This past June, the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that music icon Prince died as a direct result of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, the prescription drug that is said to be 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.
Although the Purple One met his demise in his Minnesota hometown, the country’s northwestern region is currently combating a potential epidemic should the pills continue to circulate in their current format in the streets of Sacramento and Fresno.
According to ABC30, California’s capital reported 28 overdoses — six of them fatal — back in March and Fresno County Sheriffs are seeing an increase in investigations for the prescription meds (as well a synthetic street version) that are making their users drop like flies.
“They thought they were dealing with powdered heroin, but when the lab came back with results on the substance in the bag it turned out to be fentanyl,” an undercover deputy told the station. “The new concern for us right now is that synthetic opioids are going to take over that market, and it seems they are quickly doing that.”
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The biggest age demographic is reportedly 18-to-25-year-olds, exactly the type of users one would expect to experiment with drugs without fear of lethal dosage or reprimand from their bodies.
“We have seen a rise in that age group, and so, especially a lot of people that are coming from the methadone clinic and needing residential treatment as well, because they can’t stay clean or they want to kinda detoxify. And so, they need a safe and secure environment to do that in,” Shawn Jenkins, an employee of the Westcare drug treatment facility said.
CNN reports that whoever is creating the counterfeit contraband is “well-versed in chemistry” and has all the equipment to make it possible.
In other words, Walter White is real.
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Unfortunately, the rise of fake fentanyl doesn’t appear to be solely a United States problem — it’s a North American problem. Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail recently compiled data and found that British Columbia and Alberta had a combined 415 fentanyl-related deaths last year alone.
Many suppliers and dealers are said to have a hand in mixing the pills to boost the effectiveness of heroin and OxyContin and Canada has narrowed down imports from China as a big catalyst for the ongoing issue.
“Even if we wanted to now suddenly take action, there’s nothing we can do,” Benedikt Fischer, a senior scientist at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, admits. “We have no way of controlling thousands of illegal drug labs in China.”
Popping pills have become a recreational pastime for many of today’s youth, including a chunk of the Hip Hop audience.
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Travis Scott’s undeniable classic record “Antidote” celebrated its one-year anniversary this week and can also be deemed as a promotional vehicle for the cult of swallowing pain medication.
On his 2012 breakout sophomore studio album, Mac Miller rapped sweet nothings for the drug with the lyrics “Love me, love me, that fentanyl, it numb me” on the track “Someone Like You.” Likewise for Three 6 Mafia legend Lord Infamous, who once boasted how he ingests “fentanyl after amphetamines” on the opener to his Scarecrow Tha Terrible Part Two release in 2013.
The end result was Miller conducting a subsequent press tour to commemorate his sobriety but Infamous, unfortunately, didn’t get the same opportunity. He passed away from a heart attack at the age of 40 shortly after his album was released.
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It’s just something to consider next time the party atmosphere calls for swallowing a little white pill that no one knows the origin of.
