Authored by John J. Coleman, PhD and Robert L. DuPont, MD, and published by The Heritage Foundation
This compelling report outlines the story of fentanyl and identifies key policy recommendations to address the national drug epidemic.
Fentanyl is a sentinel calling our attention to the potential for a slew of laboratory-based drugs produced by an ever-expanding illegal global drug market to meet a growing demand. Included in this threat are the fentanyl-laced counterfeit drugs manufactured to look like well-known and trusted pharmaceutical products but containing deadly amounts of fentanyl instead of the expected active pharmaceutical ingredient. Unrestrained by regulatory controls and labeling requirements, today’s drug trafficker-entrepreneur poses a serious threat to patients and non-patients alike. If we hope to meet these challenges successfully, we will need radically new thinking, better data systems, and improved technology to keep counterfeit drugs and deadly fentanyl analogs out of our communities and medicinal drug supplies.
Read the Full Report and print a PDF copy here.