According to the literature, there are currently no cases of fentanyl overdose in Bosnia and Herzegovina, although we are receiving reports that the abuse of fentanyl has started in Croatia and Serbia, and we expect that this will soon spread to Bosnia and Herzegovina, given the routes of drug transmission that dominate the Balkan route, the director of the Center for prevention and outpatient treatment of addiction Mostar Siniša Skočibušić said.
“I could not guarantee that its use has not already started in our country, we just don’t see it yet, that is, the patients have not reached such a state that it would show,” emphasized Skočibušić for Fena.
According to him, the strength of the psychotropic effect of fentanyl is ten times stronger than that of heroin itself.
“The effects on the person themselves are far more devastating, i.e. the long-term consequences are more lethal (deadly) compared to the previous drugs,” he emphasized.
Skočibušić assesses that the decrease in the supply of the drug market leads to the appearance of new, especially synthetic, drugs.
“Considering that there are drug destruction measures in the world, that is, prevention measures, they somehow reduce the supply of drugs on the market, so new, especially psychoactive, synthetic drugs are found. In the absence of preventive programs, a situation simply occurs where there is an equal number of addicts, and there are fewer drugs, and then people look for new ways to use drugs,” he emphasized.
That is why it is very important, adds Skočibušić, that the fight against addiction be a multi-sector fight.
“This includes education, the police as a repressive apparatus, healthcare as treatment, but also the social apparatus in terms of employing people, because where people work, there is less need for addiction, that is, for overcoming all life’s problems by finding a solution in drugs,” he assessed.
Skočibušič states that the Outpatient Treatment Center in Mostar continuously has from 110 to 130 patients per month who receive therapy every day.
“They are mostly heroin addicts, with the fact that lately we very often see patients addicted to speed, that is, other amphetamines that have become popular today and are spreading on our market,” he pointed out.
For the arrival of new drugs on the market, says Skočibušić, the key role must be played by the repressive system, i.e. the police, the border service and the courts. To solve the existing problem, health care needs to be strengthened, while education is important to stop it in the future.
“It is not enough to talk with children about this problem for an hour or two, but it is necessary to continuously inform them and continuously work to reduce the need for addictive behavior such as betting and smoking and alcoholism and excessive use of mobile phones,” he said.
Fentanyl is a synthetic drug that is estimated to be 50 times stronger than heroin and is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans who die of overdose each year.
European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johansson warned that the European Union must prepare for a sudden increase in the synthetic drug fentanyl.
It is a reaction to the warning of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Europe either has not yet discovered a problem with synthetic drugs, or it will soon.
According to the European report on drugs from this year, 434 laboratories for the production of synthetic drugs were shut down in the EU in 2021.
