Comment by mr__y

It has also much shorter half-life than most opioids making managing the overdose much easier (in hospital setting). For anesthetic it is a valid and safe choice. It is of course different in non-hospital setting and non-pharmaceutical grade products - since fentanyl is very potent it requires much more precision in measuring the dosage which, when combined with unknown and varying purity makes overdose much more likely than with less potent opioids. If that is in turn combined with lack of or a significant delay of naloxone administration the risk of death is significantly higher than with less potent opioids