Fentanyl is a highly potent opioid prescribed by doctors to reduce pain. It is a synthetic opiate much more powerful than morphine. Fentanyl patches are normally used to administer the drug through the skin (transmucosal absorption). Incidents of people stealing and then eating these patches in order to alter moods are being reported.
Three Brookville, Ohio men were rushed to a hospital for treatment after ingesting the patch and in Ironton, Ohio three deaths were reported in the past six months. The street value of a Fentanyl patch is $25-$40. Harvey A. Siegal, medical sociologist and director of the Center for Intervention, Treatment, and Addictions at Wright State University warns “that people will extract the gel and squeeze it out… actually getting a day’s worth of narcotics in a single dose.” Although the patches can be stolen from pharmacies or patients before use, used patches contain up to 60 percent of the drug and abusers have been known to take them from trash containers at health-care centers and hospitals. Dr. Seigal suggests that anyone disposing of used patches cut them into strips and flush them down the toilet to prevent accidental and/or intentional ingestion. Source: Dayton Daily News
Product Information
Fentanyl is a synthetic narcotic analgesic with an analgesic potency of about 80 times that of morphine. The fentanyl transdermal patch (DuragesicÒ) is used for chronic pain management and is available in dosage ranges between 25 and 100 mcg/hour. This transdermal system provides continuous systemic delivery of fentanyl for up to 72 hours. The dose of transdermal fentanyl should be individualized and reassessed regularly. The most important factor in determining the appropriate fentanyl dose is the extent of preexisting opioid tolerance.
The transdermal delivery system consists of an outer layer of polyester film, a drug reservoir of fentanyl base in an alcohol and hydroxyethyl cellulose gel, a microporous ethylenevinyl copolymer membrane that controls the rate of drug diffusion; and a final silicone adhesive layer that provides an initial release of the drug. Following the initial application of a transdermal system of fentanyl, an initial release of the drug saturates skin sites beneath the system, and a depot of drug concentrates in the upper layers of the skin. Serum fentanyl concentrations increase slowly, reaching a plateau between 12-24 hours and then remaining constant (with some fluctuation) during the remainder of the 72-hour application period.
Fentanyl transdermal patches should not be cut or damaged. A damaged delivery system will not be able to control drug delivery.
Abuse of pharmaceutical fentanyl products first appeared in the medical community in the mid-1970’s. The pharmacological effects of fentanyl products are indistinguishable from those of heroin, with the exception that the fentanyl products may be hundreds of times more potent. Respiratory depression and circulatory depression are the main risks associated with fentanyl therapy. As an opiate agonist, fentanyl overdose usually produces central nervous system depression that can range from stupor to profound coma, respiratory depression, hyothermia, muscle weakness, bradycardia, and hypotension. The most common route of abuse of these products is by intravenous administration, but they may also be smoked, snorted, or ingested. Product information input from: Gaylene Tsipis and Earl Siegel, Co-Directors, Cincinnati Drug & Poison Information Center (1-800-222-1222).
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