In contrast, drugs like morphine or oxycodone offer a wider safety margin. Fentanyl is a powerful drug that was designed to be used how long does fentanyl stay in your system as a pain-relieving medicine called an analgesic. But it has come to play a major role in drug overdoses and substance use disorders across the United States.
Mental Health
- Without proper oversight of production, these fake pills often contain lethal doses of fentanyl.
- The large number of overdose deaths involving fentanyl highlights the need to ensure people most at risk can access care, as well as the need to expand prevention and response activities.
- In many overdose cases, naloxone—the emergency medication used to reverse opioid effects—isn’t always enough.
Her aunt found her lifeless body collapsed over her nightstand, and her boyfriend also dead, wedged between their bed and a wall. There are stories like Brenda Brett’s, a beloved cousin and Georgia-native who relatives say had no idea she was taking Xanax laced with fentanyl. China also exports many of the precursor chemicals needed to synthesize fentanyl. But now, deaths nationwide plunged more than 26% from the peak in June 2023, according to the latest preliminary data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overdose Prevention
A person taking prescribed fentanyl can experience dependence, meaning they have withdrawal symptoms heroin addiction when they stop taking the drug. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned that deaths and overdoses have occurred in people using both the brand-name product Duragesic and generic transdermal fentanyl patches. The FDA also warned that children are at particular risk for accidental death from exposure. Fentanyl is up to 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.
A Synthetic Opioid with Medical and Illicit Use
One 2 milligram (mg) dose of fentanyl is enough to kill the average adult. Drug traffickers usually distribute fentanyl by the kilogram. One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill https://kenbuy.co.uk/beer-and-blood-pressure-does-even-one-drink-raise/ 500,000 people. ORE is a central collection of communication materials and educational resources about opioid misuse, addiction, treatment, and overdose prevention.