It’s estimated that 1 kg of fentanyl generates almost $1.6 million in revenue. Additionally, fentanyl is 30-50 times more potent than heroin. According to Statista, 1 kg of fentanyl costs drug traffickers 4150 US dollars compared to heroin which costs 6000 US dollars. The price of fentanyl is significantly lower. Users might OD on it since the quantity of the opioid can be signficantly higher than the dosage used by habitual cocaine or heroin users. Drug dealers often mix it with drugs such as heroin, cocaine or MDMA, since fentanyl is a much cheaper option. The illegally created fentanyl is often sold as a powder, on blotter paper, eye droppers, nasal sprays, or as pills. Legally, fentanyl is prescribed by a doctor when it can be given as a shot, a patch or lozenges similar to cough drops. The short-term symptoms include extreme happiness, drowsiness, nausea, confusion, constipation, sedation, breathing problems, and even unconsciousness. However, when one takes opioids multiple times, the brain gets adapted to the drug, diminishing its sensitivity, and refusing to give pleasure from anything except that drug, which tends to push people towards addiction. Like heroin and other opioids, fentanyl works by binding to the body’s opioid receptors – found in areas of the brain that control pain and emotions. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram, looks at photographs of people who had died from drugs during the Second Annual Family Summit on Fentanyl at DEA Headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. Attorney General Merrick Garland accompanied by U.S. Phenylpiperidines, were the first fully synthetic opioids to be discovered and fentanyl is a shorter acting but more potent drug whose pain-relieving effect lasts for 30-60 minutes. Norman G Bowery, in xPharm: The Comprehensive Pharmacology, explains that fentanyl is a ‘morphine-like’ drug, a phenylpiperidine derivative which is structurally similar to pethidine. Three Waves of America's Opioid Crisis What exactly is fentanyl? The CDC divides the opioid crisis into three waves:ġ) The first began in the 1990s and mostly involved prescription and illicit drugs.Ģ) The second wave began in 2010, with a rapid increase in overdose deaths involving heroin.ģ) The third wave began in 2013, with a significant increase in OD deaths involving synthetic opioids like illicitly manufactured fentanyl that’s often used in combination with heroin, contraband pills, and cocaine. These deaths include prescription and illicit opioids, an issue so ingrained in American culture that it was even the basis of the hit TV show House MD starring Hugh Laurie, where the misanthropic protagonist suffered from a Vicodin-addiction preempted by leg pain. The US has dealt with three waves of opioid crisis over the years, which have claimed the lives of nearly 645,000 individuals between 19, according to the CDC. Whatever one’s views on Ramaswamy’s evasive manoeuvres, there’s no denying that fentanyl, a synthetic opioid painkiller, that just happens to be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, and 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin, and even 2mg can be lethal, making it America’s burgeoning narco problem, a war that the country is grappling to come to terms with. …it’s also our job to make sure 17-year-olds don’t turn to Percocet through Snapchat.” Speaking about an incident in which a 17-year-old lost his life life after purchasing a drug laced with fentanyl on Snapchat, Ramaswamy said: “I met a family in Iowa, two parents, Kathy and Derek… It is closer to bioterrorism, not drug overdose. In reality, experts point out that most of the contraband are peddled by legal US citizens who go back and forth across the border. During the second GOP debate – which still had a hole the size of Trump voter base – Vivek Ramaswamy showed his gift of the gab when he evaded a question about America’s fentanyl crisis by conflating it with how the drug was being brought into the country, making it seem like the drug was being smuggled in by migrants seeking asylum through the Southern border.
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