DEA Considers Fentanyl to Have ‘No Medical Use’
Throughout the years, fentanyl has been considered one of the deadliest drugs around, responsible for killing thousands of people who just wanted to get their fix. When you’re a heroin user, you never quite know what you’re getting, and you honestly don’t really care. Sometimes, you might get heroin. Other times, you get a bunch of crushed up B vitamins pretending to be heroin and other times you get a baggie full of fentanyl. You just never know…
There’s tons of drugs out there that have no actual medical use and there are a lot of drugs out there that are abused that originally had medical applications for physical problems. Fentanyl actually had a medicinal use at one point. It was used in hospitals for surgical procedures and end-of-life pain and sometimes prescribed to patients who had persistent, painful conditions and was taken in the form of a patch or a “lollipop.” Fentanyl has changed over the years and most people who abuse opiates don’t abuse a pharmaceutical version of fentanyl. Instead, they abuse a type of fentanyl called cyclopropyl fentanyl, which has killed people in record numbers because of how strong it is. Cyclopropyl fentanyl isn’t the same fentanyl you get from the doctor. That’s fentanyl citrate. Cyclopropyl fentanyl is the synthetically created drug that’s coming over from China in massive quantities and distributed on American streets.
The DEA has issued a temporary order that considers cyclopropyl fentanyl as a Schedule 1 drug, alongside heroin and meth. Being a Schedule 1 means it has no medical use and is strictly banned. The DEA says the order is being issued to “avoid an imminent hazard to public safety.” Fentanyl never used to be on any DEA schedule and now, since deaths from fentanyl have risen 72% between 2014 and 2015, it’s been placed on the DEA schedule as one of the most serious drugs in existence.
The DEA said, “Recent state reports have indicated that increases in synthetic opioid-involved deaths have been associated with the number of drug products obtained by law enforcement testing positive for fentanyl but not fentanyl prescribing rates.”
Hopefully, now that fentanyl is a lot more restricted, we’ll start to see drops in death associated with its use. For those who are already addicted, seek help. Find a drug rehab that meets your needs and get off the drugs before it’s too late. You never know when your next shot will be your last.
