A potentially fatal dose of fentanyl. [Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]
In the 1990s, growing use of painkillers such as Percocet and Oxycodone helped seed the opioid epidemic. Afterward, demand for heroin increased, exacerbating the problem.More recently, a surge in synthetic opioid fentanyl use has worsened the crisis. According to the CDC, more than 100,000 Americans now die from drug overdoses yearly. Of those, approximately 75,000 involve opioids, 64,000 of which involve synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
We spoke with Sarah O’Brien, a business development representative at Ark Behavioral Health, to learn more about the opioid crisis and the role fentanyl is playing in it.
In the following interview, O’Brien touches on how fentanyl has transformed the opioid epidemic and highlights the importance of accountability in addressing the crisis.
Fentanyl is up to 50 times…