The Effects of the Opioid Crisis on Fentanyl Exhibitions

The opioid crisis is an epidemic in which fentanyl related overdoses are becoming more common. With the increase in prescription and recreational drugs, there has been a rise in drug combinations and exhibitions in the United States. Fentanyl has been found to be combined with other opiates like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, creating a higher risk of overdoses when being used recreationally. The National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) is designed to collect drugs and understand the trends in where they are being seized. From 2015 to 2019, the NFLIS collected drugs in four groups, fentanyl alone, and fentanyl combinations with heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. Using a single factor ANOVA, the four groups were compared for variance. A t-test was also used to determine the statistical differences between each of the groups with one another. The ANOVA yielded a p-value of 0.000266509, which indicated there was significant variation, and the null hypothesis was rejected. From the t-tests, it was observed that there were four groups that showed statistically significant data. The fentanyl alone group and the fentanyl and heroin group had two tail p-values lower than 0.05 when compared with the fentanyl and cocaine group, and the fentanyl and methamphetamine group. It was concluded that the fentanyl alone group had the highest significance in exhibitions amongst the four groups, however the fentanyl and heroin group also had some statistically significant data to support that it has also played a role in the opioid crisis.