The fentanyl drug epidemic in North America | DW Documentary

The world is fighting a deadly pandemic, but over in North America another heartbreaking public health crisis is still raging. A synthetic drug is killing more people than gun crime, homicide and car accidents combined.

One hundred times stronger than heroin, the opioid fentanyl is cheap, potent and can be sent through the post. These market forces have seen it replacing heroin and causing unprecedented death, destruction and misery. The death toll has disproportionately affected the homeless and already marginalized. Now, due to its strength and low cost, the drug is also starting to be mixed into party drugs, such as cocaine and cannabis - with fatal results. The documentary travels to Vancouver, the epicenter of the fentanyl epidemic to meet with health care workers, activists, fentanyl dealers and addicts. It shows some of the radical initiatives fighting the abuse of this drug, and asks what the world could face if the fentanyl epidemic spreads outside of North America.

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