Menifee Addiction Treatment Centers

As of 2018 in the United States, half of all opioid overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl. A report examining the 42,249 opioid overdose deaths that occurred in 2016 showed that about 45.9% of them involved fentanyl in some way.¹ This deadly opioid is much more powerful than other drugs in the same family, such as heroin and oxycodone—so much so that just a few grains can trigger an overdose and lead to death.

Since the drug is a white powder and cheap to manufacture, more drug dealers have mixed fentanyl into other drugs to extend the supply and make more money. Fentanyl has been found lacing heroin and cocaine across the country, and it is sometimes sold in place of heroin or illicit versions of prescription narcotics.¹

In the summer of 2017, a fentanyl lab was busted in Riverside County.² Because this drug is so harmful, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents had to wear special hazmat suits to prevent themselves from sniffing fentanyl hanging in the air or that might be sent airborne during a search and seizure operation.² Menifee, California, and surrounding Riverside County cities have been part of a drug highway that runs from Mexico through California to the rest of the U.S. This highway is designed to distribute illicit drugs, and fentanyl is now on that dangerous path.

If you are struggling fentanyl abuse or any drug addiction, help is available. Research some of the treatment options listed here to start your journey to recovery.

1. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). (2018). Nearly Half of All Opioid-Related Overdose Deaths Involve Fentanyl.
2. Press-Enterprise. (2017). Fentanyl Is on the Rise in the Inland Region – as Evidenced in Lake Elsinore Arrest, Authorities Say.