Fentanyl overdose deaths nearly quadrupled in 5 years in U.S. (1)
FENTANYL – 279% rise from 2016 to 2021 (2)
Dear World
We have a world 911 and it is time to stop and get a Reality Check.
Fentanyl is widespread and on the rise. We have a global epidemic and we cannot get on the front foot to stop the meteoric rise of this poison that is devastating Families, Communities, our cities and our countries.
National Fentanyl Awareness Day – 9 May 2023
The following is taken from the DEA – United States Drug Enforcement Administration
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.
“Fentanyl is killing Americans at record rates. Many of them didn’t know they were taking the deadliest drug our country has ever seen. They didn’t know how drug traffickers mix Fentanyl in Cocaine, in Heroin and in Methamphetamine. They didn’t know that the prescription pill that they bought from a dealer on Social Media was fake and actually contained Fentanyl. And they didn’t know that just one pill can kill”.
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram (3)
Only take prescription pills that are prescribed to you personally and they come from a pharmacy. (3)
Often consumed unknowingly by users, illicit Fentanyl is driving the recent increase in U.S. overdose deaths.
Fentanyl is involved in more deaths of Americans under 50 than any cause of death, including:
107,375 people in the United States died of drug overdoses and drug poisonings in the 12 month period ending in January 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
67% of those deaths involved synthetic Opioids like Fentanyl.
Some of these deaths were attributed to Fentanyl mixed with other illicit drugs like Cocaine, Methamphetamine and Heroin, with many users unaware they were actually taking Fentanyl.
Fentanyl is particularly dangerous for someone who does not have a tolerance to Opioids. (3)
50 x stronger than Heroin
100 x stronger than morphine
Synthetic – made in the lab (4)
What is behind the human being that seeks something that is pure poison and destroys the physical body?
Where is it coming from and what are we trying to escape from?
More Questions to ponder and consider will be presented in our forthcoming book.
The Real Truth about Fentanyl
Our book to be released in paper format will be coming out, along with other illicit drugs in our Real Truth series.
For the purpose of this article – the following is Chapter 1 taken directly from our book titled The Real Truth about Fentanyl.
CHAPTER 1
What is Fentanyl?
Fentanyl
United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
Fentanyl is a synthetic Opioid.
Pharmaceutical Fentanyl is a synthetic Opioid, approved for treating severe pain, typically advanced Cancer pain. It is prescribed in the form of transdermal patches or lozenges and can be diverted for misuse and abuse in the United States. (5)
Fentanyl is added to Heroin to increase its potency or is disguised as highly potent Heroin. Many users believe that they are purchasing Heroin and actually don’t know that they are purchasing Fentanyl – which often results in overdose deaths. (6)
Clandestinely-produced Fentanyl is primarily manufactured in Mexico. (7)
Illicit Uses:
Fentanyl is abused for its intense euphoric effects. Fentanyl can serve as a direct substitute for Heroin in Opioid dependent individuals. However, Fentanyl is a very dangerous substitute for Heroin because it is much more potent that Heroin and results in frequent overdoses that can lead to respiratory depression and death.
Chemistry
Fentanyl (N-phenyl-N-(1-(2-phenylethyl)-4-piperidinyl) propionamide) is a water-soluble solid substance that exists in a crystal or crystalline powder form. (8)
Street Names
Apace | China Girl | China Town | Dance Fever | Friend | Goodfellas | Great Bear | He Man | Jackpot | King Ivory | Murder 8 | Tango & Cash (9)
Other Names
China White | Drop Dead | Flatline | Lethal Injection | Poison | Synthetic Heroin | TNT (10)
Effects
- Relaxation
- Pain relief
- Euphoria
- Slowed respiration (respiratory depression)
- Confusion
- Dizziness
- Drowsiness
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pupillary constriction
- Sedation
- Urinary retention
- Death
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic Opioid drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as an analgesic (pain relief) and anaesthetic. (9)
It is approximately 100 times more potent that morphine and 50 times more potent than Heroin as an analgesic. (9)
Agonist
A chemical substance that binds to and activates certain receptors on cells causing a biological response. Fentanyl and methadone are examples of Opioid receptor agonists. (11)
Agonist Drugs
Those molecules that bind to specific receptors and cause a process in the cell to become more active are called agonists. An agonist is something that causes a specific physiological response in the cell. They can be natural or artificial.
