Fentanyl Is the Lethal Drug That Killed Prince — And Nobody Seems to Be Talking About It
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Prince's cause of death has been confirmed: The pop icon overdosed on a potent synthetic opioid called fentanyl.
Fentanyl is up to 50 times more powerful than heroin and up to 100 times more powerful than morphine, and is "the most potent opioid available for use in medical treatment," according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Like other opioid drugs — such as heroin, oxycodone and morphine — fentanyl binds to opioid receptors in the brain and fuels the production of dopamine, which triggers pain relief and feelings of pleasure. Fentanyl can be taken in a number of formats, including intravenously, intranasally or as a tablet, patch or lozenge. Doctors can prescribe it, but it's also being sold on the streets.
Fentanyl-related overdoses have been occurring "at an alarming rate" in recent years, the DEA stated. In this year alone, the drug has been linked to 10 deaths in 12 days in the Sacramento area, at least 19 deaths in 11 days in Buffalo and eight deaths in a single week in Milwaukee County.
Given the staggering number of fentanyl-related deaths — Prince's included — there's no question we need treatment options for folks who are addicted to it.
But which treatment option works best? "The jury is still out," John Merrigan, register of the Franklin County Probate and Family Court in Massachusetts and co-chair and founder of the Opioid Task Force, said in a phone interview Friday.
In the opioid-addiction-treatment community, there's debate over which forms of treatment are superior. Some treatments involve completely abstaining from drug use — think 12-step programs or abstinence-only rehab centers. Others involve using legal, less euphoric opioid drugs — such as Suboxone or methadone — to manage withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings.
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