Fentanyl

[swakyaby]

Help me understand fentanyl overdose..I understand that it is potent and deadly but what I don't understand is what people think they are getting when they buy the pill..Are they expecting to get a safe dose of fentanyl or do they think they are getting something else? If they think they are getting something else why are drug dealers not just selling a placebo? The only thing that makes sense to me is that they think they are getting a safe dose of fentanyl but as deadly as it is it seems unlikely people are taking it expecting to get a safe dose. What am I missing?

Getting back to the OP’s question, the drugs being sold on the black market are the ones being laced with fentanyl, to the unsuspecting opioid user. Fentanyl is now so cheap to produce on the black market and so potent that it takes very little to enhance an opioid pill’s effect. People really are putting too much faith in the safety of street drugs. There are no checks on what is being mixed in it. In contrast, medications purchased through licensed pharmacies have not been implicated, as far as I know.

For those who are fearful of fentanyl (or propofol) for their medical procedures as a result of recent publicity, taking street drugs containing fentanyl is not the same thing as receiving sedation in a monitored setting with medical professionals trained to handle the most common adverse effects.

 

[Montecfo]

I am seriously surprised that Porky hasn't paid us a visit. But it's one of the most substantive conversations I've ever seen on this board.

excellent thread. er.org at its best.

 

[troutnut1]

Drug addicts and alcoholics basically operate on the principal that if some is good, more is better. This leads to consequences. Mostly bad. Lots of nice people are killed by drugs, alcohol, and tobacco every year. Tobacco kills more than alcohol and all other drugs put together. 7,000,000 a year according to the CDC. That's like 96 airliners with 200 passengers crashing every day and killing all on board. And Nobody really seems to care much about that. Fentanyl is a great drug with many useful medical purposes. But now that junkies have found it the media is demonizing it to the detriment of people who really need it.

 

[Montecfo]

Drug addicts and alcoholics basically operate on the principal that if some is good, more is better. This leads to consequences. Mostly bad. Lots of nice people are killed by drugs, alcohol, and tobacco every year. Tobacco kills more than alcohol and all other drugs put together. 7,000,000 a year according to the CDC. That's like 96 airliners with 200 passengers crashing every day and killing all on board. And Nobody really seems to care much about that. Fentanyl is a great drug with many useful medical purposes. But now that junkies have found it the media is demonizing it to the detriment of people who really need it.

Serious issue but not sure how you conclude no one cares about it. You are quoting a worldwide figure but US war on tobacco has been raging for 75 years or so. US authorities even took tobacco companies to court and won a massive settlement, and placed tobacco under FDA authority as a drug. Massive education programs have been in pace for decades. Advertising banned. everyone knows it is dangerous and causes serious disease. Tobacco use in the US is declining steadily.

But now back to fentanyl.

 

[lawman]

So I gather that most of those who are overdosing on fentanyl do not know they are getting fentanyl..They think they are getting something else that is more expensive and possibly in shorter supply. Drug dealers will lace the pill with fentanyl hoping to provide a pleasurable experience thereby creating more demand. Sorta like bait and switch...Yes?

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Drug addicts and alcoholics basically operate on the principal that if some is good, more is better. This leads to consequences. Mostly bad. Lots of nice people are killed by drugs, alcohol, and tobacco every year. Tobacco kills more than alcohol and all other drugs put together. 7,000,000 a year according to the CDC. That's like 96 airliners with 200 passengers crashing every day and killing all on board. And Nobody really seems to care much about that. Fentanyl is a great drug with many useful medical purposes. But now that junkies have found it the media is demonizing it to the detriment of people who really need it.

Interesting parallel with tobacco. It's still widely available over the counter, but education taxation have reduced usage drastically. Smoking-induced illnesses/deaths are still common, but not so much as they were 50 years ago. Smoking was also marketed heavily for a long time by the tobacco industry.

While many addicts would like to get clean, society doesn't encourage that enough. They're stigmatized from the get-go, so they don't like to come forward for fear they'll end up in jail. It's hard enough for someone to admit they have a problem without the prospect for a prison term hanging over their heads. A lot of users deal a little on the side to keep their costs down, and they're usually the ones who get sent away.

