Reasons for Fentanyl in Heroin/the drug trade

[TheJuner]

So I'm curious as to why fentanyl is so prevalent in the drug trade. Obviously fentanyl is very potent by weight making it ideal to cut dope with, and furthermore its potency allows for smaller quantities to be trafficked. Furthermore, it's cheap and relatively easy to synthesize. However I'm wondering why it's cut into heroin and other drugs so often, and specifically why so much fentanyl is in the drug supply. Recently I was reading about opioid research in Nazi Germany, and as many of you know methadone was developed as a replacement for morphine due to shortages. In addition to this, Nazi scientists also synthesized pethidine/meperidine and quite a few of it's analogues. So, to tie this back to contemporary issues, was this change in the drug trade caused by an opium shortage which led to the synthesis of more synthetic opioids?

 

[deficiT]

It's all profit motive honestly. Everyone from clandestine manufacturers, to distributors, to the dudes on the corner stand to make a TON more with fentanyl than they ever could with heroin. Opium based painkillers require land, a long period of time, water, all that. Fentanyl doesn't. The profit factor is exorbitantly higher with fentanyl.

 

[TheJuner]

It's all profit motive honestly. Everyone from clandestine manufacturers, to distributors, to the dudes on the corner stand to make a TON more with fentanyl than they ever could with heroin. Opium based painkillers require land, a long period of time, water, all that. Fentanyl doesn't. The profit factor is exorbitantly higher with fentanyl.

Yeah that was what I was thinking tbh. Fentanyl doesn’t require poppies/the natural resources that heroin (or any other semisynthetic opioid) does.

 

[Edward_Gibbon]

Another issue now is that the average tolerance in places like the USA is astronomical. It started as a dope cut but it gradually took over the dope as costumers tolerances went sky high. Now most Fent users can't feel real Heroin, and so there is no demand for it anymore. It is a terrible long-term strategy because they are killing their own customers but I doubt the cartel's intention was ever to replace Heroin with Fentanyl, it happened slowly and organically.

Drug Seizure Statistics

Securing America's Borders

www.cbp.gov

Air and Marine Operations Statistics Fiscal Year 2023

Securing America's Borders

www.cbp.gov

 

[CaptnRon]

Money.