A lot of heroin users developed an opiate dependency using prescription painkillers, but once their doctor stopped giving them the prescription they looked for

A lot of heroin users developed an opiate dependency using prescription painkillers, but once their doctor stopped giving them the prescription they looked for something else. Once upon a time heroin was the cheaper drug because fentanyl was only available by prescription; people with opiate dependencies wanted fentanyl not because it was stronger but because it was manufactured by pharmaceutical companies, which means specified and reliable doses and a very pure product. Today the problem is that fentanyl is produced by underground labs using questionable processes, so it is basically no different than "heroin" as far as the danger goes. The reason I put "heroin" in quotes is that in reality people cannot know what they are buying on the black market; maybe it is heroin, maybe it is fentanyl, maybe it is a mixture, or maybe they are about to become a case study like this group: https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/05/medical-mystery-how-tainted-drugs-froze-young-people-but-kickstarted-parkinsons-research/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/05/medical-mystery-how-...