Homemade synthetic drugs spread across the US, deepening the addiction crisis
BBC reporting from Ohio and Illinois shows fentanyl being mixed with animal tranquillisers and other synthetics that naloxone cannot reverse. Overdose deaths in the US have fallen since 2022, but the opioid crisis is not over.
Synthetic drugs, some made in private homes, are spreading across the United States, including in Columbus, the capital of Ohio, and in Chicago, Illinois. BBC international correspondent Quentin Sommerville reports that fentanyl, an entirely man-made opioid, is increasingly blended with other synthetic substances, which complicates the treatment of overdoses.
Deaths are falling, but the crisis continues
At the 2022 peak, around 110,000 Americans a year died from overdoses, mostly involving opioids. Last year the figure fell to about 70,000. Naloxone (brand name Narcan), a nasal spray that immediately reverses opioid overdoses, has played a major part in that drop.
However, fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin, is now often combined with xylazine and medetomidine. These are animal tranquillisers that slow breathing, and naloxone does not work against them. Xylazine also causes necrotic skin ulcers that can reach the bone and are hard to treat.
Columbus: a hidden danger
Mike, a 48-year-old army veteran in Columbus who has used opioids for 20 years, said his drugs were likely cut with xylazine and medetomidine. A drug kit he submitted did test positive for medetomidine.
Scott Sanders, who runs the recovery group Hope Dealers, says that in Franklin County, 78% of fatal overdoses over the past 12 months involved stimulants. People who buy crack cocaine often do not realise it has been mixed with fentanyl. His organisation works with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a drug sampling programme.
Chicago and the county jail
In Chicago, an anonymous dealer who works for Mexican cartels claims that US government efforts against the cartels have not stopped his supply, and that synthetics are only beginning to show what they can do.
At the Cook County jail, eight inmates died of seizures in 2023 after drugs in the form of synthetic cannabinoids were mailed in soaked into book pages and letters. All incoming mail is now scanned for moisture, and between a fifth and a quarter of packages and letters are rejected.
