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Articles on Fentanyl

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Approaching the opioid crisis from a public health perspective includes massively increasing access to care and treatment for patients experiencing substance use disorder. (Shutterstock)

The roots of the North American opioid crisis, and 3 key strategies for stopping it

There were more than 100,000 opioid-related deaths in North America in 2022. How the crisis grew to such proportions, and three potential paths to ending it.
Drug checking is a harm reduction practice that provides chemical analysis of substances. Fentanyl test strips help drug users ensure that substances are free of dangerous fentanyl. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)

Scaling up community drug-checking services in B.C. could help respond to the overdose crisis

Most consumables in Canada have quality controls that inform purchasing and consumption decisions. People who use illicit drugs deserve the same. Drug checking provides that harm-reduction service.
Although xylazine is not an opioid, naloxone can reverse the effects of the fentanyl and heroin it is often mixed with. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

What is xylazine? A medical toxicologist explains how it increases overdose risk, and why Narcan can still save a life

Xylazine, or tranq, is increasingly being mixed with drugs like fentanyl or heroin and can be difficult to detect. Most people who use drugs are unable to tell if they have been exposed to it.
Trends in recreational or illicit drug use often make the jump to Halloween warnings. Malte Mueller/fstop via Getty Images

Rainbow fentanyl – the newest Halloween scare

Like clockwork, September crime news is often cast as an ominous sign of what could happen on Halloween.
Methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine distributed by the Drug User Liberation Front, a grassroots organization proving a safe supply of illicit drugs, in Vancouver, in April 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Safer supply of opioids saves lives: Providing alternatives to toxic street drugs

People are dying from using a toxic drug supply. Safer supply and other approaches that listen to the needs of people who use drugs are critical to saving lives and addressing the opioid crisis.
Naloxone can prevent deaths from opioid overdose, but there is no way to reverse the effects of benzodiazepine overdose without risk. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward)

Benzo-dope’ may be replacing fentanyl: Dangerous substance turning up in unregulated opioids

Fentanyl adulteration led to the replacement of heroin in the unregulated drug supply of British Columbia. Now that benzodiazepines are present in many opioids, are we headed towards a ‘new normal?’
One potential way to make opioids less addictive is to make them target injured tissue rather than the healthy brain. PM Images/Photodisk via Getty Images

Designing less addictive opioids, through chemistry

While the COVID-19 pandemic raged on, the opioid epidemic got worse as drug overdose deaths soared. New research proposes a way to chemically modify opioids to reduce the risk of addiction.

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