Nowadays, however, it’s no longer a secret. Fentanyl dominates the drug supply on the West Coast, and increasingly across the country. Powdered fentanyl, along with methamphetamine, are about all you can find here on Wall Street, said Meakin; and even the methamphetamine is likely to be cut with fentanyl. As for the blues, they’re still out there, but they are fooling fewer and fewer people. “People are consuming them with full knowledge they are fentanyl, not oxycontin,” said Emanuel Sferios, founder of DanceSafe, who has closely tracked the opioid epidemic, referring to the time-release version of oxycodone. “Many -- if not most -- illicit opioid users these days know they're consuming fentanyl.” So evolved is the market that fentanyl has finally developed a nickname, at least in Southern California: “Fetty.” “Fetty is like another name for fentanyl,” said Mary Schafer, a former user based in San Diego. “No one really says ‘fentanyl.’ ‘You got fetty?’ It doesn't sound so bad when you say it in public.” Mexican organized crime groups may have noted the change. They are now churning out multi-colored “rainbow” M30 pills, which are showing up in drug busts around the country. It’s unlikely many users believe the rainbow pills are a legitimate pharmaceutical product and the DEA says it is a cunning way to attract younger users. The nickname also demonstrates that many American users, perhaps the majority, now realize when they’re consuming illicit fentanyl. Up until now, the fentanyl crisis was largely characterized by users being unaware that fentanyl was adulterating drugs like heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and counterfeit pills. Fentanyl is still adulterating those drugs, but for the first time, most American users seem to realize it, particularly when it comes to opioids like heroin and pills like oxycodone. “I’m sure it’s more now -- people who know they’re taking fentanyl -- than it was before,” said Steve Campman, chief medical examiner for San Diego County. https://insightcrime.org/news/deception-demand-us-fentanyl-users/