Fentanyl & Beyond: The Evolving Drug Crisis

Course overview

Opioids, in some form, have eased the pain and misery of millions of people over the past 150 years in our culture alone. However, the possibility of dependence and addiction has long cast a dark shadow over this important class of drugs. In 2021, well over 107700 people died from opioid overdoses in the US alone. Many of these individuals died from fentanyl poisoning unintentionally. Now, the illicit drug industry is taking us into even more dangerous territory with deadly non fentanyl synthetic opioids and central nervous system depressants. This webinar will focus on these new and deadly synthetic drugs. This webinar, Fentanyl and Beyond The Evolving Drug Crisis, will help health professionals and clinicians from various backgrounds review the history and pharmacology of opioids in general, from fentanyl in 2012 to new synthetics in 2022. Moreover, the course will include a synopsis of these newest synthetic drugs and alternative opioids that most clinicians have not yet encountered in practice. The drug crisis today is vastly different from that which occurred in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Transnational drug cartels, sophisticated counterfeit drug manufacturing, and seemingly innocent social media sites have combined to take advantage of unsuspecting and naive youth. Social isolation, stress, depression, anxiety, and frustration exacerbated by a dysfunctional culture and COVID lockdowns have led to an unprecedented loss of young lives. In fact, fentanyl is now the leading cause of death in people between the ages of 18 and 45. Understanding this tragic reality is the first step in preventing overdose, drug poisoning, and death in young and vulnerable patients.