Fentanyl - How Is It Taken?

How Is It Taken?

Doctors administer fentanyl to patients in several ways. The drug can be injected into spinal fluid (an "epidural"). For most surgical procedures, it is injected directly into the bloodstream. Since the effects wear off fairly quickly, a longer medical procedure might require several injections. In long-acting skin patches, the fentanyl, dissolved in a gel, slowly seeps into the skin over a period of about seventy-two hours. Fentanyl-laced lollipops or lozenges are sucked and swirled around the inside of the mouth. The drug enters the bloodstream through the mucous membranes of the mouth. Fentanyl can also be dissolved into a mist or a gas and breathed into the lungs.

Illegal forms of fentanyl are generally injected or snorted into the nose. Medical literature describes some deaths that have occurred from abusers cutting up patches, extracting the gel, cooking it at high temperatures, and smoking it. The Journal of Toxicology: Clinical Toxicology also reported a fatality of a fentanyl abuser who cut a patch into pieces, then sucked and swallowed it. Other abusers have been known to wear multiple patches at the same time and to put the patches in places where the absorption of the fentanyl will occur more quickly.

Fentanyl lollipops, sometimes called "perc-o-pops," are also sold on the black market. These lollipops become highly dangerous when abusers chew them quickly instead of sucking on them slowly, the way they were intended to be used by cancer patients. As with the patches, the oral lollipops are designed to release the drug into the system slowly. Eating them exposes the abuser to a maximum dose, and possibly to suffocation.

Making fentanyl available in lollipop form was a controversial issue. Some people were concerned that young patients might regard the lollipops as candy, rather than the powerful painkiller that they are. Drug makers took steps to package the lollipop carefully so that it does not resemble candy.