Fentanyl is Driving Overdose Deaths in Kentucky and Continuing to Increase
As authorities cracked down on prescription opioids and then on heroin, the black market offered up fentanyl as a substitute. Fentanyl – a synthetic opioid up to 50 times as strong as heroin and 100 times as strong as morphine – was developed for use as an anesthetic in the sixties. It is currently classified as a Schedule II narcotic, and it is used medicinally in end-of-life care. Fentanyl, although similar to heroin, is far deadlier. As little as six grains of salt worth o