Legislation enforcement seizures of tablets containing fentanyl elevated dramatically between 2018-2021 as per a examine printed in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, funded by the Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a part of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.
Proportions of complete tablets seized are discovered to be greater than doubled, with tablets representing over 1 / 4 of illicit fentanyl seizures by the tip of 2021. The examine additionally discovered a rise within the variety of fentanyl-containing powder seizures throughout this time.
‘Variety of particular person tablets seized by legislation enforcement is discovered to be elevated almost 50-fold from the primary quarter of 2018 to the final quarter of 2021.’
Almost 106,000 folks died from drug overdoses within the 12 months ending in October 2021. This rise is largely pushed by illicit fentanyl and different artificial opioids.
“A rise in illicit tablets containing fentanyl factors to a brand new and more and more harmful interval in the USA. Tablets are sometimes taken or snorted by people who find themselves extra nave to drug use, and who’ve decrease tolerances. When a tablet is contaminated with fentanyl, as is now usually the case, poisoning can simply happen,” says NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, MD.
“For the primary time we will see this fast rise in tablets adulterated with fentanyl, which raises pink flags for growing danger of hurt in a inhabitants that’s probably much less skilled with opioids. We completely want extra hurt discount methods, corresponding to naloxone distribution and fentanyl take a look at strips, in addition to widespread training concerning the danger of tablets that aren’t coming from a pharmacy. The fast message right here is that tablets illegally obtained can comprise fentanyl,” says Joseph J. Palamar, Ph.D., M.P.H., affiliate professor on the NYU Grossman Faculty of Medication and co-investigator on the NIDA-funded Nationwide Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS).
Supply: Medindia
