Powerful painkiller linked to 11 deaths
Powerful painkiller fentanyl has been linked to thousands of deaths abroad and now 11 in New Zealand.
Coronial reports released to The Press under the Official Information Act, showed the opiod had claimed 11 lives since 2011, with a further six active cases stillcurrently before the coroner.
In most instances the deaths were ruled as being due to an ‘‘accidental’’ or ‘‘inadvertent’’ drug overdose or the result of ‘‘multiple drug toxicity’’. Three self-administered fentanyl intravenously or by inhaling it, accidentally overdosing.
Among those was Arrowtown chef Nils Scott, who died after inhaling an acquaintance’s discarded fentanyl patches.
Last month drug-testing body KnowYourStuff announced it found fentanyl being distributed in a white powder form at a festival. It was the first time the drug – which killed music stars Prince, Michael Jackson and Tom Petty – had been identified as a recreational drug in NZ, sparking fears we could soon fall victim to the opioid epidemic sweeping the US, Canada and the UK.
Fentanyl is an opioid used for pain relief and anaesthesia, often prescribed for cancer patients and in palliative care. It is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin, according to the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
It has been available in NZ for a number of years, but it was originally available under special authority only, meaning doctors had to apply to prescribe it, before becoming fully funded in 2011.
Since then prescribing rates have more than doubled. In 2011, 3410 people were prescribed the drug compared with 8368 in 2017. WHAT’S THE DANGER? Like morphine, fentanyl works by binding to the brain’s central nervous system receptors, driving up dopamine levels to create a state of euphoria and relaxation. But these receptors also control breathing rate: high doses can cause breathing to stop.
Used properly, it is a useful and ‘‘relatively safe’’ medication, particularly in people who cannot tolerate morphine, Royal NZ College of General Practitioners medical director Dr Richard Medlicott said.
The high potency of fentanyl increases risk of overdose, especially if a person is unaware of what they are taking.
‘‘Because it’s so powerful it’s being mixed in with things, and people don’t know what they’re getting which is really dangerous,’’ Medlicott said.