WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OPIOIDS, PRESCRIPTION DRUGS & THE DANGERS OF FENTANYL
SPEAKER SERIES
On May 9, 2023, National Fentanyl Awareness Day presented a series of free, virtual webinars with issue-area experts on an array of topics related to the illicit fentanyl crisis. Recordings of various sessions are available below.
NFAD #1: What Parents Need to Know About Fentanyl Poisonings and Overdoses
NFAD #2: Fentanyl in Party Drugs: Harm Reduction Strategies
NFAD #3: The Illicit Fentanyl Crisis: Different Paths to Common Ground
NFAD #4: How Fentanyl Really Shows Up in Our Communities: Who, Why, When, Where and Now
NFAD #5: Predictable Patterns of Drug Overdose Deaths: Does Fentanyl Follow the Rules?
SAMHSA OVERDOSE PREVENTION AND RESPONSE TOOLKIT
Father Who Lost Son to Fentanyl Shares Story as Warning to Other Parents
Dr. Phil
Deceived to Death:
The Fentanyl Crisis in America
Fox News
The Poisoning of America
What You Need To Know About Fentanyl
WHAT IS FENTANYL?
Fentanyl is a potent prescription synthetic opioid drug approved by the FDA for pain relief and anesthetic.
Prescription opioids are powerful drugs with a high risk for dependency. Fentanyl is 80-100 times stronger than morphine. A lethal dose of fentanyl is the size of 2 grains of salt.
WHY SHOULD I BE MORE CONCERNED ABOUT FENTANYL THAN OTHER SUBSTANCES?
While you should be concerned about all youth substance use, fentanyl is different because it’s so deadly.
According to data from the CDC, in 2020 there was a 560% increase in overdose deaths fueled by fentanyl. In the illicit drug market, fentanyl is being mixed with other drugs, such as cocaine, oxycodone, and Adderall. Criminal drug networks are flooding the market with fake pills and other drugs laced with fentanyl.
Kids aren’t intentionally looking for fentanyl, and they’re unaware it’s been added to the substances they’re seeking. As a result, kids are being poisoned by fentanyl at a staggering rate.
HOW ARE KIDS GETTING FENTANYL?
Fake prescription pills and other illicit substances are easily accessible and often sold on social media and e-commerce platforms making them available to anyone with a smartphone, including minors. Those at risk include casual users, partygoers, experimenters, regular users, and even unsuspecting bystanders who may come into contact with the powerful opioid.
HOW CAN I PREVENT FENTANYL USE?
Education is a key part of helping today’s youth make healthy choices. They need accurate information from trusted sources. That’s why your role is so crucial when it comes to the fentanyl crisis. Neither kids today nor their parents are aware of the growing dangers of fentanyl poisoning.
Research has shown that kids who have opportunities to discuss the harms of drug use with caring adults fare much better.
Even if substance use is the last thing you need to worry about with your kid or your students, perhaps their awareness could save a friend.
ONE PILL CAN KILL
The Drug Enforcement Administration warns the American public of the alarming increase in the lethality and availability of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Here are a few quick facts:
- Criminal drug networks are mass-producing fake pills and falsely marketing them as legitimate prescription pills to deceive the American public.
- Counterfeit pills are widely available, and DEA and its law enforcement partners are seizing deadly fake pills at record rates.
- Counterfeit pills are more lethal than ever before. The number of DEA-seized counterfeit pills with fentanyl has jumped nearly 430 percent since 2019. DEA lab testing reveals that 2 out of every 5 pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose.
- The only safe medications are ones prescribed by a trusted medical professional and dispensed by a licensed pharmacist.
Red Table Talk
An Urgent Warning
From Bobby Brown
32.5% of teens indicate prescription drugs are easier to get than illicit drugs.
KNOW THE FACTS
What Is Prescription Drug Misuse?
Prescription drug misuse has become a large public health problem, with misuse leading to addiction and a rise in overdose deaths at epidemic levels. National and state statistics also show that prescription drug misuse among teens is a growing problem.
While some studies show that the perception among some teens (and even adults) is that prescription drugs are safer than street drugs, the truth is that prescription drug abuse is dangerous and can cause havoc in a teen’s mind and body, and even death.
How Are Prescription Drugs Misused?
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) for Teens, the following are ways by which people misuse prescription drugs:
- Taking someone else’s prescription medication. Even when someone takes another person’s medication for its intended purposes (such as to relieve pain, to stay awake, or to fall asleep) it is considered misuse.
- Taking a prescription medication in a way other than prescribed. Taking your own prescription in a way that it is not meant to be taken is also misuse. This includes taking more of the medication than prescribed or changing its form—for example, breaking or crushing a pill or capsule and then snorting the powder.
- Taking a prescription medication to get high. Some types of prescription drugs also can produce pleasurable effects or “highs.” Taking the medication only for the purpose of getting high is considered prescription drug misuse.
- Mixing it with other drugs. In some cases, if you mix your prescription drug with alcohol and certain other drugs, it is considered misuse and it can be dangerous.
Operation Prevention sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA Educational Foundation, and Discovery Education’s Operation Prevention, Public Service Announcements aimed at preventing other teens from abusing opioids.
Third Place – Jake Sandvik of Cody High School in Cody, Wyoming for his video, Wanna.”
