Dangers of drug use

In late April 2016, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office announced new data that reveals more about the extent of damage done in the opioid epidemic in Chicago. Particularly, the toll that fentanyl, a drug 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, has taken on the city. In 2014, 20 deaths in Chicago were linked to fentanyl, a figure that soared to 102 deaths in 2015. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office is now one of three Illinois counties, including Will and DuPage counties.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate similar to morphine and is also used in hospitals as a potent painkiller for patients with severe pain, both in and after surgery. Because of its potency, it is sometimes used to manage chronic pain in people who are tolerant to opiates. Injecting or inhaling fentanyl can stop a person’s breathing within three minutes of taking the drug.

A pure dose of fentanyl could kill a person immediately. A person overdosing on fentanyl often needs up to four doses of naloxone, the drug that counteracts a heroin overdose, just to survive. As the mortality rate rises, the epidemic is coming to more homes in Chicagoland. On March 15, Naperville saw its first death conclusively linked to a fentanyl overdose, a 30-year-old man passed away from an overdose of this heroin substitute. Preliminary results of other overdose deaths show a presence of some form of fentanyl. There are many new different versions and are getting harder to pin down.

Acetyl fentanyl and furanyl fentanyl are the two new “designer fentanyls” on the market, and they are made by some of the largest drug cartels in the world. It comes to the United States typically from China, Mexico, or the Netherlands and is then consumed in large part by males younger than 35-years-old. Nearly 66 percent of heroin or fentanyl users in the U.S. fall into that category.

One of the greatest dangers of fentanyl, and perhaps the reason why there has been such a sharp spike in overdose-related deaths recently, is that people using heroin may mistake fentanyl for heroin, and fentanyl is much more potent than heroin.

New resources have become available for people struggling with opioid addiction, and their friends and family who want to help. Pharmacies and recovery advocacy organizations can provide information on preventing an overdose, and death, and how to obtain naloxone in case of an overdose. These places can also help guide people to recovery by recommending treatment options and other resources.