Fentanyl is the most dangerously potent and addictive widely available opioid on the market. Knowing as much as possible about it is crucial to stay safe. Many people are addicted to fentanyl because it is finding its way into other street drugs—a trick traffickers and dealers use to keep customers coming back. If you or someone you know suffers from a fentanyl addiction, seek information and support at a fentanyl abuse treatment center like Virtue Recovery Killeen.
Because fentanyl is partly responsible for keeping the opioid epidemic in the news, many people want to know: How addicting is fentanyl? What are the risks of this drug, and how can people avoid being dosed with it in something else? Reach out to Virtue Recovery Killeen to get answers to these and other questions and find out how you can get help. Use this online form to connect or call us at 866-843-0545.
How Addictive Is Fentanyl?
Many things about fentanyl make it highly addictive and dangerous. Some of the unique, addictive features of this drug are the following:
- Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and is used medically to keep post-surgical and cancer patients pain-free in hospital settings. Imagine a drug that can achieve that effect but with 100 times less of it.
- Multiple delivery systems make it too easy to take. Manufactured, both illegally and legally, as a pill, patch, lozenge, liquid, or powder means that fentanyl can easily be snorted, injected, ingested, smoked, or sprayed under the tongue or into the nose. Aerosolized fentanyl is undetectable, and people can be exposed without realizing it.
- The fact that fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin makes it especially dangerous. A tiny dose—0.25 milligrams—can enter the bloodstream through touch. The medical formulation of fentanyl, created in pharmaceutical labs, is often delivered via skin patches, sublingual tablets, or nasal sprays. These delivery systems make this drug quick to absorb and thus easy to overdose. Without knowing they’ve been exposed, someone can have a deadly amount in their system via touch and continue to take more without realizing the danger.
- Fentanyl that is manufactured and sold on the street is not labeled. It does not come in a bottle marked fentanyl, nor is its potency listed. It often comes hidden in another drug, from cocaine to heroin to cannabis. The high someone gets taking a fentanyl-laced hit of what they think they’re using is directly affected by the fentanyl. One hit can cause an overdose, but if not, it can lead swiftly to addiction, given the power of the masked drug unwittingly taken.
If you or someone you love is at risk, take that first step to get information and help.
About Fentanyl Addiction
If you have gone from being a dabbler—someone who occasionally uses drugs in social settings—straight to addiction, and you don’t know how it happened, chances are you have been exposed to fentanyl. Look through the following signs of fentanyl addiction. Reach out for help if you:
- Spend a lot of time trying to score
- Lie to friends and family and avoid them because of drug use
- Are failing to meet school or work commitments
- Can’t concentrate or remember things anymore
- Make bad decisions
- Feel spikes in anxiety or have severe depression
- Go through early withdrawal when you go without
- Have suicidal thoughts
You are not alone, and help is available.
Find Fentanyl Addiction Treatment in Texas at Virtue Recovery Killeen
Our staff is ready to answer any questions about one of the deadliest drugs. How addictive is fentanyl? It’s too dangerously addictive to continue using. We understand addiction and how difficult it is to admit you have a problem and then make that painful first step toward recovery. But with professional, evidence-based treatment in our outpatient rehab program, you can do it. Call 866-843-0545 today or use our online form to connect with someone immediately.
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