Heroin is a white or brown powder or a black, sticky goo. It can be mixed with water and injected with a needle. Heroin can also be smoked or snorted up the nose.Heroin causes a rush of good feelings just after it’s taken. But some people throw up or itch after taking it. For the next several hours you want to sleep, and your heart rate and breathing slow down. Then the drug wears off and you may feel a strong urge to take more.

Fentanyl gives you a feeling of well-being, Drowsiness, and happiness. It also makes you feel like the world has slowed down, and all of life’s problems are suddenly okay. People on Fentanyl might move and think slowly, fall asleep uncontrollably or even standing up, slur their words, and have dilated pupils (the black circle in the center of each eye gets very small). Fentanyl is extremely addictive. It is usually injected intravenously (shot up), snorted (taken nasally), or smoked using tin foil, a glass pipe, or smoking devices normally used for THC Concentrate like Nectar Collectors. These methods send the chemicals to the brain very quickly, and the user feels an instant rush of dopamine. Users of this drug will build up a tolerance over time, and will have to use an increased amount to feel the same effects.

Fentanyl is singlehandedly responsible for most overdose death in the last 5 years. It has killed more young people than car accidents and violent crime combined. The danger lies in the fact that dealers and underground chemists have been mixing Fentanyl into almost every drug under the sun including but not limited to counterfeit prescriptions like Xanax, Oxycodone, and Percocet, as well as more traditional street drugs like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine.

Another big danger of Fentanyl and heroin use is when an addict gets clean or has some time away from the drug, and return to active use. A lot of users expect to be able to take the same dose as they have in the past. The problem is that the user has 0 tolerance built up. This coupled with the fact that you can never truly know the dose of street Fentanyl, leads to increased over doses and death. The drug itself is so strong, that you even being able to physically see it means that you are close enough for it to have the potential to end your life.

With the relatively recent introduction of Fentanyl & Acetal-Fentanyl (another analogue of Fentanyl) into the worldwide drug market, not enough is known yet about the long term health effects or best detox process. Buprenorphine has been increasingly unsuccessful at detoxing long term users from the drug die to the longer wait times to be able to administer the medication to sooth withdrawal symptoms. With heroin and other opiates, you need only wait 24 hours before administering Buprenorphine. With Fentanyl, precipitated withdrawal is possible even 5-7 days after your last use. That being said, Tactics like methadone assisted detox and rapid detox programs are becoming more an more prevalent. (Private insurance does not cover Rapid Fentanyl Detox Programs)

Injection users of Fentanyl will have what are called “track marks” or even bruises at the injection site where the needle entered, most commonly found on the arm in the crook of the elbow as its the easiest vein to access for most users, but you might see them anywhere on the body.

When the user stops taking Fentanyl or runs out, within 6-24 hours they will start feeling withdrawal symptoms that make the user extremely sick.