The Deadly Rise of Fentanyl and How it Can be Combatted

There is a new opioid related drug product on the market but for once it’s good news. A nasal spray called Narcan has been developed that is an aspirated version of Naloxone – the opioid overdose-reversing medicine. The Narcan nasal spray has already saved countless lives of those who have overdosed on opioids and on fentanyl in particular. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin.

The inventor of Narcan is Dr. Roger Crystal, MD, the CEO of Opiant Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Crystal recently told FOX Business that he came up with Narcan “on the basis of more than 50 percent of opiate overdose deaths contain this opioid called fentanyl. What we are now working on is a follow up to this called nasal Nalmefene, which we think is a more powerful antidote and probably better suited to address fentanyl overdoses, which is what we’re now seeing.”

Narcan is One of the Ways the United States Hopes to Win the War on Opioids

Narcan has already been described as a ‘miracle drug’ and is used widely. It is now routinely carried by EMTs, police departments and even schools. Narcan can reverse the potentially lethal effects of an opioid overdose in minutes. It binds to the same receptors in the brain as the opioid, displacing the opioid and undoing the harm it is causing.

Fentanyl is the deadliest opioid that has ever been created. A lethal dose of fentanyl – enough to kill an average-sized adult male – is only three milligrams. This compares to the lethal dose of heroin, which is 30 milligrams.

Fentanyl is Responsible for More Deaths Than Any Other Opioid

As fentanyl is relatively cheap to manufacture, it is habitually added to heroin as a ‘bulking agent’. This leads to people taking their ‘usual’ dose of heroin only to find that they have inadvertently taken a lethal dose of fentanyl. The majority of fentanyl is produced in illegal laboratories, meaning it is less pure than pharmaceutical opioids and therefore its effects on the body can be unpredictable to say the least, and often deadly.

If you feel you have been affected by anything that has been raised in the above article, our team at Advanced Rapid Detox is here to help. We offer our rapid fentanyl detox program which can help you break free from the grips of addiction. To learn more, please feel free to contact us at any time at (800) 603-1813, or use our online contact form.