The following information was collected from the University of Colorado Boulder and the DEA.gov websites.
What is Fentanyl?
“Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered. Fentanyl is everywhere. From large metropolitan areas to rural America, no community is safe from this poison. We must take every opportunity to spread the word to prevent fentanyl-related overdose death and poisonings from claiming scores of American lives every day.” – DEA Administrator Anne Milgram
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin or morphine.
Drug traffickers often mix fentanyl into other drugs because it is cheap to manufacture and a small amount goes a long way.
What does Fentanyl do?
Fentanyl is often mixed into other substances or marketed as substances other than fentanyl, such as prescription medications. This can be dangerous because individuals often consume fentanyl without knowing it or meaning to, which can result in accidental overdoses or death.
Fentanyl is often added to:
Experts consider 2 mg of fentanyl to be lethal, but many counterfeit pills contain up to 5 mg (more than twice the lethal dose). This amount is incredibly small. Check out the image to the side for scale to see what 2 mg of fentanyl looks like.
Important: While these drugs have tested positive for fentanyl by public health agencies, it’s important to remember that any pill or drug sold on the internet, on the streets or by a person you know could contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl.
Fentanyl may be more common than you think.
Additionally, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), nearly half of all counterfeit pills tested contained a lethal dose of fentanyl. This figure is particularly alarming because it can be difficult to distinguish genuine pills from fake or counterfeit versions. Check out the examples below to see how counterfeit pills can be designed to look just like genuine pharmaceuticals.
Tips for Staying Safe
While fentanyl can be lethal, there are things you can do to help protect yourself and your friends. Here are some tips and strategies you can use to prevent accidental overdoses.
Please note: Due to the unpredictability of fentanyl, there is no foolproof way to eliminate the risk of overdose.
Know what you’re getting into
Assume that any pill or drug not purchased directly from a pharmacy could contain fentanyl. This includes illicit drugs (cocaine, heroin, meth, etc.) as well as prescription medications (Xanax, Oxycodone, etc.).
