Fentanyl responsible for 81% of overdose-related deaths in Americans under 24

Over the past decade, the US has registered a sharp rise in drug overdose deaths, driven largely by the surge in synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

Preliminary data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that nearly 110,000 fatal overdoses occurred in the US in 2022, with synthetic opioids implicated in about 75,000 of these deaths, accounting for 70 per cent of the total. Among 15 to 24 year olds, the total proportion of drug-related overdose deaths directly linked to fentanyl was 81 per cent in 2022.

Fentanyl is up to 50 times more potent than heroin and is often mixed with other drugs due to its low cost, increasing its danger. The CDC's latest data has found that synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, were linked to more than two thirds of overdose deaths last year, with an even higher impact among younger people.

A greater proportion of the world's population is using drugs compared to 10 years ago, according to a UN report. It also found that fentanyl and other synthetic opioids continue to contribute to high levels of drug-related deaths in North America. While the overdose crisis on the continent has stabilised since 2021, opioid deaths remain at “historically high levels”, it said.

The UN also considered nitazenes, a group of synthetic opioids, to be “of particular concern”. The report said the drug, which can be more potent than fentanyl in some instances, has been spreading in markets in North America, Western Europe, South America and Oceania.

The report said that although the link between the opium ban in Afghanistan and the current wave of overdose deaths from nitazenes cannot currently be linked, the potential for further spread of potent opioids remains a concern.