Fentanyl – The Deadlier Version of Heroin

Fentanyl is one of the world’s deadliest and most powerful drugs. Originally prescribed to treat cancer-related pain, Fentanyl is more popular today on the black market than it’s ever been before.

What is Fentanyl?

Fentanyl is a drug that can be up to 100 times more potent than morphine. The drug was originally prescribed by doctors for cancer treatment. Today, the drug is being manufactured illegally and sold on the streets, where it delivers a powerful high.

Unfortunately, the drug hasn’t just been delivering a powerful high: it’s also been responsible for deaths all over the world.

Fentanyl has been in the headlines a lot lately. But it’s not a new drug: it’s been around since the 1960s, where its extreme potency was said to work “miracles”, soothing extreme pain in cancer patients who would typically be prescribed patches or lozenges.

Today, illegal versions of the drug are entering communities all across America. The Fentanyl problem in America has become so serious that the DEA and CDC claim we have another national crisis on our hands.

The drug was first spotted in deadly doses on the streets in 2007. The DEA later traced that outbreak to a single Mexican lab, which they shut down. Fentanyl was mostly under-the-radar until 2014, when deaths spiked across America.

How Does Fentanyl Work (Legally)?

Fentanyl is a schedule II prescription drug in America. It’s sold legally under the brand names Actiq, Duragesic, and Sublimaze.

It has powerful analgesic properties similar to morphine. Just like morphine and other opioid drugs, Fentanyl works by binding to your body’s opiate receptors.

Your opiate receptors are highly-concentrated in the parts of your brain that control emotions and pain. After binding to these receptors, opioids work again by raising dopamine levels in your brain’s reward areas, putting you into a state of euphoria and relaxation.

Doctors will prescribe fentanyl via injection, lozenge, or transdermal patch.

How Does Fentanyl Work (Illegally)?

Fentanyl is illegally manufactured across America, which is why its potency varies so widely. Typically, the drug is reported at being 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin.

You only need a small amount of Fentanyl to have a lethal effect on your body. In fact, when law enforcement officials enter a residence where Fentanyl is being made, they have to wear level A Hazmat suits (the strongest type of Hazmat suits) because even a small amount of powder – like the amount floating around in the air – can be enough to kill.

Level A Hazmat suits, by the way, are the same types of suits worn by healthcare workers to avoid contamination by the Ebola virus.

Even an amount the size of a few grains of sand of Fentanyl can kill you. You don’t even have to ingest it in any way – it can be absorbed through the skin or enter your body through the eyes.

People Don’t Always Know They’re Taking Fentanyl

One reason why Fentanyl is responsible for so many deaths is that people don’t always know they’re taking Fentanyl. Many of those who have died or become incapacitated through Fentanyl have taken a pill thinking it’s another popular opioid-based painkiller.

CNN reports that one young man died because he thought the pill of Fentanyl was Norco, a less powerful type of painkiller that’s a mix between hydrocodone and acetaminophen. That man was one of 10 people who died in just 12 days from fentanyl-laced pills in Sacramento County, California. Meanwhile, more than 50 people overdosed on Fentanyl pills in January, February, and March in Sacramento County and survived.

In San Francisco, one major outbreak was traced back to Fentanyl being sold as Xanax. In one month in that city, 75 people overdosed on Fentanyl.

Death numbers are skyrocketing across America. Ohio reported 514 Fentanyl-related deaths in 2014, which was 93 more than the year before. In Maryland, there were 185 deaths, up from 58 the previous year. Florida’s death toll jumped up to 397 in 2014 from 185 in 2013.

In New Hampshire, there were 5 times more Fentanyl-related deaths last year than there were heroin-related deaths.

Fentanyl is One of the Most Profitable Drugs in America

As long as there is a demand for Fentanyl, drug dealers will continue selling it regardless of the consequences and deaths.

Fentanyl is more profitable today than ever before. Americans are “buying it in record numbers”, according to CNN. Drug cartels across America are responding by offering it across the country.

The drug is one of the most profitable opioids sold today. It goes by the street name of China White or China Girl. That name comes from the fact that the Mexican drug cartels source most of their Fentanyl from labs in China.

Other street names for Fentanyl include Apache, Dance Fever, Friend, Goodfella, Jackpot, Murder 8, TNT, or Tango and Cash.

In terms of profitability, Fentanyl blasts away its competition. Hydrocodone, for comparison, costs about $30 a pill on the street. Fentanyl looks similar to Hydrocodone, but offers effects many times more powerful – so you don’t need much of it to achieve its effects.

The DEA believes that Mexican drug cartels are buying Fentanyl powder for about $3,300 per kg and selling that same amount on the streets for nearly $1 million – 300 times what they paid.

You Can Order Fentanyl Online Today

Sourcing drugs from China may not be as hard as you think: the DEA reports that many Mexican drug cartels are using the notorious dark web to order Fentanyl from China, after which it shows up in the buyer’s mailbox ready to be sold.

In other cases, Mexican drug cartels work the drug into America through the usual network of underground tunnels, vehicles, drones, and other methods.

Then, these cartels will often mix Fentanyl with morphine or other opioids, making a deadly drug even deadlier.

How to Treat Fentanyl Overdose

There’s one treatment available for Fentanyl overdose. It’s the same treatment given for any opioid painkiller overdose: Narcan, which is the brand name for naloxone.

Naloxone blocks or reverses the effects of opioid-based drugs and is meant to be used in emergency situations – like an overdose.

You can administer naloxone via a needle or as a nasal spray. Health authorities across America are now focusing on making naloxone available in some of the communities hardest hit by Fentanyl outbreaks.

Ultimately, the war against Fentanyl is just beginning. Health officials across the nation are now focused on educating people across the nation on the dangers of the ultra-deadly version of heroin and morphine.