What is Fentanyl?

Fentanyl is one of the world’s most deadly drugs. It is a potent synthetic opioid that can result in sudden death when ingested. It is 50-100 times more powerful than morphine. Illicit fentanyl is being mixed into all street drugs, including heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, and pressed into counterfeit pills that look like prescription medication. Many victims did not know that the drug they took was contaminated with fentanyl.

What are Opioids?

A class of drugs used to reduce pain, including morphine, heroin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, codeine, and opium. Of these, fentanyl is the most potent. Opioids reduce physical, emotional, and psychological pain. They can have a euphoric effect in high doses, which leads to misuse and addiction.

Fentanyl is Synthetic

Unlike morphine and heroin, fentanyl is not derived from the opium poppy plant. It is a synthetic product formed through a chemical process, not dependent on agricultural conditions. The supply is unlimited as it is exceptionally cheap to make compared to plant-based opioids.

Fentanyl is Powerful

A lethal amount is 2mg, equivalent to a few grains of salt. Dosing requires precise measures of minute quantities, something that illegal suppliers cannot achieve, resulting in poisoning the user.

What does fentanyl look like?

You can’t see, smell, or taste fentanyl. It can be found as a pill, film, tablet, or even blotter paper in its illegal form. It can be swallowed, snorted, smoked, or injected. You can’t tell if there’s fentanyl in pills or powders by looking at them. The amount of fentanyl can vary between pills and other drugs, even within the same batch. While a single pill might get a person high without killing them, another pill could be fatal. The DEA reports that 60% of all pills seized contain a lethal amount of fentanyl.

Why do drug dealers want to kill their customers?

First, there is no such thing as an ethical drug dealer. They are simply after the money. They do not care if they kill your loved one. For them, the pay outweighs the risk. Second, the illicit drug market has expanded in recent years due to the cessation of the limitless prescription opioid market, the recent lockdown measures from Covid, and the ease with which illicit drugs are obtained through smartphones and unregulated social media. The market for criminal drug organizations is virtually unlimited. Drug dealers don’t care about killing 100,000 users, including recreational and first-time experimenters, when they have millions to sell. 

Poisoning Vs. Overdose

Illicit fentanyl educators and activists use the term “poisoning” instead of “overdose” when referring to the death of their loved ones and children. Understanding these terms and their distinction is essential to advocate for fentanyl death properly.

With an overdose, the drug consumed has a prescribed or generally known safe amount to take. If you take over that amount and it results in life-threatening symptoms or death, that is an overdose.  

Poisoning is when a toxin or harmful substance is accidentally or purposely consumed, inhaled, or injected, causing life-threatening consequences or death. Due to the lethality of illicit fentanyl in such small amounts, there is no safe dosage; therefore, death by fentanyl is a poisoning.  

Criminal organizations knowingly disguise fentanyl in other drugs or fake pills and deceive victims into thinking they are purchasing traditional street drugs or prescription medication. Victims are actually getting an unregulated synthetic poison that can and will kill them; a drug-induced murder.

For your consideration, we don’t say overdose when people die of anthrax, lead, arsenic, cyanide, radiation, venom, carbon monoxide, or alcohol. These are all toxic chemicals to the body; illegally manufactured fentanyl is no different.

The bottom line is that street drugs are no longer “safe.” Our children no longer get to wake up the next day and think about their mistakes or keep fighting addiction. They simply no longer wake up. Our kids should be able to learn from their mistakes, not die from them.

What is addiction?

Addiction is a brain disease that results from repeated use of a substance. This causes changes in the reward circuitry of the brain and makes the inhibitory circuitry of the prefrontal cortex less strong. This leads to compulsive use of the drug despite the negative impact that compulsive drug use has on a person’s life.

What are fake pills?

Criminal drug dealers are pressing fentanyl into fake pills made to look like prescription medications such as Oxycodone, Adderall, and Xanax.   Fake pills contain no real medicine.  Never take any pill not prescribed to you.

Signs of Opioid Overdose or Fentanyl Poisoning?

• Breathing shallow or stopped
• Lips and fingertips blue or purple
• Unresponsive – shake, call name
• Eye pupils are pinpoint