Fentanyl-related deaths: from Hayden Panettiere to Prince, the long list of celebrity victims and the threat in Europe

The first name is that of Prince. We’ve told his story in detail in our podcast “Fentanyl, the devil’s molecule”, which you can find here or on all streaming platforms.

On 21 April 2016, Prince was found unconscious at his estate, Paisley Park, in Minnesota, aged 57. Two years later, the Carver County District Attorney closed the investigation without pressing charges. Prince believed he was taking Vicodin, a common painkiller, but had in fact taken counterfeit pills containing fentanyl. It was never established who had supplied them to him. The prosecutor also revealed that the singer had probably taken the same pills during an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, when paramedics revived him with two doses of Narcan.

Another high-profile case was that of Tom Petty in 2017. The Los Angeles coroner found fentanyl, oxycodone, temazepam, alprazolam, citalopram, acetylfentanyl and despropionylfentanyl in his system. The family explained that he had been prescribed various painkillers, including fentanyl patches, for a fractured hip and other health issues, and said they hoped the report would spark a discussion about opioids.

Then there is the rapper Mac Miller, who died in 2018 at the age of 26 from a combination of cocaine, fentanyl and alcohol; the drug dealer Ryan Reavis was sentenced to nearly 11 years for supplying him with oxycodone tablets laced with fentanyl. The rapper’s mother said in court that her son would never have taken those tablets had he known what they contained. Michael K. Williams, who played Omar in “The Wire”, died in September 2021 in his Brooklyn flat, just a few hours after buying heroin from a dealer on a pavement in Williamsburg, in a transaction captured on CCTV. The heroin was laced with fentanyl, and according to the federal prosecution, that gang continued to sell it even after his death. In 2023, it was the turn of Angus Cloud, aged 25, the Fezco from “Euphoria”: the coroner cited the combined effects of methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl and benzodiazepines as the cause of death.

But what is fentanyl? And why is it so demonised? In reality, it was originally developed as a medicine, and remains so. A medicine which, when used under medical supervision, is highly effective. It is used in anaesthesia and to treat severe pain, including in cancer patients. In any anaesthetist’s kit these days, there is at least one vial of fentanyl ready for use.

When it comes to drug addiction, however, it’s a different story. In most cases, in fact, the fentanyl in question is produced by drug cartels, and therefore illegally. Furthermore, it is often not even fentanyl at all, but other opioids such as oxycodone. In short, when it comes to fentanyl, the slang of the drug scene encompasses the whole range of these molecules. Obviously, producing such potent opioids in makeshift laboratories, with poorly calibrated presses and less-than-expert hands, becomes a game of Russian roulette: every blister pack contains a very high proportion of lethal tablets. And in the United States, the figures confirm this. Deaths from overdose had reached 107,941 in 2022. In 2023, around 69 per cent of deaths involved synthetic opioids, primarily illicit fentanyl and its analogues. Since then, the trend has declined, partly thanks to the wider availability of the antidote naloxone (known as Narcan). But the figures remain staggering.

Europe’s story has been different so far. The European Union Drugs Agency estimates that there will be around 7,600 overdose deaths in the EU in 2024, almost always involving multiple substances, with opioids being the leading cause. Illegal fentanyl has never gained a foothold to the same extent as in North America, partly because criminal organisations have chosen to focus heavily on cocaine and crack. . The recent disappearance of dozens of vials of fentanyl from Rome’s Israelitico Hospital has set off a red warning light. And in recent days, several videos circulating on social media have shown cases of ‘fentanyl fold’ (people slumped over due to opioid use, often mixed with xylazine) on the streets of the capital. More specifically in Tor Sapienza, where residents of this eastern suburb of Rome have filmed videos showing men slumped on the pavement, motionless, with their arms hanging limply towards the ground. These are warning signs that illustrate how quickly the drug on the streets can change. And they perhaps call for swift reflection. To prevent the history of heroin – which in the 1970s we believed was simply an American drug – from repeating itself.