4 Ways to Spot Fentanyl in Your City

The opioid epidemic has been a major issue in the United States. Opioids are capable of causing severe damage to their users, including overdose and death. Fentanyl is one of the most dangerous opioids, as it can be up to 100 times stronger than morphine. The effects of fentanyl can be deadly with just one dose for some people, leading many to die during an overdose. It’s important to know how to identify this drug if you’re concerned that someone you know or love might have used it recently. Here are 4 ways you can spot fentanyl in your community.

 What are Opioids?

Opioids are drugs that act on opioid receptors in the central nervous system. More commonly, opioids include oxycodone and heroin. When opioids work on their receptors, they can cause feelings of euphoria, relief from pain, or a sense of well-being.

Fentanyl is one of the most dangerous opioids because it’s up to 100 times stronger than morphine. Fentanyl also has a very short half-life, which means it only lasts for about 30 minutes before being completely metabolized and gone from your bloodstream.

In addition to fentanyl’s short half-life, it’s also able to be mixed with other drugs such as cocaine and marijuana. This makes it difficult for people who are using these drugs at the same time to know what type of drug they’re actually taking. The mixing of these drugs often leads to fatal overdoses because there is no way for someone to know exactly how much fentanyl they’ve taken when they’re also taking other substances.

To avoid this, you want to be able to identify signs that someone might have used fentanyl if you suspect that they may have been using opioids recently. 

The Dangers of Fentanyl

Fentanyl has been linked to more than 30,000 deaths in the United States. It can be as strong as 100 times morphine, leading many users to die from an overdose. Ending the opioid epidemic is becoming a top priority for the federal government and local law enforcement officials. One way to do so is by knowing what substances are prevalent in your community and seeking help when needed.

The most obvious signs of fentanyl are its bright green color and powdery white appearance. If these two identifiers don’t exist, then it may still be possible to determine that someone has used fentanyl by looking at the residue left on items such as furniture or clothing. Fentanyl will also leave a sticky liquid behind which is much like water when dry. 

 How to Spot Fentanyl

 It’s important to know how to identify this drug if you’re concerned that someone you know or love might have used it recently. Here are 4 ways you can spot fentanyl in your community.

1. Fentanyl is colorless, odorless, and tasteless

Fentanyl can be found in many different forms, but they all have one thing in common: they are colorless, odorless, and tasteless. This makes it easy for people to take this drug without knowing it’s there.

2. The pills that fentanyl comes in are very small

Fentanyl comes in small doses called tablets or milligrams. These pills are so small that you would have to hold them up to the light to see if they’re actually a pill at all. This means that even if someone has overdosed on fentanyl, they might not know it if they’re not looking closely enough.

3. There are tiny lines around the edges of the pills

If you want to use fentanyl as pain relief, you will need a prescription for it from your doctor. That prescription will come with instructions about how many milligrams of fentanyl you should take and how often you should take them (usually every 12 hours).

When taking these prescribed amounts of this drug, there will usually be tiny lines around the edges of the pill where the pill meets its packaging; these lines act as a way for your needle to break through the package before injecting the actual drug into your body. If these lines aren’t present on one of the tablets or doses that someone is using, then this could mean that person is using fentanyl recreationally instead of just taking pain meds as directed. 

4. Fentanyl comes in three forms: pill, liquid, and dermal patch.

These variations allow fentanyl to be swallowed, smoked, snorted, or injected. Fentanyl is released from prescription patches by smoking or chewing.

 Possible Indicators of Fentanyl

• Fentanyl is sometimes mixed with heroin, cocaine, or meth.

• The color of the powder can be off-white to off-gray.

• It’s possible for people to overdose on fentanyl if they use it in combination with other drugs or alcohol.

• If a person has overdosed on fentanyl and the drug was not mixed with any other substances, it will likely appear as a milky white liquid and could have blue specks.

 Oasis Recovery Can Help 

While fentanyl has been in the news a lot recently, many people are still unaware of the dangers of using fentanyl. Fentanyl is a type of drug that can be mixed into heroin, cocaine, and other drugs. The drug is often highly addictive and has been involved in a number of overdose deaths in recent years.

As a result, law enforcement agencies have been ramping up patrols and looking for signs of fentanyl use. In this post, we’ve provided you with what you can do to spot the signs of fentanyl use in your community.

Fentanyl addiction can affect anyone. If you or a loved one are currently struggling with addiction, help is available! We encourage you to reach out to the professionals at Oasis Recovery to learn more about our personalized treatment programs and mental health services. Oasis Recovery was founded from firsthand experience of addiction and recovery, with a mission of providing a space where people can heal from addiction in a compassionate, creative, open-minded, and heart-centered environment. We believe recovery is always possible. Our experts work with you to design a treatment plan that fits your needs. Common treatment programs include:

• Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP)
• Full-time Addiction Treatment on campus
• Aftercare Services

Contact us today for more information about how our programs and services can help you get your life back on track. You no longer have to struggle with fentanyl addiction on your own. We are here to help.