A National Amputation Crisis: A Powerful Tranquilizer Is Costing People Their Limbs—Especially Those Without Housing or Access to Care
Alexandria Carsello was homeless on Philadelphia’s Kensington Ave. for multiple years after she aged out of foster care. The experience caused her mental health to deteriorate, and she used opioids to cope.
At 21 years old, Carsello started injecting fentanyl. The drug was so powerful that Carsello knew she was addicted almost immediately. But then something unexpected started happening. She began developing sores on her arms and legs that eventually grew into deep lesions.
“I was naïve,” Carsello told Invisible People in an interview. “People on the streets told me it would help my anxiety.”…