The Impact and Rising Danger of the Opioid Epidemic

The current wave of the opioid crisis is being driven by potent synthetic opioids: fentanyl and its analogs. Join us over the next few months for our blog and social series as we dig into the current stats on the opioid crisis, analyze the synthetic chemicals that are driving it, and learn about how the MX908 can help.

The Current State of the Crisis

The opioid epidemic has been a decades-long challenge, and sadly continues to escalate. Here’s a snapshot of the current crisis:

From 1999-2019, nearly 500,000 people died from an overdose involving prescription or illicit opioids.

• Currently, 130 people in the U.S. die every day from an opioid overdose.
• The pandemic had a negative effect:
  Synthetic opioid fatalities rose by 55% between September 2019 and September 2020.
• Carfentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is 10,000x more potent than morphine and 100x more potent than fentanyl.

The Impact

The lasting impact on communities – and the first responders sworn to protect them. The Broward Sheriff’s Office estimates a 30% increase of opioid related deaths in 2021 in their Florida county alone. In Ohio, Black non-Hispanic males had the highest drug overdose death rate compared with other sex and race/ethnicity groups. Additionally, fentanyl was involved in 76% of overdose deaths in 2019, often in combination with other drugs. From 2018 to 2019, the largest increase in death rates involving synthetic opioids occurred in the West (67.9%). No single state experienced a significant decrease in that timeframe.

The Solution

The tool protecting the front lines and first responders. 1 tool can detect solid, liquid, vapor, and aerosol threats: The MX908. Detect more than 2000 fentanyl analogs, which have fueled the opioid epidemic. The MX908 can identify trace amounts of fentanyl in the presence of a cutting agent in under 1 minute. Since launching the MX908, 908 Devices has deployed approximately 1,600 devices into every U.S. State in 38 countries and across 5 continents.