logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2023
24m 37s

BBC OS Conversations: Fentanyl in the Un...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Fentanyl is a potentially deadly synthetic opioid. The other month, a drug enforcement official in the country described it as the single deadliest drug threat the US has encountered. It’s been around since the 1960s and small doses are used safely every day by medics for pain relief. But as an illegal drug, Fentanyl is blamed for more than 70,000 deaths in the US every year. We bring together two parents who lost children to the drug. George Gerchow in Colorado tells us that one of the hardest aspects is dealing with the stigma and lack of support from the community.

Up next
Today
Searching for Soldier Dad: Ep 1. Love story
Why don’t I have a father? Cathy is 10 years old when she starts asking questions. The secret her mum Maggie is forced to reveal changes everything. Years later, when lawyers and a geneticist turn up in their hometown in Kenya to take DNA samples, Maggie hopes they can help her f ... Show More
34m 49s
May 2
Mapping Epstein's global connections
The personal correspondence, photographs and papers of the late convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein have been released to the public in stages, beginning in December 2025, after an almost unanimous vote in the US Senate. The released files run to three and a half ... Show More
26m 29s
Apr 25
Inside the Mugabe dynasty
Late Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe died in 2019, but in the years before and since his death, his three children with his former wife, Grace, consistenly made headlines for all the wrong reasons. In April 2026 Bellarmine Mugabe pled guilty to a firearms offence in South Afri ... Show More
26m 29s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2023
Fentanyl: Why is it killing so many young Americans?
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s fifty times more powerful than heroin. It’s also the biggest killer of 18-45 year olds in the United States.The death toll is so high that the sons of imprisoned drug lord El Chapo have said they aren’t going to sell it anymore - although exp ... Show More
14m 1s
Sep 2022
Vancouver’s Unconventional Approach to Its Fentanyl Crisis
<p> An influx of Fentanyl, a highly lethal synthetic narcotic, has aggravated the opioid crisis in the United States and prompted communities to scramble for ways to lower the skyrocketing rates of overdose deaths.</p><p>In Vancouver, a Canadian city that has been at the forefron ... Show More
33m 33s
Feb 2021
Opioids, COVID-19 And Racism: A Deadly Trifecta
Drug overdose deaths are on the rise all around the country, including in Chicago, Illinois. ProPublica Illinois reporter Duaa Eldeib explains how the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the opioid epidemic, and the challenges that public health officials are facing as they work ... Show More
12m 59s
Jan 2020
403. The Opioid Tragedy, Part 2: “It’s Not a Death Sentence”
<p>One prescription drug is keeping some addicts from dying. So why isn’t it more widespread? A story of regulation, stigma, and the potentially fatal faith in abstinence.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com< ... Show More
46m 23s
Nov 2023
CLASSIC: Who created the opioid epidemic?
In the U.S. doctors often prescribe opioids for pain management, and it's no secret that these substances are a big business for pharmaceutical companies -- and, increasingly, it's no secret that exposure to these legal pills are turning patients into unwilling addicts. So how ex ... Show More
1h 7m
Jun 2021
Fentanyl Overdoses are Claiming Younger People’s Lives in Santa Clara County
Deaths from fentanyl overdoses have been on the rise during the pandemic. In Santa Clara County, the ages of the victims are trending younger, according to an analysis by KQED and the Documenting COVID-19 project at Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation. Fen ... Show More
17m 18s