Fentanyl one of the most lethal and addictive drugs ever in the U.S.
Fentanyl one of the most lethal and addictive drugs ever in the U.S.
Transcript
00:00 No narcotic or opioid has been more lethal and menacing to Americans since the decade began than fentanyl.
00:06 Since 2021, an estimate of over a quarter of a million or 250,000 deaths and counting
00:12 have been attributed to the highly addictive illegal drug.
00:15 For a clearer picture on the problem, VOA paid a visit to a harm reduction center in Washington state
00:21 to see how addicts interact with their counsel that Julia Rivera covered in this report.
00:29 Hello dear, how are you?
00:31 I originally was prescribed prescription opioids for many years and then with the loss of insurance and
00:39 stricter regulations it was easier just to, you know, just get them up from somebody on the street.
00:47 Megan DeFranco is among the 75% of opioid addicts that the National Institutes of Health or NIH
00:54 says were introduced to opioids through a prescription.
00:57 People don't choose to have this. I thought what I was using was prescribed.
01:02 The drug OxyContin once dominated the legal and illegal opioid market, but today fentanyl,
01:09 most of it illegally produced, is behind most opioid-related deaths according to the NIH.
01:14 I'm kicking it.
01:16 Hello.
01:18 Johnny Bailey works for a group in Washington that provides help for drug users.
01:22 It's called HIPS, which stands for Honoring Individual Power and Strength.
01:27 Fentanyl now is essentially in everything.
01:30 Over 90% of the overdoses that are fatal are fentanyl.
01:37 According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 150 people die every day
01:45 from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
01:49 Back here is where we have showers.
01:51 It's so depressing sometimes because you're just inundated with death and poverty and stuff.
01:59 It took the death of someone close to DeFranco to get her to stop using.
02:04 She began a detox program at HIPS.
02:06 You know, recovery, I'm not going to say it was perfect because, you know, you have the angel devil,
02:13 but I was able to pull through.
02:17 So, yeah, it took a few times, though. It took a few tries.
02:20 But it is an epidemic just like anything else, and, you know, it's education, education.
02:27 The National Institute on Drug Abuse says between 40 to 60% of people who try to quit using opioids relapse.
02:35 And inside is this.
02:37 Johnny Bailey is a recovered addict.
02:40 I'm coming up on 10 years, and when I got myself together, I went back to school to get a social work degree
02:46 because my mission was to be able to bring the things to people that I wish I had.
02:52 I went from being unemployed in a squad, high school dropout, separated, to having my marriage be fantastic.
03:02 Opioids are a global problem, particularly in the U.S.,
03:06 where they are the leading cause of U.S. overdose deaths, according to the CDC.
03:11 Julia Riera for VOA News, Washington.