Report suggests synthetic drugs kill more than prescription pills The Journal of the American Medical Association found that 46 percent of over 42,249 opioid-related deaths involved synthetic drugs like fentanyl. That’s three times more than in 2010 when synthetic drugs were only involved in 14 percent of opioid overdose deaths. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more powerful than other opioids such as morphine, heroin and Oxycodone. Synthetic opioids are also cheaper to produce and purchase than other opioids. The report also found that nearly 80 percent of deaths involving synthetic opioids also involved other drugs like cocaine, alcohol or antidepressants.