Fentanyl: Pharmaceutical vs Illicitly Manufactured

Surges in opioid overdose rates have been driven primarily by fentanyl analogues, not prescribed opioids. The media, politicians, and even professional anti-opioid advocacy groups continue to muddy the waters with propaganda and deception. These fentanyl overdoses rarely involve pharmaceutical fentanyl. It’s the illegally manufactured and chemically manipulated analogues of fentanyl that have allowed its opioid agonism potency to become unmatched, even compared to fentanyl itself. Jeffrey Bettinger, PharmD, discusses. He is a pain management clinical pharmacist at the Saratoga Hospital Medical Group in upstate New York.