NEW YORK CITY — Fentanyl, a synthetic painkiller originally used to help dying cancer patients, has provided deadly fuel to the city's opioid epidemic over the past few years.
The drug, which is 50 times more powerful than heroin, was linked to nearly half of all fatal overdoses across the city last year, as sellers mix it in to batches to increase potency and drive up profits, experts said.
"Dealers have figured out that they can make much more money by adding in fentanyl because it's much cheaper," Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon told DNAinfo New York. "Fentanyl is accessible and it's profitable."
Part of the reason for the spike in deaths is that it takes a much smaller amount of fentanyl to cause an overdose than heroin, experts said.
Last year, 1,374 people died from overdoses across the New York City — a 46 percent increase from 2015 — and fentanyl was found in 44 percent of those cases, according to the Department of Health.
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5 comments:
This is a God sent drug, just like AIDS, it helps cull the herd of degenerates and addicts.
The Chinese are constantly synthesizing new compounds that end up here in various forms. It's the new Cold War to bring America to its knees. Mexicans and Dominicans maybe making and smuggling it but it's not their invention they are not that smart and we are not either if we allow this blight to continue. The whole mess is illustrative of the surplus of apathy and hopelessness that is plaguing our culture and peoples desire to tune out and feel no pain. You know its a mess when fat ass Chris Christie takes a stand on a true social issue.
Coming across Mexican border being smuggled by illegals and legal aliens. NYC judges are letting them go on low bonds. Sad.
That practice (adding Phentynal to heroin) is just bad business.
Stop doing it.
Just sell the good quality heroin the CIA is selling to you and everybody will be happy.
NO! It was first used in the O.R. as an anesthetic drug. It never should have left the O.R. lock box. but there were some physicians who "just have to have it" in their offices, which essentially put it out on the streets!
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