This all ties back to the underground shoddy manufacturing. Yes, there's piles of stories about people dying from illicit fentanyl. The problem with fentanyl is

This all ties back to the underground shoddy manufacturing. Yes, there's piles of stories about people dying from illicit fentanyl. The problem with fentanyl is the dosing; an effective dose is measured in micrograms. What doesn't get reported with the same sensationalism is that fentanyl is actually used medically, quite successfully. My father had knee surgery a few years ago and was prescribed slow-release fentanyl patches. I'm hazy on the details, but I think it was something like 16ug released over 12 hours. It worked just fine. I remember hearing recently about some fentanyl deaths in Vancouver that were traced back to a poorly manufactured batch of underground pills. The problem wasn't the average dose in the pills, it was that the fentanyl and filler and binder hadn't been mixed very well before being pressed. The result was that some of the pills had a bunch of fentanyl and some didn't. While I'm not necessarily in favour of legalizing everything, being able to freely purchase pharmaceutical grade fentanyl pills would go a long way in preventing situations like this.