I don't think most people are ODing from prescription abuse. It is fentanyl. I'd be interested to know how many are being poisoned by fentanyl-laced drugs, vs. fentanyl addicts who OD. Maybe that stat would be too hard to come by?
Tangentially related but it has been my experience (I knew several people who died from opioid overdose) and also in literature[1] that overdoses frequently occur after rehab. Due to a drop in tolerance.
"The clustering of the deaths from overdose in the group of patients who had successfully completed treatment is counterintuitive and illogical—unless it derives from loss of tolerance and consequent unpredictability of resumed heroin use."
Can confirm from my own firsthand observation. Sober people relapse, often after years of being clean, and misjudge how strong the stuff has gotten. Instant OD
Yes and no. Very few people get started with a legitimate prescription. The typical opioid OD happens to someone who had other substance abuse and mental health problems and at some point started taking resold/stolen prescription opioids. Until fentanyl flooded the market most ODs were multi-substance and often(some 85%+ in places where coroners checked if memory serves) involved a LOT of alcohol. Now, its often just fentanyl, which is hard to dose correctly especially if you've recently tried to quit.
A lot of people who die from fentanyl ODs are just casual drug users who are buying some other drug that happens to be laced with fentanyl. They die before they even know what's happening. It takes surprisingly little to kill someone and the illegal drug manufacturers are not that great with quality control when they cut the drugs they sell. I'm aware of people who used to take recreational drugs from time to time, but have quit completely because of the risk of accidentally overdosing because the dealers put fentanyl in almost everything now.
Most people who die from fentanyl ODs are opioid addicted. They are not getting it in other drugs - that happens (I test all my drugs for fentanyl) but is not any where near a majority of fentanyl deaths.
Searching Google for "fentanyl test kit" + location (eg Denver) will connect you with your local dept of public health, which often (in non puritanical, harm-reduction states, which includes Texas) has free/low cost options. They often also have Narcan to distribute after teaching you how to use it.
Yes. Its a deadly combo. Tons of cheap opioids flowing in from Mexico made with Chinese chemicals. There is no way to stop it. Flood the EU with tons of cheap fentanyl for a fair comparison.
Fentanyl makes a mockery of something like border control. You can fit an absurd number of doeses into a package the size of a standard letter envelope. The demand for Fentanyl is directly related to the vice grip of the DEA on prescription opioids.
> So far in FY23, we have seized over 476 lbs. of Fentanyl between the ports of entry along our southwest border. That's enough to kill 100 million people.
I agree that it would not stop the drug trade... but the wall was never built so calling it "political theatre" is incorrect as well, as it was completely opposed by congress, and faced all kinds of lawsuits that stopped building several times.
"The Wall" as envisioned by the proponents was never completed
Plenty of parts of a wall for photo ops were completed!
The whole thing doesn’t need to exist for political theater, in fact I’d say its lack of actual completion makes it even more a theatrical construction than if it actually was done!
And it’s everywhere. It’s used as the “razzle dazzle” to add a kick to highs. Fake pills, heroin.
There’s even been a rash of fentanyl overdoses in nyc from marijuana (as reported by the victims). It’s thought that mass produced weed is being grown with plant growth regulators. These make the plant grow big, dense buds. It also makes the plant produce less thc. It’s believe that the plants are then being dusted with fentanyl to replace the lost thc.
Any references to the marijuana fentanyl problem? I’ve heard versions of this story repeated every few years since the mid 2010s but have never been able to find actual evidence for it.
my background is in harm reduction and as far as I know there is no credence to these tales. There are people in the U.S. overblowing the fentanyl situation either to stoke fear for some personal or political benefit or sometimes it's just well-meaning undereducated folks spreading these tales.
fentanyl has generally speaking only made its way into the supply of non-opioids like cocaine as the result of contamination, not intentional adulteration. When we talk about fentanyl, in reality what's out there is perhaps some true fentanyl but a lot of fentanyl analogues that are much more potent (lethal dose in the mcg range). Often the people moving heroin are also moving cocaine and other drugs, and using shared surfaces to weigh and cut the product for street use. They aren't properly cleaning surfaces and instruments and thus fentanyl is ending up in all sorts of powdered drugs
fentanyl on weed has probably happened in some instances of intentional poisoning of an individual but I'd file this under similar in risk to your child being given an edible, or candy with a razor blade on halloween