 

[swakyaby]

So I gather that most of those who are overdosing on fentanyl do not know they are getting fentanyl..They think they are getting something else that is more expensive and possibly in shorter supply. Drug dealers will lace the pill with fentanyl hoping to provide a pleasurable experience thereby creating more demand. Sorta like bait and switch...Yes?

Yes, I think that is the basic gist of it.

 

[Gumby]

Why you would rely on a drug dealer for truth in packaging is beyond me. Of course they're not going to tell the truth.

 

[JoeWras]

So I gather that most of those who are overdosing on fentanyl do not know they are getting fentanyl..They think they are getting something else that is more expensive and possibly in shorter supply. Drug dealers will lace the pill with fentanyl hoping to provide a pleasurable experience thereby creating more demand. Sorta like bait and switch...Yes?

Why you would rely on a drug dealer for truth in packaging is beyond me. Of course they're not going to tell the truth.

Yes. These guys are poisonous snakes. Don't trust them.

With this kind of thing going on, kids really shouldn't be messing with any street substance. Even weed can be laced.

Seems like back in my day, the worst that would happen is we ended up smoking oregano. Different world today.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Why you would rely on a drug dealer for truth in packaging is beyond me. Of course they're not going to tell the truth.

I'm guessing that more than a few people on this board have been consumers in the underground drug market over the years. The truth is, you never know exactly what you're getting. I recall buying marijuana that turned out to be laced with something, still not clear what it was 50 years later. I bought it from a guy I knew at school. He didn't look like the guy Frank Sinatra scored from in "Man with the Golden Arm." He was an 18-year-old guy like me.

I doubt that he knew that there was something funny with the pot, but when I got down to the bottom of the bag where the chemical had accumulated, it did some unpleasant things.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Yes. These guys are poisonous snakes. Don't trust them.

With this kind of thing going on, kids really shouldn't be messing with any street substance. Even weed can be laced.

Seems like back in my day, the worst that would happen is we ended up smoking oregano. Different world today.

Fortunately, cannabis products can be purchased over the counter now in many states.

 

[troutnut1]

I'm guessing that more than a few people on this board have been consumers in the underground drug market over the years. The truth is, you never know exactly what you're getting. I recall buying marijuana that turned out to be laced with something, still not clear what it was 50 years later. I bought it from a guy I knew at school. He didn't look like the guy Frank Sinatra scored from in "Man with the Golden Arm." He was an 18-year-old guy like me.

I doubt that he knew that there was something funny with the pot, but when I got down to the bottom of the bag where the chemical had accumulated, it did some unpleasant things.

I had the same experience just slightly younger. So I became an alcoholic instead of a drug addict( yes, I do know alcohol is also a drug). The results were still tragic until I quit it in 1998, but the quality control was a lot better. Every bottle of my favorite bourbon was the same over 35 years. It's poison we can trust.

 

[Badger]

In the late 60s cannabis was usually fairly weak or stretched with some other herb. By the early 70s I was hearing about it being laced with something more than I wanted to deal with so I stopped. If it wasn't for legal medical cannabis in my state I would still be avoiding it for that reason. Fortunately after some serious surgeries and a lot of chronic pain it has provided an alternative (used in moderation) to the various opioids I was prescribed over the past 11 years. The opioids scared me enough with their side effects. I don't understand why anyone would want to use it recreationally and that goes double for fentanyl.

Cheers!

Cheers!

 

[RobbieB]

I bought and smoked a LOT of weed back in the day. High school through college. We didn't mess around with ounces or "lids", we bought it by the pound.

Yeah, I was a dope dealer back in the time -

And everyone just loved me because I only marked it up 12.5%, yeah an eighth. And I wasn't peddling on the street, only "helped my friends"

I never ever got any "tainted weed", some stuff was better than other stuff, some pounds were a little light on the the scale, but no, no angel dust, PCP, crystal, just weed. Sticks and stems and seeds. Pounds used to sell for ~$350 back then. Which is what an ounce sells for today.

But hey, what an ounce it is eh? This new legal cultivated and bread for potency stuff makes the stuff we were smoking back then look like beer compared to bourbon. Very cool times we live in.

