Fentanyl Presents Need for New Strategies for Combatting Opioid Abuse

In 2014, more Americans died of drug overdoses than any other year on record. There were more than 47,000 deaths, with roughly two-thirds of those deaths linked to opioids. This opioid epidemic includes synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, which are responsible for the rise in death rates. Fentanyl analogs and carfentanil potent opioid receptor agonists can cause a toxidrome characterized by significant central nervous system and respiratory depression. Fentanyl has been implicated in multiple outbreak of poisonings.1 (See Figure 1, below.) Acetyl fentanyl, an analog similar to the Schedule II (i.e., a classification of drugs that means potential for abuse is high) opioid fentanyl, is a potent opioid analgesic. Acetyl fentanyl hasn't been approved for medical use in the United States and there are no published studies on safety for human use. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration's National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS), federal, state and local forensic laboratories reported 10 exhibits identified as acetyl fentanyl in 2013 and 40 exhibits identified as acetyl fentanyl in 2014.2 Fentanyl can be laced into counterfeit pills meant to resemble prescription opioids. Photo courtesy DEA Although pharmaceutical fentanyl can be diverted for misuse, most cases of fentanyl-related morbidity and mortality have been linked to illicitly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, collectively referred to as non-pharmaceutical fentanyl (NPF)-related compounds....
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Patient Care Source Type: news