Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-328) and index.

"A deeply human story, Fentanyl, Inc. is the first deep-dive investigation of a hazardous and illicit industry that has created a worldwide epidemic, ravaging communities and overwhelming and confounding government agencies that are challenged to combat it. 'A whole new crop of chemicals is radically changing the recreational drug landscape,' writes Ben Westhoff. 'These are known as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and they include replacements for known drugs like heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana. They are synthetic, made in a laboratory, and are much more potent than traditional drugs'-and all-too-often tragically lethal. Drugs like fentanyl, K2, and Spice were all originally conceived in legitimate laboratories. Their formulas were then hijacked and manufactured by rogue chemists, largely in China, who change their molecular structures to stay ahead of the law, making the drugs' effects impossible to predict. Westhoff has infiltrated this world, tracking down the little-known scientists who invented these drugs and inadvertently killed thousands. He visits the factories in China from which these drugs emanate, providing startling and original reporting on how China's vast chemical industry operates, and how the Chinese government subsidizes it. He poignantly chronicles the lives of addicted users and dealers, families of victims, law enforcement officers, and underground drug awareness organizers in the U.S. and Europe. Together they represent the shocking and riveting full anatomy of a calamity we are just beginning to understand and the new strategies slowly emerging that may provide essential long-term solutions to the drug crisis that has affected so many"--