As International Overdose Awareness Day dawns on Aug. 31, Washington state's largest county has set a new record for fentanyl-related deaths in one year. Public Health – Seattle & King County reports that 217 people in the county have died this year from confirmed fentanyl overdoses. The previous top total, 172 deaths, was set last year.

UW Medicine addiction researcher Caleb Banta-Green says drug manufacturers and dealers are purposefully making and selling counterfeit pills that are actually illegally made fentanyl. The synthetic opioid is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.

“It's usually made to look like pills, so it has this image of safety. But it is profoundly strong and has very, very high risk for both addiction and overdose. And it's really just flooding the market,” says Banta-Green. He is the principal research scientist at the Addictions, Drug and Alcohol Institute (ADAI), within in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

The probability of illegally-purchased pills containing fentanyl has grown extremely high, he says. “If you didn't get that pill from a pharmacy, it is 99% likely to be fentanyl, and there's no way for you to tell."

An important factor in the fight to slow the momentum of fentanyl is minimizing the stigma for people who are battling an addiction.

“The vast majority of people don't want to be using," says Banta-Green. "They want to reduce their use, they want to stop their use, but they're not currently able to access services. And part of that might also be that when they do ask for help from friends and family, there's a lot of shame and stigma that kind of pushes them back into the shadows.”

Read a related Q&A  with Banta-Green about the growth in fentanyl use.

Resources

• International Overdose Awareness Day: remember a loved one, connect or post on social media, or learn more about overdose.
• Stopoverdose.org
  • Where to find naloxone in WA State
  • Opioid Overdose
  • Stimulant overdose/overamping
• Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution Program, WA Department of Health: resources on opioid overdose response, Statewide Standing Order for naloxone, and learn more about how your organization can start to distribute naloxone.
• LearnAboutTreatment.org, resources and education on treatments for opioid use disorder and stimulant use disorder.
• Washington Recovery Help Line can connect you with options for substance use disorder treatment including with their medications for opioid use disorder treatment locator.