signs of fentanyl use are euphoria, drowsiness, confusion, sedation and respiratory depression, and arrest.

CENTER FOR ADDICTION

12) Created in 1960 — fentanyl is a synthetic chemical designed to help relieve pain for those in surgery. It’s so potent that a pure dose of a tiny amount can kill you. Unlike other opioids, it doesn’t require harvesting and refining the poppy plant. Instead, it can be created easily and inexpensively in a lab.

13) Fentanyl is one of the most powerful painkillers ever invented. It’s showing up laced in heroin and prescription anxiety medications like Xanax.

14) Being aware of the dangers of these drugs may deter many adolescents from trying them. Prevention can lower accidental death by overdose, the country’s leading youth killer. With fentanyl killing so many people, it’s now more important than ever to have an honest discussion about the dangers of misusing prescription drugs.

15) Teens may take fentanyl, believing it to be a prescription drug. These risks are potentially deadly and need to be communicated to your teen.

Related: 25 Facts You Should Know About the Growing Heroin Epidemic

CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL

16) Rates of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, including fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, increased over 16% from 2018 to 2019.

17) Overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids were nearly 12x higher in 2019 than in 2013.

18) More than 36,000 people died from overdoses involving synthetic opioids in 2019.

19) The latest provisional drug overdose death counts through May 2020 suggest an acceleration of overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.

20) Naloxone is a safe and effective antidote to opioid-related overdoses, including heroin and fentanyl. It is a critical tool in preventing fatal opioid overdoses. Depending on state and local laws, this medication can be administered by EMS, law enforcement, other drug users, or family and friend bystanders who have obtained the medication.

Fentanyl, as you can see, is dangerous. Be sure your teen or young adult understands the risks. Continued conversations about the dangers of drug use are always encouraged.

My hope is that in years to come, this problem of substance use that is resulting in a lost generation will be solved so that our sons and daughters can survive and live a healthy life.

What are your thoughts about fentanyl?