Fentanyl: Everything You Need To Know

Welcome, impactful parent. Today we’re going to talk all about fentanyl and exactly what parents need to know about this particular drug.

Hello, my name is Kristina Campos. I’m founder of The Impactful Parent and I help parents of school aged children turn their chaos into connection with their adolescence. I am a mom of four kids, a teacher that has taught every grade from preschool through high school and today I help moms and dads like yourself to navigate that exhausting, confusing, frustrating, but rewarding world of parenting. So welcome to The Impactful Parent.

Today we have a very special guest. His name is Richard Capriola and Richard has been a mental health and substance abuse counselor for over two decades. He has worked as an addictions counselor in Houston, Texas, for over 10 years where he has treated both teens and adults. And he is also the author of a book that every parent should have called The Addicted Child: A Parent’s Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse. I am really happy to have Richard on The Impactful Parent stage again today because Richard has been a long standing guest of mine. His information is so valuable, including all about fentanyl today, so listen up parents because this is a good one.

Richard:
Thank you, Kristina. It’s a pleasure to visit with you again this time on the topic of fentanyl. It’s in the classification of drugs that I think every parent at least needs to have some information about. And thank you for mentioning my book The addicted Child A Parent’s Guide to adolescent substance abuse only about 100 pages so hopefully parents will be able to obtain a copy of that. Read it keep it as a resource and as a result, feel more confident about this. This topic of teenage adolescent substance abuse, but this topic of fentanyl that you bring up I’m so glad that you brought this up as a topic for parents because it is a critically important it is organized say this. It’s critically important that parents have some awareness of this drug not become paranoid about it, but have some awareness of what it is and how it’s used. And just be a little bit more informed about it. So thank you for bringing up this important topic.

Kristina:
And that’s exactly what I wanted to do for parents because fentanyl has been a buzzword now in more recent culture and I don’t understand why I’d like for you to start with that. Why is this a new drug and I put new drug in like knew in quotation marks podcast because I know that fentanyl has been around for years Doctors have been prescribing fentanyl so why is it now that this has suddenly come top of mind? W

Richard:
You’re absolutely right. Fentanyl was developed way back in 1959. And originally used as an IV drug approved by the FDA. It is approved by the FDA as a pain relief drunk and as an anesthetic. So we see it being prescribed by doctors to severe treat severe pain, especially following say surgery and for advanced stage cancers. So it is a legitimate drug. It’s approved by the FDA, but it is regulated meaning that it needs to be under the supervision of a licensed physician. But you’re right it’s been around for a long time since 1959. But what it’s made it so popular so to speak right now or getting so much attention I should say is the alarming death rate that has accompany to illicit use of fentanyl. Every week in America. 22 kids now 22 kids died from a drug overdose about 80% of those are linked to fentanyl. So it is certainly killing way too many adults from overdose, but it is also unfortunately, harming too many teenagers. It’s a very powerful drug and I think it’s getting more and more attention because of the large quantities of it coming across our borders. And also because there are so many adult deaths related to fentanyl overdose and way too many adolescent dolts the deaths related to the overdose.

Kristina:
How are our kids getting a hold Of this drug if it’s supposed to be a controlled substance? Are they stealing it like they would with Adderall or any other like prescription medicine? What’s happening?

Richard:
The real challenge with this is that is often accompanying drugs that are widely available on the street like Vika den, Xanax, Adderall, Ritalin, and many of many of those drugs which are legitimate prescribed drugs when they hit the illicit market. They’re 10 with fentanyl and the problem is you could be taking a drug as a as a child or even as an adult and you think you’re taking Vicodin or you think you’re taking Xanax or maybe you think you’re taking Adderall as a pill. And unfortunately, it has been tainted with fentanyl. Now you don’t know it when you take that certainly nobody’s going to sell it to you and say, well, this Xanax pill contains a little bit of fentanyl. And they may not even know it when they sold it. to you because it came down the market as illicit drugs. But the real danger is these kids will take these drugs thinking they’re taking Adderall thinking they’re taking Xanax and not knowing that it is tainted with fentanyl. Because kids aren’t out there looking for fentanyl. No kid goes out looking for fentanyl. But they do go out looking for Xanax and they do go out looking for Adderall. And if they’re buying it off the street, as opposed to a drug from a pharmacy that’s prescribed there. Always is a possibility that it’s not pure. And in too many cases. It’s not pure because it’s been tainted with fentanyl so the kid takes it and they overdose on it. And then they have serious consequences because of the fentanyl so the real danger is that fentanyl is masked within these other drugs.

