International Experiences with Fentanyl

• In Event: New Insights About Fentanyl Markets & Harm Reduction

Abstract

Synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl and its analogues, represent a major driver of drug overdose deaths in the United States and have made an impact on a number of other international jurisdictions as well. This places great importance on the need to understand the dynamics associated with fentanyl supply and demand and to examine what lessons can be drawn from existing international experience with synthetic opioids. This paper will present the results of a review of academic literature and official drug policy documentation pertaining to a number of countries affected by fentanyl (Canada, Estonia, Latvia and Sweden) and a series of key informant interviews with researchers and practitioners working in the area of drug markets and drug policy in these countries. It will offer a comparative analysis of the evolution of fentanyl markets in the focus countries. It will also include a discussion of themes pertaining to the characteristics of these markets that may offer transferrable lessons for the understanding of the situation in the U.S. and its possible future directions.

Authors

• Jirka Taylor, RAND Corporation

• Peter Reuter, University of Maryland