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Fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic opioid which is over 50 times more potent than heroin. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a lethal dose can be as small as two milligrams or 7/100,000 of an ounce. Pills that contain Fentanyl are being manufactured in huge numbers. In 2023, various law enforcement agencies seized more than 115 million pills that contained fentanyl.
According to a recent NIH report, the problem with fentanyl is that it is responsible for a large number of deaths. “In 2022, over 107,000 people died of a drug overdose, with 75% of those deaths involving an opioid. The overall rise in overdose deaths is largely attributable to the proliferation of illicit fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Illicit fentanyl is highly potent, cheaply made, and easily transported, making it extremely profitable”.
To make matters worse, people are purchasing opioids on the internet and are not even aware that the drug they are purchasing contains fentanyl.
“While some people knowingly consume fentanyl, many people do not know if the drugs they plan to use contain fentanyl. This is especially true of illicit counterfeit pills, which are often made to resemble prescription medications such as oxycodone or benzodiazepines, but really contain fentanyl. Recent studies have reported a dramatic rise in overdose deaths among teens between 2010 to 2021, which remained elevated well into 2022 according to a NIDA analysis of CDC and Census data. This increase in deaths has been largely attributed to the widespread availability of illicit fentanyl, the proliferation of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, and the ease of purchasing pills through social media”.
What is unique about fentanyl is that a very low dose is fatal, it is readily available including through the internet and the purchaser isn’t often aware that they are purchasing a drug containing fentanyl. Fentanyl is largely responsible for the rapidly increasing number of deaths.
The fentanyl crisis is one that must be dealt with using new and innovate way to deter the manufacturing, distribution and sale of pills and other substances that contain fentanyl so we can protect the over 80,000 individuals who are dying from opioids per year.
In my opinion, the solution is to change the Federal law to the effect that anyone who is knowingly distributing, selling or manufacturing pills containing fentanyl that result in death is not only guilty of illegal drug trafficking but also guilty of murder and/or conspiracy to commit murder based on which legal category of murder best fits their actions.
Those who knowingly distribute, sell or manufacture pills containing fatal levels of fentanyl that do not result in death are guilty of attempted murder.
Arresting those involved in the fentanyl trade and charging them with murder or attempted murder is a much stronger deterrent to the selling of fatal doses of fentanyl.
The threat of murder charges at least will make those that make and distribute fentanyl products to be more careful about keeping the fentanyl levels in the products they sell below the lethal level or face the consequences.
This will save lives.
Well said, sir! Decent society (if it still exists) needs to be reminded that intent follows the bullet.