Kristina:
So why is it that the illegal drug distributors are adding fentanyl to these other prescription drugs?

Richard:
Profit. To make money. I think I read somewhere that it cost them about 10 cents to make one of these drugs that are laced with fentanyl that they might sell on the market for 20 or $30. So there is a huge profit in this fentanyl drug market and there’s a huge profit in all of these drugs, but particularly for fentanyl because it’s so easy and cheap. To make and hide within these drugs and they make tremendous profits off of fentanyl is no different. I don’t think that any other illicit drug. It’s all driven by money and profits.

Kristina:
So why is fentanyl become so lethal? And I understand the whole concept of okay, a kid doesn’t know they’re taking it and so they take they take it but then I guess what I don’t understand is some kids are I hear on the news and what I you know when I’m reading stuff Oh, it’s just like the little tiny, tiny minuscule bit of fentanyl is killing one kid and then there’s others kids that are probably getting also laced it doesn’t seem to affect them at all. So what’s happening with that discrepancy? Why is that and also so, like killing just certain kids?

Richard:
Well, first of all, when you take a pill that’s laced with fentanyl, you have number one, probably no idea that it has fentanyl in it. Let’s say you’re taking an Adderall pill or a Xanax pill and you can you think you’re taking Adderall or Xanax because it’s tainted you have no idea that fentanyl is in that pill or how much fentanyl is in that pill. And it is so deadly because fentanyl is a very powerful opiate. It is 100 times it is 100 times more powerful than morphine. And it’s 50 times 50 times more powerful than heroin. So this fentanyl drug is extremely powerful as an opiate. It doesn’t take a lot of it to do some significant damage or caused an overdose or kill somebody. It is that powerful. Wow.

Kristina:
And are kids finding this and anything else besides the prescription drugs? Because I hear also, possibly cocaine? Is marijuana in there too?

Richard:
It can be. It can be in any drug. I think it tends to be mostly in the drugs that kids are taking the Adderall, the Ritalin the Xanax, because those are the most popular drugs that are out there in the street. But there’s no question that fentanyl can be laced in with cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin now those are not drugs that we find teenagers are out looking for. They’re more looking for the marijuana. They’re looking for the alcohol and they’re looking for some of these prescription drugs. But yes, fentanyl can be laced in with some of these other harder core drugs. And I think that accounts for a lot of the adult overdose deaths is that we see in fentanyl because the adults, perhaps the adults are using some of these hardcore drugs a lot more extensively than teenagers.

Kristina:
Just to be clear, most of the time our kids are taking a pill that’s been laced. They’re not really shooting it up? Let’s say or snorting it quite as often? It’s probably from consumption. Yes?

Richard:
That’s right. I don’t think teenagers are at risk for injecting it. I don’t think that they’re at high risk of snorting it although sometimes they will take some of these pills and they will crush them up and they will snort them. So there always is that possibility that a child might take a drug like Xanax or Adderall or Ritalin and rather than swallow it, they crush it up in a snort it obviously if that’s tainted with fentanyl, then they’re going to get the same, potentially disastrous outcome they would have as if they swallowed the drunk.

Kristina:
If a kid were to do that, does that make it any more potent or even or less so than if they were just to throw it in their stomach?

Richard:
You mean if they were to snort it? Yeah. That gets into their system a little quicker. So it hits the brain a little quicker, which means the effect is a little quicker and that’s the reason why people will snort drugs rather than say swallow a pill which has to be absorbed in the stomach get into the bloodstream get to the brain. It’s it’s a little bit slower process. Unless you tremendously overdosed by swallowing a whole bunch of pills.

Kristina:
But the potency is equivalent?

