Donna Nelson

Abstract:

An increasing number of news reports of U.S. illicit fentanyl poisonings reveals our growing opioid crisis.  Almost 210,000 people died from illicit fentanyl in the years 2015 – 2021.  Much effort has been expended to reduce illicit fentanyl deaths and incidences of addiction, but fentanyl has displayed anomalous behavior and has been impacted by anomalous data compilation and analysis, which have combined to impede progress.  Thus, illicit fentanyl has become a “perfect storm” in science.

Anomalies have contributed to confusion, research delays, and thereby an increasing number of deaths.  Using CDC reports, we determined death rates for years 1999 through 2022 due to fentanyl.  The surge in death rates starting in 2013 reveals how the fentanyl data caught the US scientists, politicians, and public off guard.  The death numbers increase from less than 3000 in 2013 up to about 73,000 in 2022.