The 1-year-old boy who died at a New York City daycare died from a kilo of fentanyl hidden under a mattress. where the little ones nap in the afternoon. The police confirmed this after days of speculation about the child’s death Nicholas Dominici due to overdose. Three other children were hospitalized after being exposed to the powerful opioid at a daycare center in the Bronx.
Police believe the children, aged between eight months and two years, inhaled the fentanyl while they slept. The owner of the establishment Grei Mendez, 36, and the employee Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, were arrested and are accused of manslaughter and drug possession.
From the antidroga.interno.gov.it website
Fentanyl is an analgesic with a potency at least 80 times greater than that of morphine. Fentanyl and its derivatives are used as anesthetics and analgesics in both medicine and veterinary medicine (Carfentanyl). Its molecule and its derivatives are subject to international control as are highly potentiated non-pharmaceutical derivatives, such as 3-methylFentanyl, illicitly synthesized and sold as “synthetic heroin” or mixed with heroin.
Fentanyl and its salts appear in the form of white granular or crystalline powders. The pharmaceutical formulations are presented as Fentanyl citrate solutions for injectable use, as transdermal patches or even as tablets for oral transmucosal use. Fentanyl can also present itself in an illegal format as an impalpable yellow powder, known in jargon as “Persian White” (containing 3-methylfentanyl), and sometimes as “paper strips” (thin pieces of cardboard impregnated with Fentanyl).
Instructions for use
Fentanyl is taken via intravenous injection, transdermal patches, oral transmucosal lozenges, and vestibular tablets. Fentanyl powder or patches are also smoked or taken intranasally (snorted).
Psychoactive effects
Fentanyl is a pain reliever that acts primarily on the μ-opioid receptor. In addition to its analgesic action, Fentanyl causes dizziness and euphoria, the latter less marked than heroin and morphine.
Short-term health consequences
Common side effects include nausea, dizziness, vomiting, fatigue, headache, constipation, anemia, and peripheral edema.
Damage to health in the long term
Repeated use quickly develops tolerance and dependence. As soon as the administration is stopped, the typical symptoms of withdrawal appear (sweating, anxiety, diarrhoea, bone pain, abdominal cramps, chills or “goosebumps”). Serious interactions develop when Fentanyl is mixed with heroin, cocaine, alcohol and other central nervous system depressants, such as benzodiazepines. The use of antiretroviral drugs and protease inhibitors for HIV would increase plasma levels and, if administered together with Fentanyl, reduce its elimination. Overdose causes respiratory depression which can be reversed with naloxone. Sudden death from cardiac arrest or severe anaphylactic reaction may also occur. In humans, 2 mg of Fentanyl is enough to be lethal. In deaths involving polydrug use, a blood concentration of approximately 7 ng/ml or more was recorded. While accidental deaths have been recorded following therapeutic use, many deaths have occurred following the abuse of pharmacological products. The contents of used and unused patches, taken through injections, smoking, orally or nasally, have often led to fatal consequences.
Non-pharmaceutical fentanyls
In Europe and the United States, a significant number of deaths have occurred following the ingestion of illicitly synthesized or “created” fentanyls, sometimes called non-pharmaceutical fentanyls. Regarding non-pharmaceutical fentanyls, many deaths – characterized by their suddenness – have been linked to the use of heroin combined with Fentanyl or one of its various potent analogues, such as alpha-methyl fentanyl and 3-methylfentanyl. Tests on animals conducted by the Janssen Pharnaceutical research group have shown that the analgesic potency of Fentanyl is 470 times greater than that of morphine. Carfentanyl is said to be 10,000 times more powerful than morphine.
International control
Fentanyl is covered by Annex I of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 (from 1964). Other Fentanyl derivatives added to Schedule I in 1980 include Sufentanil and Para-fluorofentanil, while Alfentanil was added in 1984 and Remifentanil in 1999. In all 13 fentanyls are listed under the 1961 Convention. In the United States, the supply of NPP has been subject to scrutiny since July 2008 and the Drug Enforcement Administration has proposed to monitor the aniline derivative of NPP which is the immediate precursor of Fentanyl.
Legal status in Italy
Fentanyl and around thirty of its analogues are noted in Table I of narcotic substances, pursuant to Presidential Decree no. 309/90. It is also reported in the Table of Medicines, Section. A and in Annex III-bis among the medicines for the treatment of severe pain that benefit from simplified prescribing methods.