> An opioid that's more potent, more addictive, and more deadly than heroin should never have gone to market in the first place. This is a little misplaced. Fe

> An opioid that's more potent, more addictive, and more deadly than heroin should never have gone to market in the first place. This is a little misplaced. Fentanyl is a medically useful drug. Fentanyl had years of use as an anesthetic agent (and still does - it is an essential ICU medication) before the idea of marketing it for other purposes occurred. And without defending the pharma industry and their role one bit. The vast majority of fentanyl these days is not from big pharma, and it's arguable what relative role fentanyl played vs all the other drugs Specifically, the demand for illegitimate fentanyl today was mostly driven due to addictions from other medications that were NOT fentanyl - such as oxy, hydrocodone and even the "safe" tramadol. Having said that, it's going to be a hard sell that all opioids should be banned. There is some middle ground between reserving for palliative and acute critical illness and having PCPs prescribe for simple back pain. > heroin is safer It is a smidge more complex. Fentanyl has some pharmacologic properties that make it safer for controlled use in sick patients. Heroin has similar metabolite related side effects as morphine.