Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid drug made in a lab specifically for effects like pain relief.
This opioid drug is 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin. This drug can be snorted, sniffed, smoked, swallowed through a pill or tablet, and absorbed from blot paper. While it can be sold alone, it isn’t uncommon for it to be sold along with other drugs like heroin. It can also be identified in fake pills.
Fentanyl abuse is extremely common. Over 150 people die a day from Fentanyl because of how easy it is to overdose on.
“At least 1,800 teens died between July 2019 and December 2021 from taking fentanyl, a 182 percent increase compared to the previous period,” says data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fentanyl can cause unconsciousness, changes in pupil size, clammy skin, respiratory failure, coma, and pinpoint pupils. It only takes two milligrams to cause an overdose.
This is a problem because not only is Fentanyl is causing rapid deaths from people buying it flat out, it’s being put into other drugs without the user’s knowledge. People take what they believe is the safe amount of their prescription and end up accidentally overdosing.
Since Fentanyl is present in things that doctors prescribe and people consider safe, it’s no surprise that there’s been an uptick in fatal mistakes.
