A piece of news published in the North American newspaper The New York Times* this week tells the story of a real estate agent accused of killing her husband with high doses of fentanyl, purchased illegally with the argument that she needed to obtain painkillers for “an investor who had a back injury”. Autopsy data showed that the victim had five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system, and that the drug was illicit and not medical.
ADVERTISING
This is just one of the cases that illustrate how this substance – which was created for medical use and applied only by healthcare professionals – is spreading for recreational and even criminal use around the world.
Fentanyl is a laboratory-created opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and about a hundred times more powerful than morphine. (Source: Drauzio Varela)
In the United States, fentanyl already leads in overdose deaths: just 2 milligrams can kill! It has been distributed on the streets of San Francisco, California, in clubs and nightclubs and there is a great search for the substance on TikTok, such as “synthetic heroin”.
ADVERTISING
“It has become more economical for the cartels, because they can produce fentanyl more easily than poppies for heroin,” explained Lusa Dean Shold, co-founder of the non-profit organization FentCheck, to the Portuguese website Publico
Growth of fentanyl in Brazil
Two scholars, Brazilian Francisco Inácio Bastos, senior researcher at the Institute for Health Communication and Information (Icict/Fiocruz) and professor Noa Krawczyk, from the Center for Epidemiology and Opioid Policy at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, mapped the problem here at Brazil.
The authors emphasize that, despite the warnings and actions necessary to contain the wave, There is no reason to panic, for now, here in Brazil.
ADVERTISING
“Until now, the emerging threat of a potential public health crisis driven by the spread of fentanyl has largely been addressed by a proactive media, few research groups and the immediate responses of Anvisa. A commitment from civil society, the scientific community and the government at all levels is extremely necessary”, say Francisco Inácio Bastos and Noa Krawczyk.
The Fiocruz researcher warns, however, that it is essential to improve the surveillance of medical fentanyl and other opioids, so that they are not diverted for misuse, especially in outpatient settings.
To this end, he recommends the adoption of treatment and awareness protocols for health professionals who serve at the gateway – emergencies – of the public and private sectors.
ADVERTISING
Be careful: the drug has been mixed with cocaine and other opioids and KILLS quickly!!
Read also
* The text of this article was partially generated by artificial intelligence tools, state-of-the-art language models that assist in the preparation, review, translation and summarization of texts. Text entries were created by the Curto News and responses from AI tools were used to improve the final content.
It is important to highlight that AI tools are just tools, and the final responsibility for the published content lies with the Curto News. By using these tools responsibly and ethically, our objective is to expand communication possibilities and democratize access to quality information. 🤖
