"Fentanyl and various fentanyl analogs are highly potent synthetic opioids between fifty and hundreds of times stronger than heroin. Since 2013 they have killed hundreds of thousands of people in North America alone. Accidentally ingesting fentanyl-laced heroin, cocaine, ketamine, meth and other drugs—including counterfeit pharmaceutical pills—is the single greatest risk facing people who use drugs today." ~DanceSafe

Fentanyl was developed as a super-opiate pain killer for folks who have already exhausted regular opioids. This feels a lot like crack being introduced. There is no good reason for fentanyl to show up throughout the opioid supply chain (and now ketamine and MDMA) accidentally. Mixing in a powder that is lethal in doses you can barely see is poisoning the well.

I’m recommending you test all your powder and pill-based drugs (as usual) and now with fentanyl test strips as well. Visit DanceSafe to get drug testing kits and fentanyl testing information.

Get educated on how a fentanyl or opiate overdose can happen and what you can do to reverse it from the National Harm Reduction Coalition. If you are using opioids please make an overdose plan and get Naloxone (which can reverse an opiate overdose). You can find free sources for Naloxone here. Be very gentle on these non-profits doing harm reduction work for your community. Donate if you can. Help out if you can. Be super duper nice.

“Opioid overdose occurs when the level of opioids, or combination of opioids and other drugs, in the body render a person unresponsive to stimulation or cause their breathing to become inadequate. This happens because opioids fit into the same receptors in the brain that signal the body to breathe. If someone cannot breathe or is not breathing enough, oxygen levels in the blood decrease causing the lips and fingers turn blue, a process called cyanosis. Oxygen starvation will eventually stop vital organs like the heart, then the brain, and can lead to unconsciousness, coma, and possibly death. Within 3-5 minutes without oxygen, brain damage starts to occur, soon followed by death.” ~National Harm Reduction Council

Take special care if you choose to combine heroin/prescription opioids and other downers such as alcohol and benzodiazepines (Xanax). These all depress the central nervous system. Opiates bind to the receptors in your brain that make you think you are breathing. Get someone who is trained to administer Naloxone to watch you if you are using this combination. Ideally don’t use these in combination at all or use smaller amounts if possible.