Endorphins are natural agonists of Opioid receptors. But morphine – or Heroin that turns into morphine in the body – is an artificial agonist of the main Opioid receptor.
An artificial agonist is so structurally similar to a receptor’s natural agonist that it can have the same effect on the receptor. Many drugs are made to mimic natural agonists so they can bind to their receptors and elicit the same – or much stronger – reaction.
Simply put, an agonist is like the key that fits in the lock (the receptor) and turns it to open the door (or send a biochemical or electrical signal to exert an effect). The natural agonist is the master key but it is possible to design other keys (agonist drugs) that do the same job.
Morphine was not designed by the body but can be found naturally in opium poppies. It mimics the shape of the natural Opioid agonists, the endorphins that are natural pain relievers responsible for the “endorphin high”.
Specific effects such as pain relief or euphoria happen because Opioid receptors are only present in some parts of the brain and body that affect those functions. (12)
Pharmacology
Fentanyl is about 100 times more potent than morphine as an analgesic and is a potent synthetic Opioid. Fentanyl is a μ-opioid receptor agonist with high lipid solubility and a rapid onset and short duration of effects. Fentanyl rapidly crosses the blood-brain barrier. It is similar to other μ-opioid receptor agonists (like morphine or oxycodone) in its pharmacological effects and produces analgesia, sedation, nausea, vomiting, itching and respiratory depression. Fentanyl appears to produce muscle rigidity with greater frequency than other Opioid. Unlike some μ-opioid receptor agonists, Fentanyl does not cause histamine release and has minimal depressant effects on the Heart. (8)
Where else can you find the people of a planet that produce products that wither and eventually disintegrate the fibre of being such as the drug heroin and its many times more potent brother Fentanyl?
~ Serge Benhayon
Dear World
Have we considered this Question yet?
Benhayon is stating the obvious but for most, if not all of us, we have yet to have this realisation drop into our field of thoughts. WHY not?
We have enough evidence informing us about the potency of Fentanyl and with countless seizures now coming to light, we are nowhere near on the front foot.
As new generations experience more pain – pain they have yet to work out where and how it manifested in their body, we are going to find the reliance of pain drugs continue to sky rocket.
We all know that our body only deals with pain to a point, when we use drugs to combat or manage the pain. Sooner than later we realise, we need more and so we seek more of something stronger, in the hope that the pain will just go away. But where does the pain go and is it really possible that it will magically disappear?
The answer is a clear No and that is why we have reached this point where the demand for pain relief means the suppliers get busy to produce a drug that will ‘do the job’ and at minimum cost as this is how Business can profit. There is zero consideration to the side effects of what the Drug does in the form of harm to the actual human frame and to society as a whole.
Let us not Blame the suppliers. They simply exist because we make the demand.
Demand is first and then they supply. Let us be reminded of this Simple fact.
Let us also be reminded that the whole supply chain of Drug trafficking is about profit before people. Human life is not on the radar for any person involved in illicit Drug dealing and that includes the online suppliers, not just on our streets.
We want a cheap drug with strong potency and bingo Fentanyl is available with illicit manufacturing and supply.
This version is not safe and is not medical grade as used in hospitals during and after surgery, to relieve severe pain.
In a medical setting, Fentanyl is also used with other medicines to help the anaesthetic to numb the patient before surgery.
