Ever since the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl started showing up in the U.S. eight years ago, experts have surmised that drug traffickers were using the inexpensive white powder to boost the potency of heroin, sometimes adding too much and killing their customers. In San Francisco’s gritty Tenderloin district, where fentanyl was only rarely seen until last year, drug users tell a starkly different story, Stateline reports. For many of them, fentanyl is a high-value drug that, if used carefully, can prevent dope sickness and deliver a strong high for a small fraction of the price of heroin. More than half of drug users in the Tenderloin area purposely seek fentanyl, despite its dangers, according to harm reduction workers who talk to hundreds of drug users every day. Fentanyl has become the biggest killer in the nation’s raging drug overdose epidemic.
Many other drug-using San Franciscans say they try to avoid the deadly white powder, and some reported overdosing after unwittingly consuming a wide variety of fentanyl-laced drugs, including methamphetamines, cocaine and counterfeit Xanax and Vicodin pills. Still, an increasing number of drug users say they are opting for fentanyl when it’s available, a trend not reported elsewhere. Despite its powerful potency, fentanyl isn’t killing nearly as many people in San Francisco as it is on the East Coast and in Appalachia. The consumer preference for fentanyl and relatively low death rate likely stem in large part from the way the drug is marketed by dealers, said Phillip Coffin of San Francisco’s public health department. Fentanyl sold in San Francisco is clearly labeled. It’s rarely disguised as heroin, as it is on the East Coast and in Appalachia. As a result, users who buy fentanyl know what they’re getting and, in most cases, take the necessary precautions, he said.