Richard:
The potency is pretty equivalent, the amount of it might vary slightly, and the time in which it hits the brain and causes the effect can vary significantly. Okay.

Kristina:
What can parents do to help our kids identify fentanyl? Is this something that we can do? Can we teach them anything to look for something to make sure that they are not taking something that’s laced obviously we want to have these big conversations with our kids anyway, but is there a way to identify it at all or really it’s just completely blind?

Richard:
I would say it definitely should have a conversation about drugs in general, but specifically with fentanyl and the impression that you want to leave with the child is that fentanyl is very commonly masked within other drugs. So they need to be aware that any drugs that they pick up off the street and you can give examples like Xanax and Adderall, Ritalin and so on, that there always is the danger that that drug is not pure, and it may contain fentanyl, not always, but there always is the risk that if the child is taking one of these drugs, it might involve a drug that’s laced with fentanyl, and even joked one time they may take Xanax 10 times and not have a problem with it. That 11th time they get a pill that’s laced with fentanyl and they overdose. So there always is that risk because if you’re buying these drugs off the street, you have no way no way of knowing what’s in them.

Kristina:
You can’t identify it? You can’t lick it and taste it? You know what I mean? You can’t smell it? Because kids believe crazy things. I want parents to be able to debunk that.

Richard:
Absolutely. There’s no way that you can identify it because it’s masked within the pill itself. And, you know, unless you do a scientific analysis of it that people would do to to examine it, which no adolescent can do. Most parents can’t do that. You just have no way of knowing and that’s the danger to all of this fentanyl is the fact that it’s not sold as fentanyl on the street to these kids. It’s masked within these drugs that kids are after. Like the Xanax, they had put the Adderall, Ritalin and that’s the real danger of it.

Kristina:
Is fentanyl addictive in any way?

Richard:
It’s an opiate so yes, like all other opiates, it is addictive. The problem with fentanyl is not that you’re not going to get addicted to it. It’s going to get extended; it’s going to kill you.

Kristina:
Yes. And I’ve heard too many news reports about teenagers taking a pill, thinking it’s one thing and finding out that it is actually something completely different. Most of time, these kids are getting the pills from their friend. And they trust their friend. But their friend bought the pills off the street and aren’t pure. Before you know it, a death happens. It’s so sad. I want parents to be aware.

What are some common street names for fentanyl? I would also like parents to be aware of these names so kids can’t talk about fentanyl right under their parents’ nose.

Richard:
Oh, there’s all kinds of examples. China Girl. China Town. Dance Fever brand, friend. Good fellas. Great Bear. Key man. Jackpot. King ivory, Tango cash. It goes by so many names. I don’t think a parent can even keep track of them all but certainly, you know, children should be aware of some of these names and you know, it should be a big red flag if somebody comes in contact with it. But I think a child is more likely to inadvertently take a drug that is sold to them as an Adderall pill or some other drug like Xanax or Ritalin, which they’re more likely to be seeking. You know, they’re looking for an Adderall pill. They’re looking for a Ritalin pill. And like I say, you know, most of the time they may get it from a friend who perhaps sold part of their prescription to them. It’s probably safe because it’s from a prescription. But if you’re buying it off the street, you don’t know what’s in it could be anything.

Kristina:
What are some of the signs of overdose? If a parent were to walk into a bedroom, would they see a kid obviously lying in bed, not acting like themselves? What are some things that we need to look out for?

Richard:
Well, you mentioned one. The child is probably not going to be very responsive. They may be unconscious. You’ll notice that their pupils are pinpoints. They look like pinpoints; obviously, they’re not speaking; they’ve lost consciousness. You may notice, which can be very scary, that their breathing is suppressed. They may not have stopped breathing, but their breathing will be significantly low. Their body will sort of be limp, and they may seem cold or clammy on the skin, and there may be a discoloration around this den or the nails, all of which can be very, very terrifying to a parent. Obviously, the first thing you do is call 911 and get emergency medical help on the way and the other thing you do is hopefully, if you have it, have what’s known as an Archon available and I would recommend that every parent have an Archon; it’s available as over the counter. you administer that it’s a nasal spray, and it acts almost immediately to counter the effect of an opioid like fentanyl, but first of all, call 911. Get emergency help right away.

