Overdose deaths recently reached a record high of 109,000 Americans, with roughly three-quarters involving opioids and 90 percent involving illicit fentanyl. As a result, lawmakers have decided to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, passing toothless laws that will make little difference in reducing harm.
Drug cartels make illicit fentanyl using several simple, readily available chemicals. As law enforcement cracks down on illicit fentanyl, it merely induces cartels to synthesize more potent analogs of fentanyl, called fentanyl-related substances (FRSs), which can be easier to smuggle in smaller sizes and subdivide into more units to sell. One recent example is para-flourofentanyl, which is increasingly found in combination with or in place of fentanyl.
This is what economists call the iron law of prohibition: the harder the enforcement, the harder the drug.
# Reprinted with permission of The Daily Beast. The opinion piece in its entirety can be read here.
Josh Bloom
Director of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science
Dr. Josh Bloom, the Director of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science, comes from the world of drug discovery, where he did research for more than 20 years. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry.
