The drug fentanyl is used as an anesthetic during surgical procedures and is a “very effective” painkiller, the Department of Health said on Wednesday.

“We also use fentanyl for the chronic pain of patients that is hard to treat. So that’s fentanyl,” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said in an ambush interview.

He pointed out that fentanyl is “a quick acting pain reliever” that cannot be bought over the counter but needs a doctor’s prescription.

“It’s prohibited and it’s prescribed by physicians,” Herbosa added.

“We use fentanyl in the emergency department for severe trauma cases where the patients need it for immediate pain control,” he said in English and Filipino. 

Fentanyl is also addictive, he added.

Cocaine, meanwhile, is one of the dangerous drugs listed by the Dangerous Drugs Board, Herbosa said.

“It’s not in the market. Fentanyl is registered with the Food and Drug Administration. While cocaine is illegal and is on the list of dangerous drugs. It is imported into the country by drug pushers,” he said.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday, 28 January, in a  speech in Davao City accused President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. of being a drug addict.

“Bongbong, he’s high. That’s why I’m telling you, Bongbong Marcos was high back then. Now he’s the president, he’s still high,” Duterte said.

“You, in the military, especially those in Malacañang, you know it. The Armed Forces of the Philippines, you know it. We have a drug addict for a president,” he added.

Marcos, for his part, laughed off Duterte’s allegations.

“I think it’s the fentanyl. After five or six years, it has to affect him; that’s why I think that’s how he turned out. So I hope his doctors take better care of him than this and not neglect him when he’s having problems,” Marcos said.

In 2016, Duterte admitted using fentanyl patches to relieve the pain from spinal issues.