FENTANYL

Today's Deadliest Phantom Killer.

What Is Fentanyl?

Descriptions

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid and prescription drug with analgesic and anesthetic properties similar to morphine. It was developed in 1960 and widely used under medical supervision. Like morphine, it is a medicine that is typically used to treat patients with severe pain, especially after surgery. Where patients may have chronic pain and resistance to other opioids it is sometimes used therapeutically.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) warns that fentanyl is 50-100 times more powerful than morphine with similar strength differential over heroin.

Analyte

Fentanyl

Street Names / Slang Terms

Apache, China Girl, China White, Dance Fever, Friend, Goodfellas, Jackpot, Murder 8, Tango & Cash

What Does It Look Like?

Crystals or crystalline powder. But rarely seen in that form when it is distributed illicitly.

With Illicitly Manufactured Fentanyl (IMF), recreational or habitual drug users can never be sure when they are being exposed as it is often cut into heroin or cocaine to be injected or snorted, increasingly manufactured into counterfeit versions of so-called “party drugs” such as Xanax or Percocet. Opioids users are not safe either with a number of deaths caused by fentanyl disguised as that class of drugs. With fentanyl showing up in, or masquerading as, so many drugs-of-abuse recreational or habitual users are exposed to a deadly threat without ever knowing.

How is it Used?

When cut into heroin or cocaine by illicit drug manufacturers and distributors it is injected or inhaled (snorted).

Counterfeit pill manufacturers distribute fentanyl disguised as prescribed medications, notably Xanax, Percocet and Opioids.

How Lethal Is Fentanyl?

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cites the potency of fentanyl to be 50-100 times more than morphine.
National Center for Health Statistics reported that for 2016 29% of all drug overdose deaths mentioned involvement of fentanyl. That represents a 1045% increase between 2012-2016 in the number of deaths by fentanyl annually.
The 2019 overdose crisis report by Vancouver National Health found 87% of overdose deaths in their health care area resulted from fentanyl.
The Department of Homeland Security reports its seizures of fentanyl increased from 70 pounds in 2015 to 3,500 pounds so far in this budget year. That is enough drug to kill 794 Million people.

“Drug incidents and overdoses related to fentanyl are occurring at an alarming rate throughout the United States and represent a significant threat to public health and safety.”

Drug Enforcement Administration

Why choose Psychemedics for Fentanyl Testing?

We are the only hair testing lab with an FDA-approved test.

The only one.

Psychemedics enjoys a long legacy of developing and delivering more FDA-approved drug screens to take on the most significant challenges today than any hair testing lab. Fentanyl is killing thousands each quarter, and is a public health threat that threatens every workplace and campus.

For many recreational drugs, we say “Certainty of Detection is the Best Deterrence”. In the case of Fentanyl a drug user may not know they are being exposed to the drug. Detecting fentanyl in a pre-employment or random drug test may literally be saving the life of someone who is being exposed inadvertently.

Large and small companies, private, public and faith-based schools and some of the country’s largest law enforcement agencies rely on Psychemedics to create drug-free workplaces and campuses. Why?

Unrivaled Detection. Unmatched Deterrence. Unequaled Legal Record.

Our non-invasive testing procedure uses a sample of hair that is up to 60% less than that required by any hair testing lab which is easily collected and shipped to our College of American Pathologists (CAP) and ISO-IEC 17025:2005 certified laboratory. Turnaround on most results is the best in the industry.

Psychemedics has detected more drug users for more companies than any hair testing lab in the world and our results have been accepted by courts across the country. Contributing to our unmatched legal track record, it is the only hair test with safeguards validated by the FBI to protect those tested from false positive results by differentiating between ingestion versus external exposure to a drug. Our clients confidently make policy decisions knowing that we go the extra mile to ensure fairness to those tested.

Only Psychemedics brings the surety and validation that an FDA clearance provide to a drug screen for Fentanyl.

Fast Facts About Fentanyl

Devastatingly Powerful.

By design this is a synthetic opioid that was designed to slow down a brain’s receptors to pain. And by any measure it is highly effective at doing that. The unfortunate outcome for unsupervised use of the drug is that it can shut down systems and kill rapidly. For a person unfortunate enough to overdose on Fentanyl, death comes in minutes rather than hours.

Kills In Disguise.

The sad truth is that many people exposed to fentanyl never see it coming. In a quest for lifetime customers, unscrupulous distributors cut cocaine and heroin with the drug to increase potency and addict more quickly. And illicit manufacturers create counterfeit versions of Xanax, Percocet and other “party” drugs that expose casual users to a deadly threat.

Daunting Numbers.

Statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse should convince even the most hardened cynic that this is a serious public health threat today.

From 2012-2017 deaths were up 983%
It accounts for nearly half of all opioid deaths
7,000/quarter in 2017 died of synthetic opioids

Keep Current On Drugs Of Abuse

We have put together an information sheet on Fentanyl to help you understand the threats and recognize the symptoms of inadvertent exposure or abuse. You can download the document for your reference or to share with others who may benefit from the information we have shared.

Download The Data Sheet

More Information About Fentanyl

Short Term Effects

Like heroin, morphine, and other opioid drugs, fentanyl works by binding to the body’s opioid receptors, which are found in areas of the brain that control pain and emotions. According to Medical News Today, the difference between a therapeutic dose and a deadly dose of fentanyl is very small. In fact, according to the same source oral formulations of fentanyl contain an amount of the drug that can be fatal to a child.

Fentanyl use can result in accidental death even with just one dose, especially common in cases where it is taken unknowingly after being cut into a more mainstream recreational drug or manufactured as a counterfeit pill. Given the drug’s heavy sedative effect breathing can slow or stop. A condition called hypoxia in which the brain is starved for oxygen can occur. Hypoxia can lead to a coma, brain damage that can be severe and permanent, or death.

Signs of an overdose include:

general slowing of respiration including heart rate and breathing
trouble walking or talking
faintness and/or confusion
severe sleepiness
cold, clammy skin
unresponsiveness or unconsciousness

Although overdose may be treated through administration of naloxone, in a moderate to severe overdose coma and death can occur in minutes.

Long Term Effects: Addiction and Withdrawal

After taking opioids many times, the brain adapts to the drug, diminishing its sensitivity, making it hard to feel pleasure from anything besides the drug. As with any addiction, drug seeking and drug use takes over lives.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, addiction is a severe long term side effect of fentanyl use, primarily because withdrawal is difficult. Withdrawal symptoms can begin as soon as a few hours after last use of the drug. This presents particularly daunting problems for people who have been exposed unknowingly and become addicted in the process.

Symptoms of withdrawals include:

muscle and bone pain
sleep problems
diarrhea and vomiting
cold flashes with goose bumps
uncontrollable leg movements
severe cravings

NIDA reports there are medicines being developed to help ease withdrawal from fentanyl and the FDA has approved lofexidine, a non-opioid medicine designed to reduce opioid withdrawal symptoms.

Can you spot the three people in this crowd who don’t know they were exposed to fentanyl?

Psychemedics can.

And that may just help you save their lives.

The Psychemedics Advantage

Your objective is a drug-free workplace.

Your challenge is to Detect and Deter every drug user.

Unrivaled Detection. Unmatched Deterrence.

That is the Psychemedics Advantage.