Fentanyl

A news report stated that doctors have been overprescribing fentanyl for years and the FDA hasn’t been able to stop it. Fentanyl is a narcotic that helps reduce pain. The news report stated that doctors are aware of the dangers and issues that these painkillers pose, however, their recognition isn’t enough. They still overprescribe the painkillers and they usually don’t go toward any good use. The painkillers that are often overprescribed are called transmucosal immediate-release fentanyls (TIRFs). They are fast-acting and powerful and their main purpose is to help with the pain that cancer patients suffer from. The FDA has tried to put these overprescriptions to an end but has not been super effective in doing so. The CDC estimates that 130 Americans die each day from an opioid overdose where a lot of these prescriptions were misused.