The danger of fentanyl was made very clear to my family just last week, and that was in a hospital context. My mother was having an outpatient procedure that required general anesthesia. She'd had severe reaction to fentanyl during a previous procedure, so she made sure a "no fentanyl" note was placed in her chart and on her bracelet, and she communicated that directly to the medical staff, including the anesthesiologist. And then during the procedure she started to wake up early, so the anesthesiologist made the decision to give her a "micro" dose of fentanyl. She stopped breathing and it took two doses of Narcan to save her life. When she regained consciousness, the nurse in her room was crying and told her they'd almost lost her. I can only imagine the risks involved when taking pill with an unknown amount of fentanyl in a non-hospital setting.
Your perception of how deadly the drug problem is to our population, particularly our youth is right on. The underlying causes are many but certainly inequality, no national health care, a corrupt political system and a tendency to seek out autocratic leaders with simple but deadly answers are a few.
Why are the fake pills being laced with fentanyl? What is driving the illegal manufacturers to add it to the formula? Is the intention to increase addiction or to commit murder? It's a criminal conspiracy either way. Thanks for the article, Nick. Excellent as always.
My professional area of expertise is addiction and mental illness. I suspect that the numbers that Mr. Kristof cites are the best he can find, but they are probably underestimated because a death certificate may cite another cause of death, especially in deaths related to alcoholism. Among those might be heart or liver disorders or even dementia, the proximate but not ultimate cause of many deaths. We need to modernize our approach to addiction disorders. In my area, there are few inpatient treatment beds, even though we are a tourist area where people "party." Some doctors provide treatment with suboxone or other drugs, but people with addictions need more than a drug. They need counseling and training in how to lead drug-free lives. We have too few psychiatrists with addiction training and we have too few psychiatrists with dual diagnosis training. Psychiatry is among the lowest paid of all medical fields, so many doctors choose more lucrative specialties. This is true almost everywhere. We need a national imperative that encourages more doctors to train in this field and to treat addicts and alcoholics. Perhaps using national medical service that forgives student loans is one possibility, but there must be many more choices if we want to fix this problem and save lives.
What's your estimation of the amount of financial resources we need in Oregon to address the issue as you have proposed, and if we do have them, what do we take them from?
Personal experience: A young man in his 30's, son of my wife's best friend, took a single pill that he thought was Percocet for pain from his gout. His mother found him and called the EMTs. They administered Narcan twice and revived him, but he was DOA at the hospital. That was a year ago, and his mother is still wracked by grief.
The police analysis of the remaining pills said that they included enough Fentanyl to kill most people. They also found the number of a known drug dealer on his cell phone.
Have you read “ How The South Won The Civil War” by Heather Cox Richardson? One of the reasons our society does not respond to this type of issue is a view of society where government does not worry about or help individuals. I would love your thoughts on that book.
I appreciate you and all the work you are doing. I agree with your sentiment about how we need to do more for people with childhood trauma and other aspects of life that cause people to self medicate. The current minimum wage is so very offensive.
So true, but many young adults lack fear. I recognize the photo of Charlie because he was a classmate of my daughters at Santa Clara University. A group of public health students (including daughter) did their capstone project on the dangers of fentanyl. In surveys, they found that students where unaware of the drug, the dangers of it and the worst outcome- death. The conference helped to educate and inform. Also, they were able to give attendees Narcan spray and training. It's not a solution to the drug problem, but it can help save a life.
