What You Need to Know About Fentanyl
The number of counterfeit pills seized by federal agents and establish to be laced with fentanyl has jumped nearly 430 percent since 2019. Above, an accurate oxycodone pill is pictured aslope a potentially lethal counterfeit. (Source: U.Southward. Drug Enforcement Administration)
Fatal drug overdoses take surged in contempo years, driven by the explosion of a synthetic opioid known as fentanyl. What makes fentanyl so dangerous is its authorisation — and the fact that many of its victims have no idea they're even taking fentanyl.
"A lot of information technology is accidental," says Stephen Lambert, coordinator of prevention education in OCDE's Student Achievement and Wellness Unit. "Immature people believe they're misusing medications similar oxycodone or pain relievers, or anxiety medications like Xanax, but in fact they're apocryphal pills tainted by fentanyl."
To exist clear, fentanyl has legitimate medical uses. Licensed medical professionals use information technology to treat patients with severe pain after surgeries. Simply fentanyl is increasingly flooding the illegal drug market, often in the form of counterfeit pills masquerading as common prescription opioids. And, every bit the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration notes, information technology only takes one pill to produce deadly consequences.
That's considering fentanyl is alarmingly potent. The drug is most 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine by weight. Moreover, when information technology'south used to brand counterfeit pills or laced into other drugs, there is no niggling to no consistency or quality command.
We recently reached out to Lambert and other expert sources to help Orangish County families better empathize the dangers of fentanyl, too as potential warning signs and prevention strategies.
How prevalent is fentanyl use among young people in Orangish County?
OCDE's Lambert says it's difficult to know how widespread fentanyl use is among teens because it'due south often taken past young people who believe they're misusing other medications.
Based on data from the California Healthy Kids Survey that covered a i-month bridge, fewer than 10 pct of loftier school students reported using prescription medications that were not prescribed to them. Still, fentanyl has become plenty of a concern that County Wellness Officer Dr. Clayton Chau issued a public informational in November.
"Fifty-fifty in small doses, it tin can exist deadly," Dr. Chau said, "and national statistics show that over 150 people die every solar day from overdoses related to constructed opioids like fentanyl."
Across the country, the number of counterfeit pills seized by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and found to be laced with fentanyl has jumped almost 430 percent since 2019.
Why is fentanyl so unsafe?
As we mentioned above, fentanyl is incredibly potent. While it targets the parts of the brain that control pain and emotions, its effects can include drowsiness, nausea, confusion, respiratory depression and abort, unconsciousness and decease. It is well-nigh l times stronger than heroin and roughly 100 times more than powerful than morphine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"A typical lethal dose for an adult is almost two milligrams," Lambert says, "and when these pills are getting stamped by these counterfeit operations, they're non doing a keen amount of quality control. So it'southward very unpredictable every bit to what's going to end upwardly in there."
Immature people might be accustomed to taking a certain dosage of a typical medication, similar one pill for instance. But if it contains two milligrams or more of fentanyl, a unmarried pill could be fatal. Experts say the simply safe medications are those prescribed by a trusted medical professional person and dispensed through a licensed pharmacist.
How are children and teens getting this drug?
Children and teens can learn illegal pills through friends, or they may purchase them through social media or websites.
"Previously, the biggest business organisation was getting medications from the medicine cabinet at home," Lambert says. "These newer pills are clearly black-marketplace, and they're ownership them from unknown sources or from dealers."
According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, illicit fentanyl is primarily manufactured outside the country in secret labs and smuggled into the U.S., where information technology's sold on the illegal drug market place. While it can go past a number of street names, information technology's increasingly being pressed into pills fabricated to await like legitimate prescription opioids. It can also be sold in the class of powders, nasal sprays, center drops and small candies.
Meanwhile, because it's relatively cheap to produce, fentanyl is showing up in other street drugs like cocaine, heroin and MDMA.
"And so the message that we're trying to get out to everybody is really not to trust your optics," Lambert says. "Information technology'southward virtually impossible to tell what is apocryphal, so if you're ownership something off somebody, you're not going to be able to tell what it is. And in all likelihood — simply economically — information technology'due south probably counterfeit with fentanyl."
What steps can parents accept to prevent opioid abuse?
There are a number of inquiry-based strategies that tin reduce the likelihood that a immature person volition go downward the path of substance abuse. We'll include some resources beneath, but here'southward what Lambert has to say:
"In full general, it's near edifice warm, supportive relationships, setting house boundaries, off-white consequences, monitoring, keeping track of who your kids are hanging out with, knowing their friends, and knowing their friends' parents as well," he says. "And actually one of the most important things is maintaining ongoing communication almost the risks of substance use."
Those conversations will vary by historic period, merely fifty-fifty young children tin can benefit from regular check-ins to larn about the pressures they're experiencing at school or what they're hearing from their peers. Regular chats also provide a baseline to nautical chart a child's state of mind and mental health, considering changes in behavior are sometimes — just not always — associated with substance utilise.
"That constant check-in lets them know you lot are a safe person," Lambert says. "It lets them know that they can bring these concerns to yous."
What are the signs of an opioid overdose?
According to the CDC, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are virtually often responsible for overdose deaths. At the same time, these drugs are hard to spot because there are no tell-tale tastes, smells or visual indicators. In that location are, however, signs associated with opioid overdoses. They include:
- Small, constricted "pinpoint pupils"
- Falling asleep or losing consciousness
- Dull, weak or no breathing
- Choking or gurgling sounds
- Limp body
- Cold and/or clammy peel
- Discolored skin (peculiarly in lips and nails)
What should I do if I think someone may be overdosing?
The CDC says information technology can exist difficult to tell whether a person is loftier or experiencing an overdose, adding that "If yous aren't sure, treat it similar an overdose — you could save a life."
Hither's what the CDC advises:
- Call 9-1-1 immediately. (Virtually states have laws that protect a person who is overdosing — or the person who called for aid — from legal problem.)
- Administer naloxone if available. (Naloxone is a life-saving medication that tin can reverse the furnishings of opioid overdose. It's available in all 50 states and can be purchased from a local pharmacy without a prescription in well-nigh states. Anyone tin carry naloxone, and it could potentially save a life.)
- Endeavor to keep the person awake and breathing.
- Lay the person on their side to prevent choking.
- Stay with the person until emergency assistance arrives.
Where tin can I go for more information?
There are a number of resources to larn more about the dangers of constructed opioids like fentanyl, as well equally prevention strategies and mental health supports. Hither are just a few:
- Life is Greater Than Drugs campaign past the Orange County Health Care Agency
- Fentanyl Facts by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- One Pill Can Kill campaign by the U.Due south. Drug Enforcement Assistants
- Orange Canton Health Care Agency'due south Behavioral Wellness Services
- Preventing Drug Utilize Amidst Children and Adolescents by the National Plant on Drug Abuse
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Source: https://newsroom.ocde.us/heres-what-parents-need-to-know-about-fentanyl/
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