Fentanyl is an opioid that’s 50-100 times stronger than morphine.
It is often mixed with heroin, but Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck says his officers who investigate overdoses are beginning to see it mixed with other street drugs.
Half of US overdose deaths involve fentanyl
According to a recent NBC News report, while some drug users are intentionally combining fentanyl with other substances, some users may not know that fentanyl is in the mix they’re taking. Drug overdose deaths in the US topped 100,000 in a 12-month period for the first time in 2021 and this year. Dr. Robert Anderson with the CDC says as many as half of those deaths involve fentanyl.
In Cayuga County, the HEALing Communities is working to try to reduce the number of overdoses and to help provide treatment and education to addicts.
Listen to my full Inside the FLX conversation with Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck below.
Related: New York ranks fourth in nation for fentanyl deaths, study finds
