We have become accustomed to news about Fentanyl. The street version of this synthetic broke on our collective consciousness Fentanyl is Killing, Still (November 2021); Drugs and Overdose (January 2022) Overdose in the News (June 2022); The Fourth Wave (September 2023); Kill Every American (December 2022); A Vaccine Against Being High (January 2023). I have been reasonably clear on my feelings about overdose.
And there was the news of a horse tranquilizer making its way into the American street drug society. Xylazine (December 2023). That was apparently being mixed with Fentanyl to make a bad thing worse.
I have not experienced the challenges personally. Nonetheless, I know of families that have confronted this challenge. It is not discussed at cocktail parties, but there are those nagging and surprising deaths of young people. When someone in the prime of youth suddenly passes away, there is whispering, conjecture, and occasionally outright admission. Drug overdose is a real thing impacting real people.
A toddler in Los Angeles was visiting his mom and "somehow" came into contact with Fentanyl. Somehow that is allegedly the Welfare system's fault instead of the mother's. In North Dakota, the supplier of Fentanyl was convicted of murder in a Fentanyl death. In Houston, another supplier was recently charged. You don't have to look very hard to find the personal or societal impacts of synthetic opioids.
The CDC reports that efforts at prevention and education may be helping. The final numbers are not in for 2023, but "provisional data" suggests that
"there were an estimated 107,543 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 2023—a decrease of 3% from the 111,029 deaths estimated in 2022. This is the first annual decrease in drug overdose deaths since 2018."
That is still more overdose deaths than American lives lost in the Vietnam conflict. According to Statista, the lives lost in all American wars has been 1,304,447. Think on that, this country has lost about 1.3 million in all the wars dating to 1775. On average, 5,238 American lives were lost each year in our 249-year history of independence.
And in this century we have lost 1,243,539 lives to drug overdose. That is correct, in 2024, the aggregate American overdose deaths for the 21st century will exceed the American deaths in all wars over the last 249 years. The rate of overdose death is simply astounding.
It has gotten so much worse since I started writing about this. See Dying to Me Don't Sound Like All That Much Fun (October 2013) and Unintended Consequences (September 2014).
And, the undeniable driving force is synthetic opioids. It is impacting people who chose to ingest it and a wide assortment of men, women, and children who are accidentally exposed. It is, a pandemic.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) recently brought news of a new threat; "new synthetic opioids called nitazenes." The BBC notes that these "drugs are stronger than heroin and fentanyl, a prolific killer in the US." They are "produced in illicit labs in China and brought into the UK," where they are "mostly mixed with heroin."
Doctors in the UK are suspecting that these substances are increasingly present and dangerous. But, they are not being tested for in many overdose deaths. The health system is simply not equipped to perform those tests. Dr Pucci said: "I believe there are very few NHS labs around the country that are set up to test for nitazenes. According to officials in San Diego, the US is not much better prepared to test for this new threat.
It is a new threat. The experts quoted think that these nitazenes have killed over 100 people in the UK. They are raising concerns and fear in increasing and pernicious threat. They contend that "Nitazenes are not going to be stopped until we get this word out. People are going to die." And, the lucky ones will live through exposure to this new threat, but nonetheless suffer hospitalization and health challenges.
"Stronger than heroin and fentanyl." There is an American pandemic of literally epic proportions. People are dying at the hands of Fentanyl, and there are new threats emerging from even more powerful chemicals. Some will pursue them, others will simply encounter them. You likely already know someone who knows an overdose victim. Eventually, you will know a victim.
It is a devastating trend, a tragic situation, and yet there seems to be a complacency. In 2024, we will almost certainly see the 60,908 overdoses that will push this century's total overdose deaths past the total aggregate American deaths in all wars. The numbers are simply staggering.