Back in the day, back in the 60's-70's, there were all these legalization efforts going on. We never ever thought it would happen. Just never going to go into a store and buy a pack of "joints", that was the stuff of comedy skits.

Woo-Hoo!

 

[kgtest]

To say the least. Best estimates are we are losing around 300 people a day now. That is mind boggling...

I've hear the US loses like 700 a day or something.

Per a news source:

110,236 people died in a single 12-month period. That's almost 10,000 people a month.

SO yeah 300 people a day plus.

 

[jollystomper]

Why you would rely on a drug dealer for truth in packaging is beyond me. Of course they're not going to tell the truth.

Unfortunately the first foray into drugs for many is not a dealer, it is from a "friend" they already trust. By the time they go to a dealer they are so desperate/addicted that they really do not care, or think much that the dealer would harm them.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I had the same experience just slightly younger. So I became an alcoholic instead of a drug addict( yes, I do know alcohol is also a drug). The results were still tragic until I quit it in 1998, but the quality control was a lot better. Every bottle of my favorite bourbon was the same over 35 years. It's poison we can trust.

Of course, alcohol was banned in the US in the 1920s, and many people were poisoned with bootleg hooch that was tainted with wood alcohol during that time. Those effects were a lot more acute.

In my area, a case is in the news where an 18-year-old college freshman bought what he thought was a genuine Percocet tablet from an acquaintance. It was a bootleg laced with fentanyl, and after he took it he never woke up. He was not an addict, just a casual user who ingested something that wasn't what he thought it was.

 

[Montecfo]

I didn't like it and I never inhaled.

 

[swakyaby]

Unfortunately the first foray into drugs for many is not a dealer, it is from a "friend" they already trust. By the time they go to a dealer they are so desperate/addicted that they really do not care, or think much that the dealer would harm them.

+100

 

[TheWizard]

Not to diverge too far from the topic, but it seems to me that Fentanyl is the perfect drug for capital punishment. States that administer some complicated mix of drugs which sometimes do not get the job done would be better off giving the inmate a couple Fentanyl pills. No pain, just sleepy and dead. Cheap as well.

This is an excellent idea!

 

[JoeWras]

Of course, alcohol was banned in the US in the 1920s, and many people were poisoned with bootleg hooch that was tainted with wood alcohol during that time. Those effects were a lot more acute.

My grandfather damaged his liver because of this, although it was probably all the other contaminants rather then methanol. Then after prohibition, he finished himself off for good with a 1 bottle of wine per day habit. Died from cirrhosis mid 50s.

In my area, a case is in the news where an 18-year-old college freshman bought what he thought was a genuine Percocet tablet from an acquaintance. It was a bootleg laced with fentanyl, and after he took it he never woke up. He was not an addict, just a casual user who ingested something that wasn't what he thought it was.

Honestly, "Just say no" is still good advice for kids today. It is sad this advice gets so much gruff due to the political overtones.

I stayed away from the stuff for the most part because my older cousins did a lot of drugs, especially LSD, and were just weird people when using. Scared me.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Honestly, "Just say no" is still good advice for kids today.

I did, and was driving a nice MGB at 20 and a really nice Lotus at 22 as a result. In the UK of course.

 

[Car-Guy]

I smoked weed twice in my 20's. (A couple of drags each time) Both times was related to "unofficial" law enforcement "training". To this day, I can still remember the smell like it was yesterday. No desire to smoke it again, legal or not...

 

[Freedom56]

I smoked weed twice in my 20's. (A couple of drags each time) Both times was related to "unofficial" law enforcement "training". To this day, I can still remember the smell like it was yesterday. No desire to smoke it again, legal or not...

Weed today does not smell anything like it did in the 70's and 80's. It smells like rotten garlic today. I stopped smoking weed, hash, and Thai sticks after I started my career in my early 20's. Mandatory drug testing spoiled everything.

 

[Car-Guy]

Weed today does not smell anything like it did in the 70's and 80's. It smells like rotten garlic today. I stopped smoking weed, hash, and Thai sticks after I started my career in my early 20's. Mandatory drug testing spoiled everything.

No wonder I never smell that sweet smoke odor anymore.