It’s not just heroin causing OD deaths anymore

For at least two decades, the United States has been gripped by addiction and overdoses, particularly those involving heroin. Despite efforts such as rehabilitation and even using Narcan while users are overdosing, to immediately bring them out of it, the death toll continues to rise.

Now, there’s an even deadlier drug claiming the lives of addicts — and even sometimes those who aren’t addicts. It’s called fentanyl.

Lawmakers across the country “have been considering and adopting laws on two fronts: reducing the risk to users and increasing the penalties for dealing fentanyl or mixing it with other drugs,” an Associated Press report said. “Meanwhile, Republican state attorneys general are calling for more federal action, while some GOP governors are deploying National Guard units with a mission that includes stopping the flow of fentanyl from Mexico.”

For the first time, more than 100,000 American had died of drug overdoses over a 12-month pe- riod, the report said.

About two-thirds of the deaths were linked to fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, which can be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, heroin or prescription opioids.”

Another issue is that drug users don’t always know what they’re getting. Fentanyl is often disguised as other pills such Oxycodone or Oxycontin. Oftentimes, when an overdose occurs, the user thinks they’re getting one type of drug, when in fact, it contains fentanyl, which is much more potent than probably what they’re used to, resulting in an overdose and death if help doesn’t arrive quickly.

It’s also not as simple as administering Narcan to reverse a fentanyl overdose. It takes much more than one dose of Narcan to bring a person out of a fentanyl overdose — and it must be done very quickly, if they stand any chance of being saved.

So what’s the solution to an ever-growing problem? Some advocates think that test strips can help prevent accidental ODs caused by drugs that are laced with fentanyl.

“The strips are given out at needle exchanges and sometimes at concerts or other events where drugs are expected to be sold or used,” the report said.

That’s one way to try and fix the issue, but realistically, not all drug users are going to go to needle exchange sites to get the strips. And even if they did have them, they’re probably not going to test their drugs before they take them.

It is a harm reduction approach, but perhaps the better solution is to try and stem the flow of drugs into the country from Mexico. We realize, however, that’s easier said than done.

Tougher criminal penalties regarding the distribution of fentanyl might also help curb it a bit, but that would just be a Band-Aid-fix for a much larger issue.

It’s also something that would have to be upheld and enforced across the United States, not just in states with Republican governors or district attorneys.