Effect of fentanyl ranges from euphoria to respiratory arrest – 03/21/2023 – Health

Fentanyl, seized for the first time in Brazil in an action by the Civil Police of Espírito Santo, has two faces. On the one hand, it is used as a fast-acting and highly potent analgesic. On the other hand, it is the drug that kills the most in the United States.

The substance is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and, in the field of health, it is used both in surgeries and in the relief of severe pain, such as in cases of advanced stage cancer.

“Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, derived from morphine, and acts on pain receptors, promoting analgesia”, says physician Jedson Nascimento, member of the board of the SBA (Brazilian Society of Anesthesiology).

In hospitals, this opioid is applied to patients undergoing heart surgeries or neurological and orthopedic procedures. It is also used in intensive care, palliative care, and in diagnostic procedures that involve pain, such as colonoscopies and biopsies.

“Fentanyl was created in 1960, in the United States. It was released for use in 1968 and popularized in the 70s. Since then, it has been used as an analgesic in various anesthesia”, says Nascimento. “That’s more than 50 years of experience as a very effective therapeutic medication.”

The problem is the misuse of the substance. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the opioid is sold by drug dealers for its heroin-like effect and is often mixed with heroin or cocaine –with or without the user’s knowledge– to potentiate the euphoric effects.

“There is a feeling of euphoria and well-being that explains the addiction, but there can be several adverse effects, such as itching, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and the most feared thing is respiratory arrest”, warns the anesthesiologist.

According to the National Institutes of Health, in 2021 alone, 106,699 people died from overdoses in the United States, including cases from illicit drugs and prescription opioids. Of this total, 70,601 deaths were caused by synthetic opioids, mostly by fentanyl. Then there are drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine, methadone, benzodiazepines and heroin.

In December last year, federal agents claimed to have seized 379 million doses of fentanyl in the United States, enough to kill the entire population of the country, considering that only two milligrams of the opioid would be enough to lead to death.

In the opinion of the administrator of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration, the North American anti-drug agency), Anne Milgram, it is the most threatening narcotics that the United States has ever faced.

“Fentanyl is killing Americans at record rates. Many of them didn’t know they were consuming the deadliest drug our country has ever seen. They didn’t know that drug dealers are adding fentanyl to cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. They didn’t know that the pill that they bought from a dealer on social media contained fentanyl and that a single pill is capable of killing”, says Milgram in a video created in 2022 for the National Fentanyl Awareness Day.

“It is a substance that should be reserved for use by medical prescription”, reinforces Nascimento. “The indiscriminate use and without medical advice can culminate in a respiratory arrest that can be fatal”.