Finally, someone intelligent, well-meaning, moral, and rightfully incensed, speaks up loudly, clearly and grammatically, and doesn't ask for money at the end. Nick, I have donated yearly to the charities you have singled out, and have thanked you for bringing them to my attention. I do wish you could and will run for public office again. I am truly frightened about the future of our country. Barbara Lipton
I think perhaps that an unaddressed part of this issue is pain itself. I am very fortunate that I did not become an opioid addict. I developed symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia ("the suicide disease") a few years ago, and it came at a time when I was already dealing with a lot. My mom had trigeminal neuralgia and suffered intensely from it for 15 years, so I was scared. But I found a pain app that teaches a mind/body approach to pain (it's called Curable - I've no other affiliation with them) and thankfully was able to stop the trigeminal pain through the exercises and through altering some things about my use of vitamin B12. The app is really good and Curable Health's podcast and Facebook videos are excellent. I think we need broader education about mind/body relationship and also about pain - what it is, what it isn't, how the brain plays its role in the experience of pain, what we can do about it if we encounter it. I wish emotional pain could be understood and worked with in a similar way, but haven't found that yet. If a person knows, though, to seek help other than a pain pill, then they're going to have that much more of a chance to avoid addiction. What Curable taught me is that when you take the time to get toknow yourself and to learn the terrain of your own experience more closely, and to cultivate skills to navigate it, it can substantially improve your experience of life. I had a bad (deep, but relatively small area) burn accident back in 2006 and was given one Fentanyl lollipop in emergency, followed some pain meds at home. I wish I'd had Curable's app then, and wish I had known about how to manage the trauma and pain of such a deep and painful body wound. It was sheer luck that I didn't end up getting addicted to pain pills after that accident.
If people were getting adequate pain relief from their doctors through pharmacies they wouldn't be so quick to turn to illicit sources for it. But we are not, so we do. Yes, we cause much of our own pain. We're sedentary and we overeat. We're stressed, anxious and we don't sleep. When medical providers look the other way, we try taking things in hand ourselves and get scammed, get sold poisonous pain pills of dubious origin. Why not expect doctors to do their jobs?
Fentanyl is the new way to have a war with America without a weapon. Clearly this kills more Americans than the cited wars. Where do the pills laced with fentanyl come from? We are at war with them and we are losing.
As the founder of the non-profit Conquer Addiction, I couldn't agree more -- the growth in the use of fentanyl in street drugs and counterfeit drugs is terrifying. The DEA reported in late 2021 that 40% of all the counterfeit pills they confiscated that year contained lethal amounts of fentanyl! This 20 second video shows the spread of fentanyl-related deaths across the country: https://www.conquer-addiction.org/When-One-Pill-Kills
The danger of fentanyl was made very clear to my family just last week, and that was in a hospital context. My mother was having an outpatient procedure that required general anesthesia. She'd had severe reaction to fentanyl during a previous procedure, so she made sure a "no fentanyl" note was placed in her chart and on her bracelet, and she communicated that directly to the medical staff, including the anesthesiologist. And then during the procedure she started to wake up early, so the anesthesiologist made the decision to give her a "micro" dose of fentanyl. She stopped breathing and it took two doses of Narcan to save her life. When she regained consciousness, the nurse in her room was crying and told her they'd almost lost her. I can only imagine the risks involved when taking pill with an unknown amount of fentanyl in a non-hospital setting.
I am so pleased you continue to write your very special and poignant articles.They makes my day.Susan Uchitelle
Your perception of how deadly the drug problem is to our population, particularly our youth is right on. The underlying causes are many but certainly inequality, no national health care, a corrupt political system and a tendency to seek out autocratic leaders with simple but deadly answers are a few.
Why are the fake pills being laced with fentanyl? What is driving the illegal manufacturers to add it to the formula? Is the intention to increase addiction or to commit murder? It's a criminal conspiracy either way. Thanks for the article, Nick. Excellent as always.
My professional area of expertise is addiction and mental illness. I suspect that the numbers that Mr. Kristof cites are the best he can find, but they are probably underestimated because a death certificate may cite another cause of death, especially in deaths related to alcoholism. Among those might be heart or liver disorders or even dementia, the proximate but not ultimate cause of many deaths. We need to modernize our approach to addiction disorders. In my area, there are few inpatient treatment beds, even though we are a tourist area where people "party." Some doctors provide treatment with suboxone or other drugs, but people with addictions need more than a drug. They need counseling and training in how to lead drug-free lives. We have too few psychiatrists with addiction training and we have too few psychiatrists with dual diagnosis training. Psychiatry is among the lowest paid of all medical fields, so many doctors choose more lucrative specialties. This is true almost everywhere. We need a national imperative that encourages more doctors to train in this field and to treat addicts and alcoholics. Perhaps using national medical service that forgives student loans is one possibility, but there must be many more choices if we want to fix this problem and save lives.
