Dr. Stephanie Widmer

Definitely not enough research to draw any concrete conclusions.

We use plastic every day and the amount of plastic that we've been using as human beings and just in the environment has really been increasing over time.

Widmer on ABC News.

Tell us a little bit about it.

Sure.

So fentanyl is a synthetic opioid.

Synthetic meaning it is man-made.

It's synthesized in a lab.

And it is incredibly potent.

So to put it into context, when you compare it to other drugs in its class, other opioids, it is 50 times stronger than heroin and 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine.

So very, very

potent.

The difference between sedating someone and taking away their respiratory drive is very, very small.

We do use fentanyl in the medical setting.

We use it in the medical setting for pain and sedation, but we use it in very small controlled doses.

And like I just said, the difference between providing that sedation and

and death can be very, very tiny.

A lot of the drugs that we use in the hospital or in the medical field are dosed on the order of milligrams and sometimes grams.

And just to put in perspective, fentanyl is dosed on the order of micrograms.

one milligram is a thousand micrograms.