Illicit fentanyl: Still the perfect storm in science

In the past 3 years, illicit fentanyl killed nearly 250,000 people in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The estimated number of overdose deaths in the US caused by illegal supplies of the drug soared from about 3,000 in 2013 to almost 75,000 in 2023. In that year, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized—from would-be smugglers— more than 12,000 kg of fentanyl , enough of the drug to kill everyone in the US 18 times over . Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, 50–100 times as powerful as morphine. Doctors may prescribe it to treat people with severe pain—for example, after surgery. But because fentanyl is inexpensive and very little is needed to make people high, drug dealers often add it to cocaine and other illicit drugs, causing many people to take fentanyl unknowingly. The devastating effects of illicitly made fentanyl make headlines