A Dangerous Synthetic Opioid Now Showing Up in Crack Cocaine

Fentanyl-laced crack cocaine is causing life-threatening overdoses. According to researchers, within a four-day period, 18 patients in a Philadelphia hospital were treated for an apparent opioid overdose after using crack cocaine. Lead study author Dr. Utsha Khatri explains, “None of them had intended to use opioids or fentanyl, but their drug testing, as well as their clinical presentation, argued they had been exposed to pretty high doses of fentanyl.” Fentanyl has been increasingly found in drugs including heroin and cocaine, as well as methamphetamine, ketamine, and counterfeit prescription pills. Emily Feinstein, the executive vice president of the Center on Addiction concludes, “We’re really in a fentanyl epidemic right now… Overdose death rates are really driven by fentanyl.” New England Journal of Medicine, October 2018