Fentanyl made in clandestine labs has proven to be highly deadly and is increasingly found in a range of drugs beyond heroin, including cocaine and fake prescription pills. Still, it prompts the question: Why would suppliers be willing to kill some of their customers?
Fentanyl was created in the 1960s as a legitimate drug to treat pain in cancer patients and others.
Drug agents detected a spate of fentanyl-related overdose deaths in the Midwest around 2005 and 2006, prompting a major crackdown on a lab in Toluca, Mexico. Yet a major seed had been planted in the traffickers’ minds, said Derek Maltz, who used to run the Drug Enforcement Administration’s special operations division.
Fentanyl is often characterized by lawmakers and others as a form of poison infiltrating communities, though experts say the drug taps into the same brain receptors as other opioids, resulting in robust markets among users looking for a quick high despite the risks. “It takes very little to produce a high with fentanyl, making it a cheaper option,” according to a National Institutes of Health fact sheet. “This is especially risky when people taking drugs don’t realize they might contain fentanyl as a cheap but dangerous additive. They might be taking stronger opioids than their bodies are used to and can be more likely to overdose.”
Even if a dealer is increasing the odds their customer will be dead within five years, “you will still make more money as a dealer of fentanyl-laced cocaine over those five years than you would selling them unadulterated cocaine for the rest of their life,” Mr. Humphreys said.
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