Fentanyl is Very Deadly… Here's Why

Fentanyl has become a primary cause of the opioid overdose epidemic in the past decade. But what is it about this drug that's so dangerous? There's more to the story than meets the eye.

If you’re ever in the position where you think someone may have overdosed, but aren’t sure, the CDC says to look for things like pinpoint pupils, slow, weak, or absent breathing, and the person going limp and unconscious.

If you think an overdose really is happening, call 911 – most states have what are called Good Samaritan laws, which protect people from getting in legal trouble when calling authorities for help. Try to keep them awake and breathing and lay them on their left side to help prevent choking. If you have it, administer naloxone as soon as an overdose is suspected - there are Narcan training courses out there, and some even give you free Narcan to be used in an emergency. Stay with the person until emergency services arrive.

To learn more about overdose and drug addiction:

Hosted by: Reid Reimers (he/him)
----------
----------
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Matt Curls, Alisa Sherbow, Dr. Melvin Sanicas, Harrison Mills, Adam Brainard, Chris Peters, charles george, Piya Shedden, Alex Hackman, Christopher R, Boucher, Jeffrey Mckishen, Ash, Silas Emrys, Eric Jensen, Kevin Bealer, Jason A Saslow, Tom Mosner, Tomás Lagos González, Jacob, Christoph Schwanke, Sam Lutfi, Bryan Cloer
----------

Sources:

Fentanyl is Very Deadly… Here’s Why

Image Sources:

[bobowon]

I was given Fentanyl in an ambulance once. Instantly understood how people can get addicted to that. i went from barely being able to move due to pain, to feeling better than i've ever felt in my life.

[movingforwardLDTH]

Fentanyl was the only thing that stopped my BFF’s horrific breakthrough pain during the final years of her ultimately fatal rectal cancer. It was an absolute godsend and I’m forever grateful she had access to it.

[robertschrader]

I've been pronounced dead two separate times from fentanyl overdoses. Been locked up in state and federal custody and it got to the point that I was either going to die in prison or die in a trap house alone from. My state has some of the worst help for addiction and mental health with some of the highest rates of mental health issues and substance abuse rates in the US videos like this most definitely will help raise awareness of this problem. I'm grateful that being only 28 I've finally gotten myself together. I'll be on paper for 20 years but I couldn't care less and am grateful I will have 6 months sober in less than 2 weeks which is the longest time I've been off of everything including weed and alcohol since I was literally 6. videos like this definitely spread the truth that leads to people like me having their life saved and changed forever. Thank you for talking about this so much.

[Rithene]

As a chronic pain patient, I can't say how refreshing it is to see a no-nonsense, informative video that stresses the importance of prescription opioids and acknowledges the barriers to getting them. Not to mention openly acknowledges that being unable to get prescription opioids leads to using illicit ones. Thanks, SciShow!

[rosesweetcharlotte]

My stepdad had to use it when he was dying of cancer. My mom always was super careful applying it. She hid it from my stepdad so he didn't accidentally give himself too much. An hour after he died we had multiple people ask us for his his pain meds. We never even told anyone, they just assumed we had them.

And keep in mind, this started an hour after he did. His body was still in the house!

[stuckinadream]

These drugs were crucial to my grandma at the end of her stomach cancer. She raised me and I saw her cry once in my life. The second time was in so much pain when she didn’t have her meds with her. I am so grateful that she suffered so much less because of this drug. That said so many friends have died because of this drug that it’s almost a double edged sword. Use it in the right situation. As in hopefully you never will need it.
Good health long life.

[daltongrowley]

I'm glad you guys had the courage to talk harm reduction. A lot of people refuse to even discuss such things, and they are so effective.

[SpencerHHO]

Fentanyl was the only drug that got my wifes pain under control enough with her spinal injury to get to the next stage of treatment and management. It also relieves enormous suffering in terminal patients.

It also killed my best friend. If we had better harm reduction policies, including decriminalisation he would probably still be around today.

[xAlbinopiratex]

As a chronic pain patient I'm so tired of being judged by medical professionals and others for needing opioids to function.
I use the lowest forms of opioid and still get accused of being a drug seeker by Emergency Department staff if i go there for help.
I havent been to am emergency hospital for myself in over a decade for that exact reason.
I have so much medical trauma because of judgement and treatment by medical staff because they assumed i was faking my pain for drugs.
Its humiliating, and makes you feel like your have no worth in any way to anyone else.
I will forever be grateful to doctors who have taken me seriously and actually helped me, they've genuinely saved my life.

