Fentanyl Is Starting To Show Up In Drugs That Aren’t Opioids, And It Has Public Health Officials Concerned
Although California has avoided the worst of the opioid epidemic, the drug market in the state is dominated by stimulants — the very drugs that have just started to be mixed with fentanyl.
Los Angeles Times:
A Dangerous Opioid Is Killing People In California. It's Starting To Show Up In Cocaine And Meth
Fentanyl, a potent opioid already responsible for thousands of deaths nationwide, is increasingly showing up in drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine in California, officials say. The white powder, a lethal substance 50 times stronger than heroin, is sometimes mixed into other opioids to produce a stronger high. Now its presence in non-opioids has public health experts worried that California may be staring down a new dimension of the deadly epidemic. (Karlamangla, 5/15)
In other news on the crisis —
KPCC:
How Your Culture Impacts The User Of Painkillers
Some research says one reason is the cultural resistance among many Latinos and other minorities to take pills for pain. KPCC health care reporter Michelle Faust meets a woman who turned away from opioids to use such methods as a sobadora, a practitioner who uses body manipulation and herbs to heal her patients. (Faust, 5/15)
KPCC:
In An OC Retirement Village Where The Rate Of Opioid Overdoses Is High, Seniors Turn To Pot To Treat Pain
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says one out of every three Medicare Part D beneficiaries got an opioid prescription in 2016. ...Researchers have also found that in states where medical marijuana is legal, there are fewer opioid-related overdoses and fewer prescriptions for pain pills written for Medicare enrollees. (Replogle, 5/16)