When Fentanyl Crashes the Party: The Fast and Deadly Downfall of Recreational Drug Use

When Fentanyl Crashes the Party: The Fast and Deadly Downfall of Recreational Drug Use

(Aka: Why Would a Drug Dealer want to Kill their Clientele)

It’s just weed, right?

Illicit drug use both from a “harmless” recreational level to a much more societally insidious and detrimental level with skyrocketing addiction rates, has brought a powerful and troubling adversary to the public in recent years. While varying forms of substances have been used for centuries for medicinal value they have always presented various effects that can be exploited to provide mind-altering, pleasurable results to the user. This ranges from the natural plant-based herbs up to and including marijuana, to the heavily processed and refined versions of other plant-based compounds, to the vast number of synthetically (lab) produced drugs. With explosive rates of growth in depression and mental illness, society has found itself falling into a rapidly revitalized drug abuse epidemic.

Where does fentanyl come from?

While the FDA has a system to regulate drugs based on their medical uses, one could argue there is no truly “safe” drug. As with all species, humans metabolize, respond to, react to, and process the drugs they consume in varyingly different degrees. In the last decades, a very potent, synthetic opioid compound (Fentanyl) has joined the realms of some very addictive and deadly substances. Opioids mimic their opiate cousins from nature.

• Opiate: a substance naturally derived from the poppy plant, papaver somniferum- used medicinally to treat pain or produce sleep (somniferum comes from Latin for “sleep inducing.” Codeine and morphine are medical examples and heroin is the illicit form. Heroin metabolizes into codeine and morphine.
• Opioid: a compound that resembles opium but is not naturally occurring. May have medical uses such as pain control or illicit uses. Oxycodone and fentanyl are examples of opioids which can be used to alleviate suffering or contribute to it through their addiction.

Looking at a history of anesthetic medications morphine sulfate is an original “gold standard” drug that was and is used by the medical profession for legitimate anesthetic/pain blocking purposes. As the scientific community began to develop more powerful synthetic drugs, Fentanyl entered the scene as a substance that is 100 times stronger than morphine. It is used medically in hospital settings using dosages of micrograms, rather than milligrams, because of its extreme potency. Wave Treatment Centers has noted an alarming trend of fentanyl overdoses due to misuse and diversion of the drug.

How do I know if my drugs are laced with fentanyl?

Modern medicine has had miraculous and life saving results with drugs like fentanyl when used appropriately. Unfortunately, it has also been found that fentanyl can be easily and extremely inexpensively synthesized for illicit uses as a “cutting” agent for street drugs. Many may think of “cutting” a drug like cocaine or heroin as a method to double or triple quantities of the substance by using an inert, tasteless, odorless substitute like talc, inositol or even powdered laxative. With Fentanyl entering the scene, drug traffickers have begun exploiting its equally inexpensive nature combined with its highly addictive nature. Their logic is to make their brand of drug more desirable than that of the competition because it adds a bigger “high”. It also becomes much more addictive assuring a repeat customer base. This very misguided business tactic may have helped increase sales for the trafficker but has also begun to thin the herd of customers as many are dying due to intolerance and physical naivety to the powerful nature of fentanyl. Dr. Jonathan Beatty and the staff of Wave Treatment Centers have identified fentanyl in numerous instances where a patient thought they were purchasing something much more innocent. It becomes a crapshoot.

The epidemic of lacing drugs with fentanyl is only growing and extending into other street drugs beyond heroin and cocaine.

• Buying “pressed” pills on the street which look like oxycodone “Perc 30s” “Roxys” in the right shape and color may actually be fentanyl
• Urine drug testing has revealed multiple cases where the user thought they were taking oxycodone but there was no oxy in the urine, only fentanyl
• People taking what they think they can handle such as oxycodone 30mg and have accidental overdoses because of the fentanyl

There really is no way to know if a user is obtaining a “safe” dose from a dealer. With the countless lives lost to overdose in recent years, this adds a terrifying new angle to the dangers of drug abuse and addiction. If you would like to know more or have any questions about the dangers of fentanyl or what treatment looks like, please contact Wave Treatment Centers: Contact us. 215.242.0420



Wave Treatment Centers specializes in outpatient detoxes (medically assisted withdrawal) where in many cases you are able to receive detox treatment in the office and home without having to go to an inpatient facility. Contact us. Detox is often the first step in a comprehensive treatment plan to help you get your life back.