What if I told you there is another epidemic going on which hasn’t received the same notoriety as COVID-19. While there is closer than you think, Fentanyl. This epidemic has been overshadowed by COVID-19 but has taken many lives and needs more whereabouts.

If Fentanyl is so deadly why are so many people ingesting it?

Most of the time consumers are willingly taking drugs, without knowing drugs are being laced with Fentayl. Fentayl is a synthetic opioid, similar to Morphine, Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent. Fentanyl is synthetically made in a lab and is easy to manufacture therefore cartel’s are using this to lace more expensive drugs such as Cocaine or Oxycodone. Because of its low cost drug dealers have been lacing Fentanyl with other drugs, increasing the likelihood of a fatal interaction. 

The most common drugs that are being laced with Fentayl are Cocaine, Heroine, and Methamphetamine made into pills to resemble other opioids. 30 milligrams is equivalent to 3 milligrams of Fentayl, enough to kill an average human. 

In 2021, there were 71, 238 deaths on Fentanyl which nearly increases up to 15% since 2022, of 57, 834 according to CDC. The scary part about it is that it’s not just people that are addicted to drugs, overdosing on this drug, it’s teenagers going to a party and thinking they’re popping a pill to have fun or adults who are simply thinking that they’re doing a line of their friends Cocaine for fun. 

Fentanyl decreases the respiratory drive, (how our brains tell our body to breath) the human body can only breathe without oxygen for a few short minutes until, brain death and cardiac arrest will occur. There is a drug if administered in time and will reverse the effects of Fentayl, Naloxone also known as Narcan. Legislation has recently passed a bill where any person can get Narcan at a pharmacy without a prescription. Local Emergency Room Nurse Angela Sais states, “Narcan is a drug that I think every person should carry. It is the difference between life and death in an opioid overdose. If a person is administered Narcan and does not digest an opioid it will not hurt them at all.” 

A recent overdose in Lafayette, CO survivor quotes “I was a lucky one. I gotta make it worth it” The recent overdoes survivor of  Lafayette, CO now continues to share their story to young teens and speaks out after they survived letting other people know the dangers of Fentanyl being laced with other drugs and how it can happen to anyone.

How can you prevent this from happening? 

• Always carry Naloxone 
• Be cautious when taking more than one drug 
• Don’t get drugs off the street 
• Only take prescription pills 
• Improve others awareness and educate them 
• Know what you are taking
• Know your tolerance
• Recognize addictions and ask for help

Emergency Room Angela Sais quotes, “It’s really sad almost everyday we have one or more overdoses come into the emergency room, most of the time the person doesn’t know they’ve ingested Fentanyl, some of them live and some of them die.” 

Though this isn’t a fun topic anyone wants to talk about having awareness and education about Fentanyl and other drug use is super important. Just because you think it might not happen to you, other overdoses are happening around you everyday.