What is fentanyl?

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid used for treating extreme pain, specifically advanced cancer pain. When Fentanyl is used pharmaceutically It is administered through a patch on the patient’s skin. Though, there are two types of fentanyl, pharmaceuticals, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl is what people are overdosing from.

Carrie Hough, a preventive specialist who speaks to young people about the dangers of fentanyl believes the dangers of fentanyl rise due to teens thinking they are getting a different substance.

“Most overdose deaths are due to what people are starting to call poisoning more than anything else. Because it’s people who think they’re using some other substance and are getting fentanyl instead,” Carrie Hough Community and Family Resources specialist said.

Fentanyl gives many effects for example euphoria, pain relief, confusion, drowsiness, nausea, and vomiting according to the DEA. People often seek out drugs for mental relief and the euphoria that comes along with using, but these drugs are double-edged swords that are often fatal at small doses.

“What a lot of people don’t know about opiates is that it doesn’t just take away physical pain. For example, OxyContin is prescribed to take away physical pain. It also takes away emotional pain and gives a euphoria or a good feeling. In that state, you can’t feel the emotional pain that you might be going through. So a lot of people who have trauma are drawn to using an opiate because it’s going to take away that emotional pain for a short period of time,” Kayla Borja Frost the outpatient clinical manager at Community Family Resources said.