What is it like to be addicted to fentanyl: a user’s testimony

They started calling them “zombies” because by consuming fentanyl their body begins to act slowly, clumsily, almost unconsciously, as they bend their legs and arms.

This powerful synthetic drug has been the cause of the death of at least 70,000 people in 2022 according to US National Institute on Drug Abuse . And, although it was created in the mid-90s, its consumption exploded with the pandemic.

Its “popularity” is due to its similarity to morphine and its much cheaper price. According to a report from The country It all started in the United States, when some pharmaceutical companies “flooded” consultations with pills called Oxycontin, an opioid that promised to relieve pain and was used in heart surgeries.

But without realizing it, an army of addicts began to form on the streets, which increased the already established opioid epidemic, only Now a much more powerful drug was circulating, capable of killing 2,000 people by overdose per week.

At first, they imported fentanyl from China, but according to investigative journalist Sam Quinones, after Beijing banned the sale, The drug trafficking mafias of Joaquín Guzmán and El Chapo were convinced by a chemist to start mass producing it. But the big problem is that they never knew how powerful it was and they started killing their customers.

“Part of the problem, then and now, is that Traffickers don’t know how to use it or how to cut it.

After the arrest of “El Cerebro,” the man who convinced drug dealers to sell fentanyl, he told police: He had warned them that the powders had to be diluted up to 50 times before selling them, instructions which apparently never reached the camels.

And if that wasn’t enough, Years ago, they stopped selling “pure” fentanyl: they started mixing it with traces of cocaine or methamphetamine, because it costs less. If people didn’t die from overdoses, they would eventually become addicted to substances they had no idea they were using.

“They were not just looking to increase their profits, “Traffickers also sought to create drug addicts. » assured the journalist.

What is it like to be addicted to fentanyl? How do your users feel? These are the testimonies of some drug addicts.

Isolated people, whom we prefer to avoid and even fear because of their appearance, their reactions and their movements. Something like that, it’s the profile of a fentanyl addict, well Their appearance begins to deteriorate with drug use and, like all problematic drug use, ends with the inability to find a job and lead a “normal” life.

Fentanyl can be used as an injection …which increases the risk of contracting diseases, such as HIV, by sharing needles… in the form of pills, patches and powder that are mixed into droplets on blotting paper.

It is also often mixed into bottles of eye drops and nasal sprays.

According to a report from CIPER —which revealed that fentanyl had already entered Chile in 2021— One gram of fentanyl is 50 and up to 100 times more potent than heroin and morphine and just 2 milligrams can be deadly.

“I’m looking for fentanyl. I sue cars that sell fentanyl, because It’s the only drug that makes me feel anything. But it’s a big problem because it’s so powerful that people who stay clean for years and then relapse end up overdosing,” a young man with a stammering voice and jerky movements told a reporter from BBC .

A Spanish YouTuber, Zazza, also spoke with an American fentanyl user, who was high at the time. “People come here because the medicines are cheap. This is why people are screwed, if I’m honest. When we had “good drugs”, everything was fine” the young man told him.

“My mother died of an overdose in front of me. I’m 21. My only brother died from it. This shit kills everyone. “I no longer have a family because of this.”

Then the man interrogating him asked if he was able to quit drugs.

“Yes, I don’t do it just to do it. Do not mistake yourself. I promised my mother that I would talk to her every day. “I’m not crazy, I’m just listening to my mother.” , he continued saying. “I do it because it’s my best solution.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, fentanyl works by binding to opioid receptors in areas of the brain that control pain and emotions. AND, As with other drugs, with each use, the brain gets used to it and sensitivity decreases.

The effects caused by fentanyl are: extreme happiness, lethargy, nausea, confusion, constipation, sedation, difficulty breathing and loss of consciousness.

In case of overdose, breathing may become excessively slow or stop altogether, which may result in insufficient oxygen reaching the brain and cause coma, permanent brain damage and death.