Seven months ago, when Jake got out of jail in Phoenix, he expected to go back to using his drug of choice: heroin. But the street market for illegal opioids had changed.
“I just started smoking [fentanyl] pills because that was the thing that was around; it was so easy to get,” he said. NPR is only using Jake’s first name because he fears being arrested after talking openly about his addiction.
“Soon as I wake up, I have to have a pill,” Jake said. “The high is not very long, so 20 minutes after I smoke a pill, I want to smoke another one, you know?”
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