People making illegal fentanyl often do this because it’s less expensive to use fentanyl than other drugs. The drug interacts with receptors in your brain to create feelings of pain relief, relaxation, contentment, and pleasure. By reading this article, you will learn many things you need to know about fentanyl and how it is used.
- This misclassification results in underestimation of death rates for these groups by about 3% for Asian and Hispanic people and by about 34% for American Indian and Alaska Native people (7).
- However, fentanyl patches might take up to 1–2 days to begin working, but the effects will typically last for up to 72 hours.
- Not only does a fentanyl overdose harm the brain, but it also affects other organs.
- Then suddenly, that person stops talking and « you look over and realize that they’re overdosing, » the respondent said.
- However, while fentanyl overdoses are on the rise, so are the sensationalist myths about how these overdoses happen and who they can affect.
Testing Substances for Fentanyl
The federal government has already moved to freeze or end grants that support front-line drug treatment and harm reduction programs. Fentanyl dependence is a serious medical condition, and it’s important to seek help if you want to stop. A total of 3,056 facilities were included in this analysis (out of 4,969 ED facilities with at least one visit during this time).
Fentanyl Statistics 2025: Up-to-Date Facts on Abuse and Overdose
Fentanyl is thought to be from 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine (and around 50 times stronger than heroin) 3. That heightened potency also means that just tiny amounts can be deadly. In fact, according to the DEA, it only takes just two milligrams of fentanyl—an amount small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil—to kill most people 1. Because the drug can be cheaply produced and is also extremely potent, drug traffickers are drawn to it; often, they mix it with something else, such as heroin or cocaine, but the unsuspecting user doesn’t know.
So how did the U.S. finally turn the corner on drug deaths?
Despite there how long does fentanyl stay in your system being no evidence to suggest that myths like these are true, they still fuel fear and misunderstanding, which makes it difficult for people to know the facts about fentanyl use and fentanyl overdoses. And when people don’t know the facts, it can be difficult for them to receive the help they need — whether for themselves or for someone else. If someone fears they may have been exposed to a dangerous drug, it’s possible they could have a panic attack. The pounding heart rate and breathing difficulties could easily be mistaken for a drug overdose. One of the most common reasons is that the human body quickly develops a tolerance to fentanyl, which means that more of the drug is needed to have the same euphoric effects. If someone has built up a tolerance to the drug, they may take a much larger dose to feel the same effects, which can be lethal.
Which age groups have higher overdose death rates?
- The main cause of cyanosis is a lack of oxygen in the blood, which can occur as a person’s breathing slows during an opioid overdose.
- In the event of suspicion of a fentanyl overdose, it is crucial to promptly call 911 for assistance.
- The emergency and referral resources listed above are available to individuals located in the United States and are not operated by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
- The drug interacts with receptors in your brain to create feelings of pain relief, relaxation, contentment, and pleasure.
- To prevent accidental fentanyl overdoses, you can use fentanyl test strips to ensure other drugs don’t contain the opioid.
This means that even a small amount can lead to an overdose, which could be deadly. Illegal fentanyl has added to the rise in overdose deaths in the U.S. The medication will reverse the effects of fentanyl and block future effects. If a person appears to experience overdose symptoms again, they may require another dose.
It’s unclear how many lives naloxone is saving each year, but many front-line public health workers tell me the impact is huge. For folks to prevent fentanyl overdoses, testing strips for fentanyl is one of the more effective harm reduction tools available to them. These strips allow users to test their drugs for fentanyl to find a few bad decisions away from death by the synthetic opioid. Testing strips are already being distributed widely in the country’s hotspots of opioid crisis, and they are easy to use. There is significant evidence that increased availability of naloxone reduces overdose deaths.
This includes expanding access to treatment, harm reduction strategies, and interventions tailored to the hardest-hit states. In the interviews, the participants said that fentanyl powder can be purchased on its own or mixed with heroin. They also said that sometimes, people didn’t know if the heroin they had purchased also contained fentanyl. Fentanyl can be used legally — doctors prescribe the drug for people with chronic pain.
This is an enormous uptick compared to a decade ago when fentanyl was not as large a part of the illicit drug market. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are the primary cause of the recent spike in opioid overdoses. Sometimes, a fentanyl overdose can also involve other drugs like cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine. Due to its greater potency, fentanyl is considered to be more dangerous than most other opioids, especially when used in combination with them.
- Your respiratory rate drops dramatically – you might take fewer than 12 breaths per minute, or stop breathing entirely.
- If someone falls asleep or becomes unresponsive while taking fentanyl or another opioid, then they may be experiencing an overdose.
- Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl made up at least 70 percent of all opioid overdose deaths in 2022, making up a higher share than in earlier years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2.
- By last year, that number had plummeted to roughly 16,690 fatal overdoses, according to provisional CDC data.
Fentanyl Overdose Symptoms
The average time for fentanyl to clear from the body is approximately seven days, but some traces of the medication may still be detectable for up to 14 days after the last use. Eric Richins, 39, was found dead in the couple’s bedroom on March 4, 2022. An autopsy determined he died from fentanyl intoxication, and the level of fentanyl in his blood was approximately five times the lethal dosage, according to the charging document. The medical examiner determined the fentanyl was « illicit fentanyl, » not medical grade, according to the charging document.
Administer Naloxone
Many researchers believe another key factor may be less risky drug and alcohol use among teens and twenty-somethings, a pattern that emerged during the years of the Halfway house COVID epidemic. One study by a team at the University of Michigan found the number of teens abstaining from substance grew to its highest level in 2024. « In your generation, people used drugs. In my generation people used drugs, we just didn’t use to die as much from them, » Krawczyk said. « The game has completely changed, especially for kids who are going through an experimental phase, » Jon Epstein warned in a video distributed nationally.
The majority of these deaths involved fentanyl, which is the top cause of death for adults aged 18–45 years old. In addition to receiving treatment for a substance use disorder, people who use illegal drugs can help prevent overdoses by using fentanyl test strips. These are low-cost paper strips that can detect fentanyl in all kinds and forms of substances.