[OgdenM]

Fentanyl is no joke. I got it once after being hit by a car while riding a bike. I ended up on the hood of the car then on the ground within a second. (Luckily the car had just started rolling from being at a total stop).

Some witnesses called an ambulance. I at first said I was fine and the EMT's were like, "Ok, but we're gonna wait around for a bit." 2 mins later the adrenaline started to wear off and I started going into shock. I changed my mind about going to the hospital and like 60 seconds was in the back of an ambulance.

They immediately offered me a shot of Fentanyl and I was like, "Na, I'm fine." Shortly there after I was almost puking from laying down backwards in a fast moving vehicle and from the shock and on coming pain. I broke down and asked for the shot and within seconds the shock, pain and nausea just vanished.

And I asked for a VERY small dose. It was like 1/2 the normal dose that they would give I think.

It's a great drug when needed for stuff like that and chronic pain.

But woosh, taking it recreationally is asking for trouble.

[stellaluna]

Based on conversations with a relative of mine whose medical focus is pain management, the opioid crisis has made a lot of doctors reluctant to prescribe needed pain medication for fear of the consequences. People in chronic pain suffer more because they're not receiving treatment, and the options just seem to be suffer more and get dismissed or try to do something about it and get demonized as a drug user. The whole situation sucks. People in pain need affordable help, period. (and drug users, yes, even recreational drug users, are people and I don't want them to die)

[sadfrootloop]

im so glad to see more awareness around fentanyl, my sister overdosed about 2 years ago and i'm so lucky that she's still here today. she had been in addiction since she was in high school, me and my family really thought she wouldn't make it after so many failed attempts at rehab and just trying to find treatment. im proud to say my big sis will be a mother in april, she and her fiance got their own house. she's been 100% clean for a little over a year now!

[dbb]

I have had moderate to severe chronic pain since 1975 and this very good episode left out one huge problem facing Chronic Pain patients. That is actually getting the LEGAL Prescribed medications. Due to outside pressure many Dr.s simply will not prescribe them. The result is that people who desperately need these meds cannot get them even when they have responsibly and successfully used them for years. As a result when facing unrelieved severe pain they turn to the street in desperation.

[tylernatof]

Thank you so much for this informative content. I am fourth-year medical student, hoping to go into addiction medicine/psychiatry, and I am so deeply impressed by the balance this video strikes between being accessible to a general public audience while also being technically accurate.

[TylerVossler]

My cousin passed away July 29th from a fentanyl overdose in Portland, Oregon. I don’t believe he thought he was doing fentanyl, I believe he thought it was cocaine. Here in portland the drug epidemic seems to be a public health crisis in our city. Thank you for helping better understand exactly what happened with my cousin.

[dmckenzie]

I was a firefighter IV technician for 38 years and spent about half of my career on an ambulance until the end of 2019. We started carrying fentanyl instead of morphine about 20 years ago. One of my friends and coworkers got fired and did prison time for diverting our supply of fentanyl for personal use. He got clean in prison and stayed clean for a dozen years and then fatally overdosed on heroin on the 5th anniversary of his wife's death.

[theelvenjedi]

As a patient with chronic pain who does need to take opioids (not fentanyl but still opioid), when i saw the title at first i was lowkey a bit worried that this would be another "strong painkillers evil must ban!" video, but I'd just like to say thank you so much for clarifying the illicit fentanyl vs, pain patients actually getting it from their doctor and taking it as prescribed, difference. Its hard enough hearing people tell me I'm "too young to be dependant on such strong drugs" but it makes it way worse when people double down the OTHER way and straight up demonize it to the nth degree. I don't like that i have to take opioids at my age either tbh, but i also like being able to do things like walk and eat, so i kinda HAVE to so i can do those things 😅

[frosty_farms]

I lost my brother to this garbage in September of 2020.
People were barely waking up to how deadly it was and how quickly it was taking over.
I miss him so damn much.

[Bizket]

I work in low income housing in Seattle and we have seen a lot of tenants dying from fentanyl OD's. Thanks for making this video and helping to educate people. It should be noted that some of the illicitly made fentanyl is insanely resistant to naloxone. I had a tenant that passed away after 4 doses of nasal spray and two shots from the EMTs didn't bring her out of it. It can still be useful, but folks should be aware that it may take more than 1 dose of naloxone to help.

[johnnyarm]

Thank you guys for treating this topic properly, not demonizing opioids or their users and talking about HARM REDUCTION and its very real beneifits