Fentanyl Lollipops, Opium Gum, & Brown Sugar - The Opioid Crisis Megathread

[NynJa]

Me and Archi on the same page lol

[Yuri-G]

What I don't understand is...why?

Fentanyl isn't cheap, you want repeat (not dead) customers, uh...why would you lace drugs (especially non-opiates) with fent?

I really have no idea. is it comparatively cheap when you take potency into account? also it's gotta be easier to get ahold of than heroin or other street drugs, since it's legally manufactured.


but yeah I really don't know what brought this crisis on. it's insane on its face

[Gokku]

I really have no idea. is it comparatively cheap when you take potency into account? also it's gotta be easier to get ahold of than heroin or other street drugs, since it's legally manufactured.


but yeah I really don't know what brought this crisis on. it's insane on its face

What brought it on is simple this is just the latest version of... Chasing the dragon? I think that's what the first opioid epidemic was called.

[arus2001]

What I don't understand is...why?

Fentanyl isn't cheap, you want repeat (not dead) customers, uh...why would you lace drugs (especially non-opiates) with fent?

Because you actually hate druggies and have taken up the duty to clean up America~

[Andalusian girls]

fentanyl is far cheaper than heroin, easier and safer to produce as it is lab made meaning you don't have to deal with the Mexican cartels or international transport from Vietnam/Afghanistan, and simply more potent. p much all heroin/cocaine/meth is stomped to hell by the time it reaches a user, if you can cut purity to say 20% instead of 40% by adding a few drops of fentanyl you just doubled how far your supply will go. it is a cheaper way to give users a higher high, and if a few fall out from time to time, well, cost of doing business.

[Andalusian girls]

What brought it on is simple this is just the latest version of... Chasing the dragon? I think that's what the first opioid epidemic was called.

chasing the dragon refers specifically to freebasing heroin, overdose deaths are caused overwhelming through injection.

[archibaldcrane]

chasing the dragon refers specifically to freebasing heroin, overdose deaths are caused overwhelming through injection.

I thought chasing the dragon just meant always trying to get a (heroin) high that felt as good as the first one?

[archibaldcrane]

fentanyl is far cheaper than heroin, easier and safer to produce as it is lab made meaning you don't have to deal with the Mexican cartels or international transport from Vietnam/Afghanistan, and simply more potent. p much all heroin/cocaine/meth is stomped to hell by the time it reaches a user, if you can cut purity to say 20% instead of 40% by adding a few drops of fentanyl you just doubled how far your supply will go. it is a cheaper way to give users a higher high, and if a few fall out from time to time, well, cost of doing business.

but like

if you buy meth or coke...don't you want meth or coke, not an opiate? I haven't used any drugs other than weed but as I understand it they are pretty different drugs, no?

[archibaldcrane]

I thought chasing the dragon just meant always trying to get a (heroin) high that felt as good as the first one?

nope i'm wrong

[Andalusian girls]

d

but like

if you buy meth or coke...don't you want meth or coke, not an opiate? I haven't used any drugs other than weed but as I understand it they are pretty different drugs, no?

they are, and fentanyl is still far more commonly used to dilute heroin than anything else. but hard drugs are littered with impurities, there's a standing joke among cocaine users in Southern California that it's either going to make you as twitchy as Michael J Fox because it's cut with speed or it's going to instantly send you bathroom bound as it's cut with baby laxative. to less discerning drug dealers, if you can imagine such a thing, a few drops of fentanyl can spike the high even if the effects are non-typical and most of their clients aren't going to complain so long as the high is nice. and if the dealer is especially amoral it may be a directed gambit to get cocaine users hooked on opiates.

[Andalusian girls]

also needs to be said all the fentanyl use isn't simply dealers tricking the unsuspecting. it is deadly but it gets you high as shit and is cheap, there's a market for it and the products it laces. speedballing is the mixture of cocaine and heroin and is extremely popular among hard drug users (Outkast made a song about it and it's how Mitch Hedberg and Chris Farley died, among others), and it seems at least part of the rise in cocaine/fentanyl overdoses is the result of people replacing heroin with the cheaper fentanyl in that classic cocktail.

[Byrthnoth]

How are we just now noticing that this is a terrible idea? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cenikor...big-companies/

Also, I recommend the most recent "Uncertain Hour" podcast season. It used the opioid crisis as a lens with which to discuss hard-drug policy in general. What should be the goal of drug policy? Which drug policies are being tried? What are they doing? etc.

[TsingTao]

Hadn't seen the article, clearly it's terrible. Like someone from the private prison world said 'Hold my beer' and showed people how to really squeeze out those cheap labor dollars.

The Dept of Labor choosing not to investigate them twenty years ago is especially troubling. Must have cost a pretty penny, but I'm sure Cenikor made more than enough in the next two decades to make it worthwhile.

[6souls]

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/0...rise-minnesota

Minnesota has seized 761 pounds of Meth so far this year. That is nearing the the 871 pounds that was seized for all of 2018.

[Cail]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/healt...e70_story.html

A judge Monday found Johnson & Johnson responsible for fueling Oklahoma’s opioid crisis, ordering the health care company to pay $572 million to remedy the devastation wrought by the epidemic on the state and its residents.


Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman’s landmark decision is the first to hold a drugmaker culpable for the fallout of years of liberal opioid dispensing that began in the late 199os, sparking a nationwide epidemic of overdose deaths and addiction. More than 400,000 people have died of overdoses from painkillers, heroin and illegal fentanyl since 1999.

[archibaldcrane]

of course if Oklahoma wanted to do something about opioid addiction they could, like, expand medicaid to provide treatment to poor people

[mallister]

BUT THAT'S HERESY

[6souls]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-p...-idUSKCN1VH26I

Purdue Pharma to settle opioid lawsuit for $10-12 billion.

[Spicyryan]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-p...-idUSKCN1VH26I

Purdue Pharma to settle opioid lawsuit for $10-12 billion.

What do they care? They made more than 35 billion from Oxy alone. This is just an inconvenience for them and their lawyers They still made billions out of the deal.

[TsingTao]

Yeah, that's the playbook. Do whatever you want, pay the bullshit federal fine or settle a few lawsuits, make bank. Until we put a few Class C's behind bars in Federal pound me in the ass prison for shit like this it will continue. For fuckery on the level necessary to create the opioid crisis there should be a few public executions to set a clear example for the future.