What's your estimation of the amount of financial resources we need in Oregon to address the issue as you have proposed, and if we do have them, what do we take them from?
Personal experience: A young man in his 30's, son of my wife's best friend, took a single pill that he thought was Percocet for pain from his gout. His mother found him and called the EMTs. They administered Narcan twice and revived him, but he was DOA at the hospital. That was a year ago, and his mother is still wracked by grief.
The police analysis of the remaining pills said that they included enough Fentanyl to kill most people. They also found the number of a known drug dealer on his cell phone.
Have you read “ How The South Won The Civil War” by Heather Cox Richardson? One of the reasons our society does not respond to this type of issue is a view of society where government does not worry about or help individuals. I would love your thoughts on that book.
I appreciate you and all the work you are doing. I agree with your sentiment about how we need to do more for people with childhood trauma and other aspects of life that cause people to self medicate. The current minimum wage is so very offensive.
So true, but many young adults lack fear. I recognize the photo of Charlie because he was a classmate of my daughters at Santa Clara University. A group of public health students (including daughter) did their capstone project on the dangers of fentanyl. In surveys, they found that students where unaware of the drug, the dangers of it and the worst outcome- death. The conference helped to educate and inform. Also, they were able to give attendees Narcan spray and training. It's not a solution to the drug problem, but it can help save a life.
Very scary stuff.
Finally, someone intelligent, well-meaning, moral, and rightfully incensed, speaks up loudly, clearly and grammatically, and doesn't ask for money at the end. Nick, I have donated yearly to the charities you have singled out, and have thanked you for bringing them to my attention. I do wish you could and will run for public office again. I am truly frightened about the future of our country. Barbara Lipton
I think perhaps that an unaddressed part of this issue is pain itself. I am very fortunate that I did not become an opioid addict. I developed symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia ("the suicide disease") a few years ago, and it came at a time when I was already dealing with a lot. My mom had trigeminal neuralgia and suffered intensely from it for 15 years, so I was scared. But I found a pain app that teaches a mind/body approach to pain (it's called Curable - I've no other affiliation with them) and thankfully was able to stop the trigeminal pain through the exercises and through altering some things about my use of vitamin B12. The app is really good and Curable Health's podcast and Facebook videos are excellent. I think we need broader education about mind/body relationship and also about pain - what it is, what it isn't, how the brain plays its role in the experience of pain, what we can do about it if we encounter it. I wish emotional pain could be understood and worked with in a similar way, but haven't found that yet. If a person knows, though, to seek help other than a pain pill, then they're going to have that much more of a chance to avoid addiction. What Curable taught me is that when you take the time to get toknow yourself and to learn the terrain of your own experience more closely, and to cultivate skills to navigate it, it can substantially improve your experience of life. I had a bad (deep, but relatively small area) burn accident back in 2006 and was given one Fentanyl lollipop in emergency, followed some pain meds at home. I wish I'd had Curable's app then, and wish I had known about how to manage the trauma and pain of such a deep and painful body wound. It was sheer luck that I didn't end up getting addicted to pain pills after that accident.
If people were getting adequate pain relief from their doctors through pharmacies they wouldn't be so quick to turn to illicit sources for it. But we are not, so we do. Yes, we cause much of our own pain. We're sedentary and we overeat. We're stressed, anxious and we don't sleep. When medical providers look the other way, we try taking things in hand ourselves and get scammed, get sold poisonous pain pills of dubious origin. Why not expect doctors to do their jobs?
Fentanyl is the new way to have a war with America without a weapon. Clearly this kills more Americans than the cited wars. Where do the pills laced with fentanyl come from? We are at war with them and we are losing.
As the founder of the non-profit Conquer Addiction, I couldn't agree more -- the growth in the use of fentanyl in street drugs and counterfeit drugs is terrifying. The DEA reported in late 2021 that 40% of all the counterfeit pills they confiscated that year contained lethal amounts of fentanyl! This 20 second video shows the spread of fentanyl-related deaths across the country: https://www.conquer-addiction.org/When-One-Pill-Kills