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Editor's note: This is the first of a series of articles examining the fentanyl crisis that will appear in The Messenger this week.
A powerful new medicine came on the market some 60 years ago, offering relief for surgery patients and others in need of something to numb their pain when nothing else would work.
But in recent years this wonder drug has become better known for addiction and death.
It's name: fentanyl.
"It is a very strong pain reliever," said Lance Fischer, chief pharmacist at UnityPoint Health -- Trinity Regional Medical Center.
He described it as 100 times stronger than morphine.
Morphine, he said, is derived from the poppy plant, but fentanyl is synthetically produced.
He said fentanyl was introduced in the late 1950s or early 1960s.
"Used in a health care setting in a controlled environment, it is used to control pain in surgery and in patients recovering from surgery," Fischer said.
It is also given to terminally ill patients.
"It really is advantageous to us in the medical field," Fischer added.
Fentanyl comes in patches, nasal sprays, and even in lolly pops for hospice patients, according to Fischer. But in the hospital setting it is mostly used in a liquid form and administered via IV, he said.
Once administered, fentanyl travels to the brain, where it blocks the pain receptors.
"It acts very quickly," Fischer said. "Once injected, it goes to the brain very quickly."
Fentanyl is powerful, fast-acting and also addictive. Those factors have resulted in fentanyl emerging as a cause of overdoses and deaths. Some of those overdoses result from taking too much of a prescribed medicine, but many others come from using illegally made fentanyl, which is often mixed with other illegal drugs.
"They are not going to know if it is in a pill they've ingested," the pharmacist said.
An overdose of fentanyl shuts down a person's respiratory system.
"It doesn't take much," Fischer said. "It is very potent."
A drug commonly called narcan can counteract the effects of fentanyl and save the life of an overdose victim if administered quickly.