Fentanyl is the synthetic opioid form of the drug that is used to treat cancer patients. The patients who are not having any benefits of Morphine as painkiller get the Fentanyl under strict restrictions. But, the doctors in the United States have overprescribed the drug, and that alarmed the authorities. The drug is nearly 100 times more potent than the Morphine and usually used to treat terminally ill cancer patients as a painkiller. But it is one of the most commonly sold opioid drug sold in the black markets of the United States.
Health authorities and the manufacturers were blamed in the report that was published today. The health authorities were blamed and accused of oversight the increased consumption and overprescription of the same. The Fentanyl drug is only used in cancer patients who are having no benefits from the Morphine or other opioid drugs. The Fentanyl is prescribed in the form of lozenges, lollipops or sprays, which are kept or sprayed under the tongue for immediate relief from the pain. But due to the opioid characteristics, it is one of the most commonly sold drugs in the black markets, and that’s what concerns the Health authorities the most.
The report was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association was based on the investigation done by volunteers at James Hopkins University. The report says that amongst the thousands of patients who received the Fentanyl drug under prescription shouldn’t have got the same. The medical condition of nearly third and half of the total prescribed patients was not too deteriorated to receive this drug. But still, the doctors prescribed the medication to unfit patients. Also, one doctor in the five that mandated this drug were unaware that the drug is used for terminally ill cancer patients and not for the minor pains like Back Pain and chronic headaches.
