by Maria Giovanna Faiella
Fentanyl is a powerful opioid drug used as an anesthetic and analgesic to treat severe pain, especially oncological pain: it must be used under very strict medical supervision, but in the USA its use as a narcotic has now become widespread. The situation in Italy
According to local authorities, the minor daughter of two Silicon Valley billionaires who has been missing for a few days may be in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, known as a Fentanyl dealing area. But what is fentanyl? What are its effects? Why shouldn’t it be used for pleasure purposes? Is it true that it can cause death? What is the situation in Italy?
What it is and what it is used for
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that is used in clinical practice as an analgesic (with effects similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potent) and as an anesthetic.
Like morphine, it is a drug used, under very strict medical supervision, to treat severe pain, especially in surgery, traumatology and oncology.
Sometimes, always on medical prescription, it is also used to treat patients with chronic painful pathologies, if resistant to other opioids.
Side effects
The distorted use of opioids (like others) can lead to very serious effects on health, up to and including death.
Fentanyl (and its derivatives) causes opioid-like effects in humans such as: sedation, drowsiness, mental confusion, miosis, nausea, vomiting, constipation, dizziness, up to life-threatening symptoms such as rapid respiratory depression, unconsciousness, coma and death.
Even small doses can be lethal.
Inhalation of dust is the most insidious route of exposure, typical of illegally manufactured fentanyl.
Illegally produced (including in nasal sprays)
Fentanyl can be used for luxury purposes using both products diverted from the pharmaceutical market and clandestine products distributed through illegal drug markets (it is associated with drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine ed.), as explained in «National prevention plan against the improper use of Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids» recently adopted in Italy.
Illegally produced, fentanyl is available on the market in several forms, including liquid and powder. In its liquid form it can be found in nasal sprays and eye drops.
Deaths in the United States
The United States is a primary market for numerous transnational drug trafficking organizations, which continue to supply the country with cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), deaths from synthetic opioids have increased dramatically since 2013, reaching approximately 73,000 in 2022, mostly due to fentanyl.
In Italy
At the moment there is no fentanyl emergency in Italy. To prevent and combat the risk of the opioid being used illegally for non-healthcare purposes, our country has adopted a “National Prevention Plan against the improper use of Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids” with specific prevention and contrast.
April 27, 2024 (modified April 27, 2024 | 4:19 pm)
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED