Illicit opioid use causes life changing effects to society and incarcerates people by way of crime, addiction, and death.
Fentanyl is a very strong synthetic opioid approved by the Food and Drug Administration for legal use as an intravenous pain reliever. The drug is 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Fact Sheet.
It was created in 1959 and placed into practice in the 1960s. In 2011 and 2021 there were lethal overdoses associated with the drug’s use, as law enforcement encounters became greater than before, stated the DEA.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, people who sold Fentanyl mixed it with other drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine. The drug becomes risky when it’s hidden in other drugs, because the Fentanyl is unknown to the user and therefore enables an overdose.
This kind of mixture makes the drug’s production cheaper and deadlier because it only requires a small amount for a user to become high. When the drug comes from a source other than a doctor’s prescription, it is illegal, noted the Institute.
Ingestion or injection of the drug may be fatal to the user because a person’s body may not be able to handle the strong effects.
The artificial opioid comes in many forms: powder, nasal spray, eye drops, and lozenges similar to cough drops, said the article.
As other opioids do, Fentanyl binds to the brain’s opioid receptors and makes it difficult to experience pleasure from anything else except the drug. The area in the brain where fentanyl is found controls pain and emotions.
An overdose causes a decrease in the flow of oxygen that reaches the brain. This is called hypoxia, which can lead to permanent unconsciousness, according to the article.
To prevent an overdose, Naloxone a.k.a. Narcan, a nasal spray, can be administered. The drug reverses the effects of fentanyl by quickly binding to the brain’s opioid receptors, therefore blocking the drug’s effects.
Narcan must be administered right after an overdose and may have to be applied multiple times if a person remains unconscious, reported the story.
Fentanyl is addictive. People who are prescribed the drug can experience dependency, which is characterized by withdrawal when use is stopped.
Strong withdrawal symptoms may occur hours after the drug was taken. Indicators of withdrawal include muscle and bone pain, sleep deprivation, and harsh cravings, said the organization.
According to KFF Health News Demian Johnson was incarcerated 35 years and then released in 2018. He works for Five Keys, a non-profit program based in San Francisco that helps returning citizens combat substance abuse.
Johnson says that one of his friends passed away from an overdose after spending years in prison.
“He had nobody to save him, to bring him back or to issue him some Narcan. It’s not hard for me to figure out why so many are succumbing to these really, really potent drugs,” said Johnson.
Addiction becomes apparent when there is a compulsion to seek out the drug and when basic necessities become neglected.
In California, incarcerated individuals released from prison receive instructions on how to recognize someone who is overdosing, how to immediately administer Narcan, and how to perform CPR.
The Five Keys program also assists those living in low-income areas, where parolees are often housed, and a disproportionate number of minorities and people with disabilities, stated the Health News.
According to the Department of Justice Criminal Justice Statistics Center, California prisons have had deaths related to substance abuse overdoses.
In 2022 there were 12 overdose deaths in California Prisons and in 2023 there were 18.
As a method of overdose prevention, CDCR has begun distributing Narcan to each incarcerated person.
In a recent Memo the California Correctional Healthcare Services said that every incarcerated person will have access to Narcan nasal spray and training in how to administer the anti-overdose treatment.