[loeg]

It's a weird framing. Fentanyl is already very safe in a healthcare setting. It's only dangerous in off-label street use, where dosage is uncontrolled and use isn't being monitored by trained staff. Do we think cartel labs are going to switch to a safer novel opiate? I'm sure they don't care about any relevant patents, but they already have a pipeline/formulation for fentanyl.

[jfengel]

They might, if it kept their customers coming back. They don't care about users' safety but they do want them to keep paying.