Dave Bratton
“Echoes” Short Video for Coalition’s Social Media
MOST COMMONLY ABUSED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
OPIOID PAINKILLERS
DEPRESSANTS
STIMULANTS
Teenagers abuse narcotic pain relievers more than any other prescription medicine. Mentions of these very powerful drugs as reasons for emergency room visits have nearly tripled over the recent decade. Vicodin (hydrocodone) OxyContin (oxycodone) Percocet (oxycodone and acetaminophen) Darvon (propoxyphene) Codeine May be medically useful
Opioid Medications Commonly Misused By Teens: Vicodin (hydrocodone), OxyContin (oxycodone), Percocet (oxycodone and acetaminophen), Darvon (propoxyphene), Codeine
May be medically useful for:
Treating moderate-to-severe pain, such as after surgery or dental procedures.
Teens abuse opioid painkillers to:
Feel pleasure or sensations of well-being
Sedatives, sedative-hypnotics, and tranquilizers affect brain systems to produce a drowsy or calming effect, sometimes to the point of inducing sleep.
Depressant Medications Commonly Misused By Teens:
Benzodiazepines: Valium (diazepam) Xanax (alprazolam) Ativan (lorazepam) Klonopin (clonazepam) Restoril (temazepam)
Non-Benzodiazepine Sedatives: Ambien (zolpidem) Lunesta (eszopiclone)
Barbiturates: Mebaral (mephobarbital) Nembutal (pentobarbital)
May be medically useful for:
Treating anxiety, severe stress, panic attacks, and insomnia in the short-term, as well as some types of seizure disorders and muscle spasms.
Teens abuse depressants to:
Feel calm and sleepy with less tension, anxiety, or panic — these are feelings that go away as the body becomes drug-tolerant.
Stimulants increase the amounts of circulating brain chemicals that raise blood pressure and heart rate, speed up breathing, decrease appetite, and deprive the user of sleep.
Stimulant Medications Commonly Misused By Teens:
Ritalin, Concerta (methylphenidate) Adderall (mixed amphetamine salts) Focalin (dexmethylphenidate) Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine)
May be medically useful for:
Treating attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy; short-term treatment of obesity.
Teens abuse stimulants to:
Feel especially alert, focused, and full of energy; to help them to manage stressful schoolwork or “pull an all-nighter”; or to suppress appetite in order to lose weight
Source: Morgan State University – School of Community Health and Policy
OVER-THE-COUNTER (OTC) DRUGS
OTC drugs are available at any pharmacy without a prescription. Like prescription drugs, they’re safe when used according to packaged instructions or when recommended by a doctor familiar with your medical history and other medications you may be taking.
Cough Medicines Teens can get high by taking cough medicine in excess. What makes them high is a cough suppressant ingredient called dextromethorphan, or DXM for short, found in more than 100 OTC products.
In syrups, tablets, capsules, lozenges, and gelatin capsules, DXM is found most often combined with other substances, such as antihistamines, expectorants, decongestants, and/or simple pain relievers.
Coricidin cough and cold tablets Contac cold, flu products Theraflu products Robitussin cough products Tylenol cold products … and many others, including store brands. To know if a product contains DXM, look on the label for “dextromethorphan” in the list of active ingredients.
Medically useful for: – Treating coughs and colds safely and effectively, when used according to directions. Abused by teens to: – Experience DXM’s effects, which range from euphoria to feelings of enhanced awareness to distortions of color and sound to visual hallucinations to “out-of-body” sensations, when users lose contact with their senses.
Dangerous because: – DXM’s negative physical effects from overdose include rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, diarrhea, seizures, panic, drowsiness, confusion, dizziness, blurred vision, impaired physical coordination, and coma.
Some users may become violent. – Side effects may be worse when DXM is used with other medications or with alcohol or illegal drugs.
Overdoses of other ingredients found in DXM-containing medicines have their own serious side effects, including: – Acetaminophen (pain reliever) = liver damage. – Chlorpheniramine (antihistamine) = increased heart rate, lack of coordination, seizures, and coma. – Guaifenesin (expectorant) = vomiting. – Pseudoephedrine (decongestant) = irregular heartbeat, headaches, difficulty breathing, anxiety, and seizures.
INTERNET AND DRUG MISUSE
Then there’s the Internet, which has been at the center of an explosion of information of all kinds, good and bad.
You can find useful information on the Web about the risks from the nonmedical, recreational use of prescription and OTC drugs. But you can also learn how to abuse them.
Many websites describe for would-be abusers what kinds of cough syrup they should buy, how much to take, and how to extract its intoxicating ingredient. Most disturbingly, it is as easy for a teenager to buy narcotic pain relievers like Vicodin or stimulants like Adderall or sedatives like Xanax over the Internet as it is to buy a book or CD.
Enter “no prescription Vicodin” in your Web browser’s search bar, and you’ll find numerous websites ready to sell your son or daughter various prescription drugs—without the nuisance of an actual prescription or even asking your child’s age—delivered to your home in an unmarked package.
But the most immediate source of prescription and OTC drugs is your own medicine cabinet or the medicine cabinets in the homes of your child’s friends. New and expired or forgotten prescriptions or last winter’s OTC flu medicines could be inviting targets for the teenager looking to get high.
Source: The Partnership for a Drug-Free America