CHEAP, ABUNDANT STREET DRUGS
Fentanyl and its derivatives sufentanil, alfentanil and remifentanil are all synthetic phenypiperidine drugs, which are synthetic opioid receptor agonists.
A painkiller for countless patients, fentanyl has many side effects. The drug has gradually become a menace to social security across the United States, a society long plagued by opioid addiction and abuse.
Statistics by the Council on Foreign Relations in April indicated that opioids, primarily fentanyl, are the leading cause of U.S. overdose deaths, which have roughly quadrupled over the last ten years for which data is fully available. In 2021, the death toll surged to 80,411, more than 10 times the number of U.S. military service members killed in the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There have been three waves of opioid abuse in U.S. society, with fentanyl being the “main character” of the third wave.