Killer fentanyl: a lesson from anaesthesiology.

摘要

Despite the fact that fentanyl-laced street drugs have been in existence for the past few years, health workers began to notice a spike in fentanyl overdoses and deaths late last year (Aug 12, p 569).The effects of fentanyl are indistinguishable from those produced by nasal inhalation of street heroin. In view of this, and because of very low production costs, fentanyl is very "attractive" for the narcotics market.Fentanyl has been used for decades in anaesthesia, sedation, and pain management.