As Walter White was to meth, so is the “Drug Wizard of Wichita” to Fentanyl
by Xeni Jardin from on (#12K60)
The potent drug Fentanyl is widely used in medicine as a painkiller, and in anesthesia for major surgery. The intensely concentrated opiate is also a recreational street drug, with a growing number of addicted users--some of whom consume it together with chemically related opiates such as heroin.
Fusion profiles George Marquardt, an eccentric gadgeteer in Wichita, KS who became a career clandestine chemist. How important was he? When the feds finally nabbed Marquardt, the country's first "Fentanyl epidemic" dried right up.