I am sure you have heard of drugs like cocaine, heroin, morphine, etc.., but have you heard of an even dangerous drug called fentanyl? Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine according to the CDC. Fentanyl comes in different forms like powder and liquid, and can also be mixed with other drugs (like the ones mentioned above), making it very dangerous. Furthermore, fentanyl is a drug that is highly addictive and hard to stop using; AKA: the extreme pain relief drug.
Fentanyl was created to treat strong pains, like if you have cancer. The problem is that fentanyl has become a street drug that is easy to get a hold of. The drug is deadly and many people have overdosed on it. It has become a problem because think about it, having a deadly drug out on the streets that anyone could get ahold of, is ridiculous. The drug is not only causing death but also being visibly used in the streets, like LA. To add on, homeless people in the streets like LA are dying due to the drug according to a Fox News, “Nearly 2,000 homeless people died in the city from April 2020 to March 2021, a 56% increase from the previous year, according to a report released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.”
Fentanyl has killed many Americans, the CDC stated in a DEA article, “The CDC estimates that in the 12-month period ending in October 2021, more than 105,000 Americans died of drug overdoses.” In my opinion and the opinion of many people, opioids like Fentanyl have taken over our country and have caused lots of tragedies. I think that manufacturers of this drug, like Teva for example, should stop production of this drug due to the ongoing crisis of drugs. To add on, Teva has provided 4.25 billion dollars over a 13 year period to address the opioid crisis and they will also provide Naloxone to help reverse overdoses. As long as companies benefit from people buying drugs and medicine, the drug epidemic will continue its large death toll.