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Today marks the first National Fentanyl Awareness Day, acknowledging one of the many public health crises plaguing the U.S.
Fentanyl is currently the primary driver behind overdose deaths from synthetic opioids. The drug is 100 times more potent than morphine; one of its modified versions, carfentanil, is 10,000 times more potent. Just a few grains can prove lethal.
Kavita Babu, an emergency physician and chief of medical toxicology at UMass Chan Medical School, has seen her share of unintentional fentanyl overdoses over the years. Part of the reason why fentanyl overdose deaths are increasing, she explains, is because of its potency and availability – mixing fentanyl with other drugs can be more profitable for traffickers than selling pure drug alone. Another part of the reason is limited access to life-saving treatment for overdose and addiction. “Despite the evidence supporting these measures,” she writes, “local politics and funding priorities often limit whether communities are able to give them a try.”
Also today:
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Vivian Lam
Assistant Health and Biomedicine Editor
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Kavita Babu, UMass Chan Medical School
Fentanyl’s wide availability in the drug supply has led to an increase in unintentional overdoses. While prevention strategies are available, limited availability stymies their use.
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Environment + Energy
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Rachel Kyte, Tufts University
War, famine and an energy crunch are affecting the world's response to climate change, but there are reasons for optimism.
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Ethics + Religion
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Steven K. Green, Willamette University
A scholar of constitutional law and American religious history explains how the abortion issue has been historically rooted in religious beliefs, giving a moral certainty that law cannot provide.
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Politics + Society
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Alastair Kocho-Williams, Clarkson University
The West’s new approach to Russia – bar it from international organizations, restrict international trade, prevent further military moves – looks just like how it treated Russia in the 20th century.
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Science + Technology
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Timothy J. Jorgensen, Georgetown University
One species of eel can discharge 860 volts of electricity – that’s 200-fold higher than the top voltage of a single lithium-ion battery.
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Health + Medicine
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Jungmi Jun, University of South Carolina; Ali Zain, University of South Carolina
A team analyzed more than 21 million tweets about COVID-19 vaccines and found that negative sentiments on social media were tied to lower-than-expected vaccination rates in many nations.
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Economy + Business
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John Logan, San Francisco State University
A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint over instances of anti-union practices at Starbucks. And that was before the company’s boss threatened to withhold wages.
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From our international editions
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