References
(1) Reinberg, S. (2023, May 3). Fentanyl Overdose Deaths Nearly Quadrupled in 5 Years in U.S. UPI. Retrieved May 8, 2023 from
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2023/05/03/fentanyl-deaths-quadruple/6671683132779/
(2) Spencer, M.R., Warner, M., Cisewski, J.A., Miniño, A., Dodds, D., Perera, J., & Ahmad, F.B. (2023, May). Estimates of Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Fentanyl, Methamphetamine, Cocaine, Heroin and Oxycodone: United States, 2021. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Retrieved May 8, 2023 from
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr027.pdf
(3) (2023). Fentanyl Awareness. United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Retrieved May 7, 2023 from
https://www.dea.gov/fentanylawareness
(4) (2023). Facts about Fentanyl. National Fentanyl Awareness Day. Retrieved May 7, 2023 from
https://www.fentanylawarenessday.org/facts-about-fentanyl
(5) (2022, June 1). Fentanyl. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Retrieved May 7, 2023 from
https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/fentanyl.html
(6) Taylor, K.P., Singh, K., & Goyal, A. (2022, November 9). Fentanyl Transdermal. NCBI. Retrieved May 7, 2023 from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK555968/
(7) (n.d). Fentanyl. Campus Drug Prevention. Retrieved May 7, 2023 from
https://www.campusdrugprevention.gov/drugs/fentanyl
(8) (2023, January). Fentanyl. Diversion Control Division U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration. Retrieved May 7, 2023 from
https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_chem_info/fentanyl.pdf
(9) (2022, October). Fentanyl. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration. Retrieved May 7, 2023 from
https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/Fentanyl%202022%20Drug%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf
(10) (n.d). Fentanyl Drug Profile. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Retrieved May 7, 2023 from
https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/drug-profiles/fentanyl_en
(11) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Surgeon General, Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health. Washington, DC: HHS, November 2016. page 4-22 Retrieved May 7, 2023 from
https://addiction.surgeongeneral.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-generals-report.pdf
(12) (2016, April 29). Explainer: How Do Drugs Work? The University of Sydney. Retrieved May 7, 2023 from
https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2016/04/29/explainer–how-do-drugs-work-.html
Comments 2
U.S. News – 28 December 2022
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-12-28/babies-in-danger-from-ingesting-opioids-laced-with-animal-tranquilizer
A recent study reveals that pediatric poisonings from a lethal combo of a potent synthetic opioid known as Fentanyl and a powerful veterinary sedative called xylazine are being exposed to infants or toddlers.
There is a risk of death with Fentanyl exposure, even without the added threat of xylazine.
In both children and adults, Fentanyl quickly slows down both breathing and heart rate while also triggering an altered mental state.
The authors of the study pointed out that within the world of overdose deaths that risk is increasingly common.
Xylazine is not an opioid and there is no known antidote or medication to reverse its effects.
Xylazine can provide significant pain relief and muscle relaxation when used to treat large animals, such as cattle and horses, an adult or child who is exposed to xylazine-opioid combos can experience severe respiratory and central nervous system depression and cardiovascular effects that do not respond to naloxone.
Street names for the combo are commonly sold as “anaesthesia de caballo” (horse tranquilizer), “tranq” or “sleep cut”.
This xylazine-opioid combo is increasingly sought after by recreational drug users seeking a prolonged and euphoric high, in spite of the risks.
A database of fatal drug overdoses in 38 states and Washington D.C., shows that quest has been gaining traction.
Since 2019, adult overdose deaths involving opioids laced with xylazine – a drug that has been around since 1962 but never approved for human use, have been on the rise.
The study authors stressed that opioid-xylazine poisoning among infants and toddlers is entirely another matter. They are poisoned due to the care-lessness or poor choices of adult caretakers who bring the deadly combo into the home.
CNN News – 31 January 2024
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/31/us/fentanyl-crisis-portland-state-of-emergency/index.html
Oregon Government have declared a 90 day state of Emergency in Portland’s Central City to address the Fentanyl crisis.
The emergency declaration was made to address the public health and public safety crisis, citing overdoses, deaths and fear driven by Fentanyl use.
“Our country and our state have never seen a drug this deadly and addictive and all are grappling with how to respond” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said.
In 2020, some hard drugs, including Fentanyl were decriminalized and this measure received criticism, as Opioid overdose deaths have steadily climbed since.
4-fold increase over 5 years in drug overdose deaths involving Fentanyl.
The emergency order allows the city, state and county to allocate resources to the response and stand up a command center in the central city.
If we read this article and the questions presented – can we sit back and accept this drug to be in our communities, towns and cities?
When a state decriminalizes a drug – a potent poison Opioid, can we start asking WHY when we all know and have known what this drug is actually doing?
When are we going to ask serious questions so that we can see REAL and TRUE change?
OR are we going to wait for the next research or the next statistical data to confirm even more rise in Fentanyl drug overdose deaths?