Missouri and Kansas are in the thick of a 'synthetic drug crisis' that's killing thousands

Both Kansas and Missouri have seen the number of overdose deaths attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl increase dramatically in the last several years. The U.S.'s drug czar urged people to carry Naloxone to counteract opioid overdoses in a visit to the Midwest last week.
More than 100,000 people died of an opioid overdose nationwide in 2022 and more than two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids.

Synthetic opioids are substances that are synthesized in a laboratory and act on the same targets in the brain as natural opioids to reduce pain. In contrast, natural opioids — including heroin, morphine, and codeine — are naturally occurring substances extracted from the seed pod of certain varieties of poppy plants.

Fentanyl is the most commonly used synthetic opioid. Recently, other synthetic drugs have cropped up in the opioid supply like xylazine, a horse tranquilizer not approved for human use and with no known antidote. In humans, the drug can cause deep flesh wounds.

“We are in the midst of a synthetic drug crisis in addition to what we call organic drugs,” said Dr. Rahul Gupta, White House Director of Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), during a recent visit to Purdue University in Indiana.