Kristina:
Narconon can be a saving grace! All parents should buy it and put it in their medicine cabinet with Tylenol and your cold medicine.

Richard:
Yeah, that’s true. I mean, obviously, it’s only going to help if you have it available at the time if if a child overdose is somewhere else outside of their home. That may not be available but as a parent, all you can do is make it available in your home. Have it like you said in the medicine cabinet. As another item available. Hopefully, you’ll never need it. But you have some reassurance that if your child overdoses at home or shortly after getting home, you have that but obviously the first thing you do is call 911 and get professional help. there as quickly as possible.

Kristina:
This has been so informative. I am so excited to have you on because, I mean, this is so important for parents to know we got to be a step ahead here and not be playing catch up with our kids. We literally need to be a step ahead in this particular subject. And to help parents, Richard has graciously given The Impactful Parent community a free PDF and I want you to be able to get that it is filled with all the information we talked about today in this interview. So that you can just relay that information on to your own kids. start that conversation, put it up on your refrigerator, whatever you need to do to make it top of mind, just so your kids are aware and they can stay away from it and help their own friends too because that’s sometimes that’s how we help other kids through our own children that they know maybe our kids the leader, you never know our kid might be the one that says no, don’t take that, I’ve heard it’s dangerous. You don’t know what happens in other families. So let’s be proactive parents, and to get that free PDF made by Richard, You’re going to go to theimpactfulparent.com/fentanyl, and it’s completely free to download for you. So thank you so much for that.

Richard:
You’re very welcome, Kristina and once again, thank you for inviting me to the program to talk about this issue. Thank you for your questions. Hopefully, we’ve been able to provide a valuable resource to the parents who listened. So thank you and thank you for the great work that you’re doing with all these parents. Parents need a lot of support, and encouragement. And I just want to say thank you for the work that you’re doing to enable and help these parents. And

Kristina:
Last but not least, Richard, your book is an amazing resource for parents and, again, a great resource to have ahead of the game. You guys are ahead of the game, so that you have it at home. So when you need it the most,. It’s already there on your bookshelf. And so tell us a little bit again about your book and where we can find it.

Richard:
The book is entitled The addicted Child: A Parent’s Guide to adolescent substance abuse. I kept it to around 100 pages so it would be quick to read and easy to read. I tried to pack as much information in it that I hope will be helpful to parents For example, it has a chapter that helps parents understand how these drugs work in the teenage brain. It has chapters on the drugs that are out there. You know parents are aware of alcohol and marijuana but they might not be aware of some of these other drugs and very importantly, I put warning signs in for a child that might be drinking alcohol and warning signs for a child that might be smoking marijuana. I’ve included warning signs for a child that might be developing an eating disorder and a child that might be self injuring themselves, because sometimes an eating disorder and self injury will accompany a child using drugs. So it’s important that parents know what these warning signs are. You know, it’s like anything else. The sooner we catch a problem, the sooner we can act on it and get it resolved. And then I have a chapter that explains what assessments you should get planning for the future if you’re, if you think your child might be using a substance and what treatment options are there. All of that packed in a short volume that I hope parents will walk away from after reading it and thinking, okay, I feel better about this. I feel like if I’ve helped to deal with this, I hope I don’t but if I do, I know what to do now I feel a little bit better about it. And

Kristina:
It’s a great gift idea to other teenage parents. I’m telling you things like this. They’re the most valuable thing that might happen in your life or to have that foresight and know what to do. I mean, it’s just I can’t express it enough. So check that out. Parents can get on Amazon Correct.

Richard:
You can go to the books website, www.helptheaddictedchild.com. Help the addicted child.com There’ll be a link that’ll take you to Amazon or you can go to Amazon and just write in you know the addicted Child A Parent’s Guide to adolescent substance abuse. If you’d like to read paperback, it’s a paperback, or if you prefer a Kindle. It’s also available as a Kindle.

Kristina:
Thank you so much, Richard for all your information today.