The synthetic opioid fentanyl isn't just killing American drug users by the thousands; its emergence also signals a shift in the decades-old contours of the global drug trade, with ramifications not only for traditional drug-producing countries and drug trafficking networks but also for U.S. foreign policy.
Synthesized from chemicals—not from papaver somniferum, the opium poppy—fentanyl is about 50 times stronger than heroin and is severely implicated in the country's drug overdose crisis, accounting for almost 20,000 deaths in 2016.
Illicit fentanyl is typically mixed with other opiates, such as heroin, resulting in much stronger doses of opioids that users expect, thus leading to opioid overdoses. But it is also increasingly also showing up in non-opiate drugs, resulting in fentanyl overdose deaths among unsuspecting methamphetamine and cocaine users.
Here are four ways fentanyl alters the illegal drug production and distribution status quo:
1. It doesn't require an agricultural base.
2. It doesn't require a large workforce.
3. It doesn't require an elaborate smuggling infrastructure.
4. All of this can change the dynamics of U.S. foreign policy.