Health | Non à la drogue
Drug free world - The truth about Fentanyl
| 2025-03-09 |     |
Brochure the truth about Fentanyl
The Foundation for a Drug-Free World has just published its first brochure on fentanyl. It is available in French, English and 17 other languages.
Classification of Fentanyl
Fentanyl is an extremely powerful drug that has been used for decades as a painkiller.1 Because of its high potential to cause addiction, it has primarily been used to relieve severe pain, such as from advanced cancer or after serious surgery. In Switzerland, fentanyl is subject to the Narcotics Act (NarcA) and is listed in the Ordinance on Narcotics Tables, Table a (substances subject to all control measures). Fentanyl and its salts can be present as a white, granular or crystalline powder.
Fentanyl as a drug
Fentanyl is in the same class of drugs as painkillers like morphine or oxycodone and the illegal drug heroin. Those drugs, called opioids, are primarily products of the opium poppy. Some, like heroin and morphine, are directly derived from opium. Others, like oxycodone, are semisynthetic, meaning created in a laboratory from a natural substance. Fentanyl is 100 percent created in a lab and fully synthetic. No plant products are needed to make fentanyl, which means it can be created anywhere that lab chemicals can be obtained. This has made it easy for drug-trafficking organizations to manufacture it in illicit labs for distribution as a street drug. In 2013, distribution of fentanyl began skyrocketing in the United States, with resultant overdose deaths increasing from that point forward.
Risks of illegal consumption
Fentanyl is not yet widely used in Europe and Switzerland, but it is appearing more and more frequently. The risk is high when it is used by drug traffickers as an extender in products bought on the street or online. It has been found in heroin, cocaine or other synthetic drugs, sometimes even mixed with cannabis. As the user is unaware of the mixture, there is a risk of overdose and habituation.
Download here : The Brochure