Celebrity fentanyl overdoses have shocked the US into action

The US has finally been shaken into action after multiple deaths of high-profile stars like Euphoria’s Angus Cloud.

When pop legend Prince took pain medication before bed at his Paisley Park home seven years ago, few had heard of an obscure synthetic anaesthetic first created from a series of chemical compounds in 1959.

By 9.43am the next morning, frantic emergency calls were being made and fentanyl was on its way to being thrust into the spotlight as one largest causes of accidental overdose deaths across the globe.

In the past decade, the rate of overdose deaths has more than quadrupled and in the United States about 150 people die from overdoses of the synthetic opioid fentanyl per day. Or almost 55,000 per year.

The drug is as lethal in its potency as it is indiscriminate in its victims. This week, two people were arrested after a one-year-old baby died at a New York City daycare centre allegedly used to store and press fentanyl into counterfeit pills like the one Prince took in April 2016. Days later, the cause of death of Euphoria actor, Angus Cloud, was accidental overdose of fentanyl, mixed with cocaine and meth.

The death of Prince from an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2016 thrust the deadly drug into the spotlight. Picture: AFP

The cause of death of Euphoria Angus Cloud was this week revealed to be another accidental fentanyl overdose. Picture: AFP

The cause of the worrying epidemic might have gone largely unnoticed had the generic version of the painkiller Vicodin proscribed to Prince not been laced with the synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin and morphine.

The year after Prince, accidental fentanyl overdoses claimed iconic songwriter Tom Petty, 66, and rapper Lil Peep, 21. In 2018, record producer Mac Mill, 26, died in Los Angeles and, in 2021, legendary The Wire actor, Michael K Williams, 54, died in New York.

Young, old, and in all corners of the United States, communities are being snuffed out at an increasing rate. While celebrities from all disciplines of art and business are no different, the outsizes aftershocks from their deaths have increased awareness of the pervasiveness of fentanyl being laced into everything from seemingly pharmaceutical-grade pain medication to party drugs like cocaine.

Fentanyl Citrate is the pharmaceutical grade opioid used to chronic pain. Illicit fentanyl has caused hundreds of deaths overseas and could be headed to Australia. Source: Supplied

The synthetic opioid is distributed in pill, powder or patch form, and while it can be prescribed by doctors to treat severe pain resulting from surgeries or advanced cancer, it’s also in common epidural cocktails for childbirth.

But most fentanyl overdoses are linked to illegally made fentanyl, cooked in Mexico from pre-curser chemicals shipped from China, that is untested for its strength and being shipped into the black markets not just for recreational drugs, but in counterfeit pharmaceutical painkillers.

Just two milligrams, or about the size of 10 to 15 grains of table salt, is considered a lethal dose.

Fentanyl is often added to other drugs like cocaine, meth and ecstasy to increase their potency for cheap, making them more addictive and more dangerous.

Deadly levels of fentanyl are undetectable by sight, taste or smell and even fentanyl test strips can miss fentanyl in small doses or other fentanyl-like drugs

The majority is mass-produced into counterfeit pills made to look like Xanax, Adderall, or oxycodone.

Celebs with recreational drug habits are at risk even if they pay top dollar or believe they have a reliable supplier. In 2018, Demi Lovato was lucky to survive an overdose of heroin laced with fentanyl, but suffered three strokes and a heart attack as a direct result.

Acting legend Robert DeNiro’s grandson died of fentanyl-laced pills he sourced from dealer ‘Percocet Princess’, who warned him the pills were strong.

The Wire actor Michael K. Williams, 54, died from fentanyl-laced heroin at home in Brooklyn on Sep. 6, 2021. Picture: Getty Images

Iconic American songwriter Tom Petty, 66, died in Santa Monica on Oct. 2, 2017 from an accidental overdose of fentanyl and oxycodone. Picture: Supplied.

Illicit fentanyl is produced using precursor chemicals like benzylfentanyl, 4-anilinopiperidine and norfentanyl, which are most commonly produced in China, though India is also emerging as a supplier.

About 99 per cent of fentanyl comes from precursor drugs in China and is manufactured by the Jalisco and Sinaloa Cartels in Mexico, according to the END FENTANYL Act introduced to the US House of Representatives in December.

With the CDC reporting that 13 per cent of Americans started taking fentanyl during the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply of the drug has increased to meet market demand. US Customs and Border Patrol seized 4300 kilos of fentanyl along the 3,145-kilometre southern border with Mexico.

Jose Gonzalez sells items to pay for his next hit of fentanyl in Mexico, where 99 per cent of the drug is produced from chemicals shipped from China. Picture: Getty Images

Mexican drug cartels ship the drug into the United States through southern border towns like San Diego, where the homeless openly smoke fentanyl in tent cities. Picture: Getty Images

“That’s enough fentanyl to kill every American five times over,” said US politician Tim Burchett.

Fuelling the epidemic among young people is social media, which connects the user to narcotics networks. The families of more than 60 American youths who died of fentanyl overdoses, including the 16-year-old son of Oprah Winfrey’s TV therapist, are suing Snapchat, alleging the messaging app’s algorithm helps connect children with drug dealers.

While the deadly synthetic opioid is responsible for recreational overdoses, it’s also being used as a murder weapon.

Robert De Niro with daughter Drena and grandson Leandro, 19, who was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on July 2, 2023 from fentanyl-laced oxycodone pills. Picture: Instagram

Rapper and record producer Mac Miller, 26, died of an overdose of cocaine, fentanyl, and alcohol in Los Angeles on September 7, 2018. Picture: Rick Kern/WireImage

Rapper Coolio, 59, died of an accidental fentanyl overdose on September 28, 2022, at a friend’s home in Los Angeles. Picture: Getty Images

Pan Pacific swimming champion Jamie Cail, 42, was found dead in her home of “fentanyl intoxication” in the Virgin Islands on February 21, 2023.

Rapper Lil Peep, 21, was found dead on his tour bus in Arizona on November 15, 2017, from an overdose of fentanyl and xanax.. Picture: Getty Images

Lady Gaga’s fashion designer Katie Gallagher was found dead in bed in her Manhattan apartment, her door keys dangling from the keyhole, after she stumbled home from a bar where her drink had been spiked with fentanyl, part of a wave of “roofie” robberies.

And Utah real estate agent and mother of three Kouri Richins allegedly killed her husband with a fentanyl-laced Moscow Mule to misappropriate his assets.

In March 2023, US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called fentanyl “the single greatest challenge we face as a country. US President Joe Biden, meanwhile, called for historic funding from Congress of $46.1 billion (A$71.6bn) in 2024 to fight the overdose epidemic.

While the US overdose crisis has been decades in the making, the long fight back may one day be seen as growing out of the complete shock and confusion from the death of Prince at the hands of a counterfeit pill spiked with fentanyl.