A significant issue with fentanyl related mortality is accidental consumption. Fentanyl is so potent and because of its relative ease of synthesis and a careless illegal drug supply chain, contamination is common. Not all but many of these deaths are a result of teens consuming a drug that they percieve as "safe" like marijuana or "adderall" or "oxy" etc but through careless handling by dealers or intentional misrepresentation, end up receiving a fatal dose of fentanyl. I think it is an important point as many comments reference decrimilization and other "fentanyl policy" items.
I keep reading this, but I haven't been able to find much data on intentional vs. accidental consumption with the exception of people who thought they were taking heroin. Do you have any sources on how many deaths can be attributed to laced or misrepresented non-opiates (e.g. marijuana, adderall, mdma)?
I don't think this is someting that is well recorded. I mean the way these encounters are documented there isn't necessarily a box to tick that is "meant to take a different illegal drug but accidentally got fentanyl". I speak anecdotally from having been party to tens of thousands of acute care admits and a lot of public health operations. You see "a lot" of "I just smoked a joint" or "we thought we were getting LSD/X/oxy etc" in teenage fentanyl ODs that recover. Also having had exposure to the drug dealing side via public health interactions and community support groups, my visibility into it has told me these are not careful meticulous people as a whole.
