evidence: Nearly 70,000 people in the US died of drug overdoses that involved fentanyl in 2021, almost a four-fold increase over five years. By 2021, about two-thirds of all overdose deaths involved the potent synthetic opioid, according to the report. Multiple drugs can be reported on one death certificate, and fentanyl is often found along with others, according to the CDC. [...] Pharmaceutical fentanyl is a synthetic opioid intended to help patients, such as those with cancer, manage severe pain. It is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and typically prescribed in the form of skin patches or lozenges. But most recent cases of fentanyl-related harm, overdose and death in the United States are linked to illegally made fentanyl, according to the CDC. [...] In 2021, fentanyl was involved in about 22 deaths for every 100,000 people – more than twice as many as the age-adjusted death rate from overdoses involving methamphetamine or cocaine, and more than seven times higher than those involving heroin.