fentanyl overdose epidemic!
Matt Yurus, WUSA6:08 PM. EST June 03, 2016
WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- The powerful synthetic painkiller that took the life of Prince is contributing to the death of users in the Washington, D.C. area as well.
The opiate is fentanyl, heroin"s deadlier cousin. Doctors prescribe it to cancer and hospice patients to curb severe pain. Dealers, however, sell heroin laced with fentanylbecause cost is low and supply and demand are high.
"I think when people first start using heroin, said Brie Smelser, a recovering addict, you don"t know what you are going to get, but as your tolerance builds, you look for heroin that"s cut with fentanyl."
Smelser described this lethal cocktail as euphoric. It is 50- to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to experts. Smelser said, I had a miniscule amount of heroin cut with fentanyl when my heart stopped.
It was December 2015. Smelser had been using for nearly a decade a habit she started after her brother lost his life to heroin. Narcan a drug often used by paramedics to reverse or block an overdose was injected into her nose. Her heart began to beat.
"After years of using, you just want to stop and you can"t, and it"s a very sad thing," Smelser said.
Police in Fairfax County told WUSA9 that fentanyl is being manufactured on the streets. Other experts confirmed that fentanyl street use does not originate with U.S. pharmaceutical companies or in doctors offices. (Fairfax County Police did encounter one case where a grandson stole his grandfathers prescribed fentanyl.)
Fentanyl looks like heroin, leaving some users unaware of what they are injecting, snorting or swallowing. Others, like Smelser, look for the heroin that kills you.
CSB Residential Treatment Services placed Smelser at a substance abuse program based out of a house in Vienna, Virginia, where she lives with other recovering addicts.
Smelser has been clean for five months. The track marks on her arm remind her of where she has been. Her journey, however, is far from over. She is out on bond for burglary, carrying a weapon and other charges. All crimes that she allegedly committed while she was high on heroin. She faces up to 25 years in jail.
When asked why she did it, the 26-year-old was momentarily speechless, trying to suppress her emotions.
Source: http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/dc/princes-death-sheds-light-on-fentanyl-use-in-dmv/230636868
