Synthetic opioid fentanyl - Don't waste it

Il fentanyl is a synthetic opioid extremely powerful: one hundred times more powerful than morphine and fifty times more powerful than heroin. Just two or three milligrams are enough to kill a person by suffocation. According to a study by Massachusetts General Hospital, published in the magazine PNAS Nexus, the cessation of breathing occurs almost silently, without any other obvious changes and even before the loss of consciousness.

Fentanyl has always been used as an analgesic and also as a drug administered to terminal cancer patients for pain management. Then over time it became a drug, very widespread among young peopleEspecially for one reason: its easy availability, even through the perverse and uncontrolled role of social media platforms where highly organized gangs of dealers operate, so much so that it is now the most sold drug on the dark web. And so it has been nicknamed "the zombie drug" because it can transform those who take it into the "walking dead."

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How it works

The potency of fentanyl, and also the explanation for its widespread use, lies in its mechanism of action. Before reaching the brain, drugs must cross the blood-brain barrier, which protects brain tissue from harmful substances present in the blood. Fentanyl, with the strength of its chemical structure, has become the fastest opioid to break the barrier. Once in the brain, fentanyl causes stronger effects than heroin and morphine, as we've seen, and is able to attach itself to receptors in pain and emotional areas, as well as in the areas that control breathing.

Because it's deadly

But it's precisely the ease with which it breaks through the protective barrier of brain tissue and enters areas that control breathing, such as the brainstem, that makes fentanyl particularly dangerous. More dangerous than heroin and cocaine. In fact, once the brainstem receptors are affected, a person who has taken fentanyl may stop using it. breathe.

Where it is

The other factor that has made this deadly drug so popular and widespread concerns its distribution. Dealers have managed to use social media platforms, starting with Snapchat, to sell fentanyl. The American Social media victims law center, an NGO created to pressure social media companies for the harm caused to the most vulnerable users, has filed a complaint against Snapchat, obtaining the forms of many parents whose children had purchased fentanyl (sometimes counterfeit) through this platform.

And the attorneys general of 18 US states have asked President Biden to declare fentanyl a weapon of mass destructionThe request was rejected, according to the White House, so as not to harm people who take the drug as a painkiller, even in extreme situations such as terminal cancer.

When the turning point came

The truly shocking thing is that the transition from a painkiller and anesthetic drug, included in the list of essential medications for terminal cancer patients, came when pharmaceutical companies adopted a highly aggressive marketing strategy to push doctors to prescribe high-dose opioids. And because fentanyl quickly leads to addiction, its use has since multiplied, to the point of converting its use from a pharmaceutical to a drug.

Fentanyl in America

Meanwhile, the rise in fentanyl deaths in America is frightening. There were 70 thousand in 2021, with a 50 percent increase compared to the previous year., and exceeded 100,000 units in 2024. Between the late 1990s, when fentanyl began circulating, and 2022, this drug caused almost a million fatal overdoses.
In the United States, illegally obtained fentanyl has surpassed any prescription painkiller as the leading cause of overdoses.

And even the association was born Families against fentanyl, while the US FDA (the highest health authority in the United States) has authorized the sale of a naloxone spray as an over-the-counter medication to block the effects of fentanyl. In 2023, overdose deaths in the United States numbered 107.543, and the most worrying part of the phenomenon concerns young people, and fentanyl, much more potent than heroin, has doubled the deaths of young people between the ages of 12 and 17.

Fentanyl in Italy

In Italy, the situation is significantly less serious than in America, and fentanyl, along with about thirty of its analogues, has been included in the Schedule of Narcotic Substances. As a medicine, it is only permitted for pain relief. Meanwhile, to reduce risks, a plan has been developed to prevent thefts of medications like fentanyl from hospitals. However, less than reassuring news comes from wiretaps conducted as part of investigations related to fentanyl seizures. Some 'Ndrangheta members have spoken out, describing their interest in selling fentanyl pills in Italy.

Fentanyl: The synthetic opioid fifty times more potent than heroin