Synthetic opioids contribute to the rising rate of drug overdoses

Synthetic¹ opioids contribute to the rising rate of drug overdoses

Transcript²

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Bryce Pardo, from the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, on the findings of a new opioid trafficking report.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

OK. Here's a sobering fact. Drug overdoses claim more American lives each year than firearms, homicides and car crashes. The numbers have been rising sharply in the past few years, but a new report says 100,000 people died from drug-related deaths in a 12-month period. The majority of those were due to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. The study was commissioned by a task force including members of Congress, federal agencies and experts in the field.

Bryce Pardo, associate director at RAND Drug Policy Research Center, which provided analysis to the report, spoke³ with my co-host, A Martinez.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Bryce, two-thirds of drug-related deaths were caused by synthetics⁴ such as fentanyl. Off the top of my head, I mean, is that because they're just easier to get a hold of?

BRYCE PARDO: Yes, it's the availability and access to these drugs, which can be shipped by mail. They're also permeating⁵ into traditional drug markets like heroin⁶ markets, and in some cases they're showing up in cocaine⁷. And that's what's driving - in addition to the accessibility, it's just the scariness with which these drugs are making their way into other drugs. They're concealed⁸ as heroin. In some cases, they're pressed into counterfeit⁹ tablets, confusing and misleading users. And really, what's the key point here is that the potency¹⁰ of fentanyl - it is more potent¹¹ than heroin by a factor of 25, at least. And so that, in addition to it being concealed as other drugs, is just confusing individuals, resulting in overdose deaths.

MARTINEZ: And you don't need to grow it, right? I mean, you could just make it.

PARDO: Correct. It's a synthetic opioid. It doesn't come from poppy, so it takes very little time to produce. It's very cheap to obtain. You can make it with access to the right chemicals and the right know-how¹². And so it's a more profitable drug, at least in the short term, from the drug traffickers' standpoint, to move away from heroin towards fentanyl. And so that's an addition to why we're seeing so much of it showing up now.

MARTINEZ: Now, the report says the vast majority of synthetic opioids come into the country from Mexico or are sourced from China. So what can the U.S. do to stop that flow or at least maybe slow it down a bit?

PARDO: That's a very tricky¹³ proposal. We - in the commission's report, the commission looked at this from many different angles and on the supply side, things like trying to get China to do a better job regulating its large chemical pharmaceutical¹⁴ sectors¹⁵, which are the largest in the world, working with Mexico to improve container shipments at ports of entry, to work to target some of the clandestine¹⁶ manufacturing labs. But ultimately, the commission realizes that this is going to be a much trickier¹⁷ problem to solve through the supply side lens and needed to really boost more of the responses on the demand side - so doing things like increasing the access to medications used to treat opioid use disorder¹⁸, reducing barriers to build access, promoting kind of recovery in the workplace, reducing stigma¹⁹ for drug use and also things like harm reduction, which we recognize are going to be a growing part of the kind of toolkit response to this problem.

MARTINEZ: And I know that people can mail small amounts. So does that make it harder to track?

PARDO: Indeed. So there was a good segment of the fentanyl that was arriving into the United States that was mailed directly from China. It no longer is the case, though there's still some synthetic opioids arriving from what we think is China to the United States to buyers here. And in addition to kind of the Mexican drug trafficking organizations increasingly operating in the States, the ability with which people can go online and obtain a sizable amount of a synthetic opioid that is retailed²⁰ online - vended²¹ online is contributing to a large - an increase in the amount and the availability of these drugs that are arriving. And again, it's just because fentanyl and some of these other synthetic opioids are more potent, meaning that you need a few grams to really be able to supply a kind of a wholesale²² level of a market.

MARTINEZ: Wow. OK, now drug-related deaths are also a big burden on the economy. Can you explain the connection there?

PARDO: Yes, absolutely. So the report looks at the recent overdose deaths in the United States, and there have been some additional economic analyses of the cost associated with the overdose crisis, the opioid crisis in general. Some of these costs are what you would think to be pretty typical. So when a person shows up at an ER and needs to be attended to, there's a cost there that society has to bear, health care insurance has to bear for that, as well as incarceration²³ cost associated with drug use - of retailing²⁴. But really, the largest driver of these costs is lost productivity due to early death. Those that are dying from - those are overdosing and dying from synthetic opioids, in particular, are between the ages of 25 and 55. These are people in the prime of their lives. They have families. They are, you know, productive economically in their communities, and they're dying. And because they're not living their full life, those, you know, 30 or 40 years of expected life lost is really what's driving the largest segment of those costs associated to the overdose crisis.

MARTINEZ: Bryce Pardo is associate director at RAND Drug Policy Research Center. Bryce, thank you.

1 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 synthetics   

n.化学合成物

参考例句：

• cotton fabrics and synthetics 棉织物与合成织物
• It is a universally applicable thickener for printing on the synthetics. 特别适合用做纺织印染工业中人造合成纤维的印染增稠剂。

5 permeating   

弥漫( permeate的现在分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透

参考例句：

• His grace was more permeating because it found a readier medium. 他的风度因为有人赏识显得更加迷人。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Thoughts are a strangely permeating factor. 思想真是一种会蔓延的奇怪东西。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

6 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

7 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

8 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

9 counterfeit   

vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的

参考例句：

• It is a crime to counterfeit money.伪造货币是犯罪行为。
• The painting looked old but was a recent counterfeit.这幅画看上去年代久远，实际是最近的一幅赝品。

10 potency   

n. 效力，潜能

参考例句：

• Alcohol increases the drug's potency.酒精能增加这种毒品的效力。
• Sunscreen can lose its potency if left over winter in the bathroom cabinet.如果把防晒霜在盥洗室的壁橱里放一个冬天，就有可能失效。

11 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

12 know-how   

n.知识；技术；诀窍

参考例句：

• He hasn't got the know-how to run a farm.他没有经营农场的专业知识。
• I don't have much know-how about engines.发动机方面的技术知识我知之甚少。

13 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

14 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

15 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。

17 trickier   

adj.狡猾的( tricky的比较级 )；（形势、工作等）复杂的；机警的；微妙的

参考例句：

• This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. 以上是一般规则，但某些案例会比别的案例更为棘手。 来自互联网
• The lower the numbers go, the trickier the problems get. 武器的数量越低，问题就越复杂。 来自互联网

18 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

19 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

20 retailed   

vt.零售（retail的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• She retailed the neighbours' activities with relish. 她饶有兴趣地对邻居们的活动说三道四。
• The industrial secrets were retailed to a rival concern. 工业秘密被泄露给一家对立的公司。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 vended   

v.出售（尤指土地等财产）( vend的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指在公共场所）贩卖；发表（意见，言论）；声明

参考例句：

• Most of production are vended to occident, Europe and America, Japen, Korea, Southeast Asia, etc. 产品远销欧美、日本、韩国、东南亚等国际市场。 来自互联网

22 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

23 incarceration   

n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭

参考例句：

• He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中，他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
• Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你，请你将这颗心释放出来吧！否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句

24 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》