Fentanyl the most potent and widely used synthetic opioid in the US

An article recently published by The Epoch Times stated that fentanyl is the “biggest killer” when it comes to the amount of overdose deaths from opioids. Data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse showed that the sharpest increase in drug overdoses in 2017 were attributed to fentanyl, working out at almost 30,000 overdose deaths.

Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and more powerful than heroin. More overdose deaths were due to fentanyl than heroin in 2017, with the number of heroin deaths amounting to 15,958. According to Dr. Denise Paone from the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care and Treatment in New York, someone dies of a drug overdose every 6 hours, where half of the 82 percent attributed to opioids are fentanyl related. Prescription opioids and heroin deaths are showing signs of lessening in the future, whilst fentanyl is seeming to be on the increase, according to ABC News.

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Our two New Psychoactive Substance Biochip panels (NPS I & NPS II) can test for synthetic opioids and designer drugs such as fentanyl, and can be tested across multiple matrices. Our Evidence range of immunoanalysers are developed to provide the most efficient and accurate drug testing available in the market.

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