Different Ways that People are Abusing Fentanyl

Ways That People are Abusing Fentanyl

There are several different ways that people are abusing fentanyl. One of the most popular forms of abuse involves squeezing the gel out of the patch and sucking on it.  Others choose to chew on the patch. It is incredibly easy to overdose when abusing this drug.

A lot of people don’t realize how potent the drug is and accidentally consume too much of it. The gel from a patch isn’t meant to be sucked on, so this form of abuse causes drug users to swallow many harmful chemicals, which can cause organ damage.

Another common way people are abusing fentanyl is to place the patch between their gums and cheeks. Additionally, the other two significant ways that people abuse fentanyl is through smoking and injection. Many users will scrape the gel from the patch and smoke it in the same way meth is smoked using tinfoil.  Fentanyl is also frequently mixed into a solution, prepped and injected.

Even More Dangerous Ways People are Abusing Fentanyl

Even more dangerous than using fentanyl alone is mixing it with alcohol or other drugs. Now many individuals are mixing fentanyl with cocaine or with heroin. Drug dealers add illegally produced fentanyl to cocaine and heroin.  This form of fentanyl is even more potent than prescription fentanyl.

Dealers add it to other drugs without the user’s knowledge. Unfortunately, this lack of knowledge results in many fatal overdoses in the United States today. The users are not expecting the drug they are receiving to be as potent as it is. Many heroin overdoses are a result of fentanyl being added to the heroin. However, they are being recorded as straight heroin overdoses because the coroner’s office does not check for fentanyl unless asked to do so.