Here’s what you need to know about the opioid fentanyl

[slimvictor]

The United States is in the midst of a drug crisis, with a 200% increase in the rate of opioid overdose deaths since 2000. Opioids are a class of drugs derived from the opium poppy, like morphine, codeine or heroin, but they also include the latest concern: synthetics like oxycodone, hydrocodone and the extremely potent fentanyl.

According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5,500 people died of synthetic opioid overdoses in 2014, most of them related to fentanyl. That’s an 80% increase over the numbers reported in 2013.

Last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a national alert stating that “drug incidents and overdoses related to fentanyl are occurring at an alarming rate.” In 2013, the DEA made 942 fentanyl seizures; in 2014, it made 3,344.

Street version vs. hospital version

Used by doctors, fentanyl is the most powerful opioid in medicine. However, according to the DEA, much of what is being found on the streets is not diverted from hospitals but rather sourced from China and Mexico. Frequently, people buy it on the street with no idea that it is fentanyl.

This year in California (PDF), fentanyl was passed off as the prescription drug Norco and sold on the streets. In just one 10-day period, this batch was responsible for at least 10 deaths and 48 overdoses.

Dealers are also cutting heroin with fentanyl to give the heroin a bigger kick.

Beyond fentanyl itself, law enforcement is also concerned with its analogues: designer drugs with similar function but slightly different chemical structure.

Just a little bit can be lethal

The danger of fentanyl isn’t just to users. It can be a threat to anyone who comes into contact with it. The drug can be absorbed through the skin or accidentally inhaled. In 2015, a New Jersey police officer had shortness of breath, dizziness and slowed breathing after coming into contact with fentanyl.

It is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin. Just a quarter of a milligram — 0.25 milligrams — can kill you.

For a sense of just how little that is, a typical baby aspirin tablet is 81 mg. If you cut that tablet into 324 pieces, one of those pieces would be equal to a quarter-milligram.

cont at
http://fox13now.com/2016/05/10/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-opoid-fentanyl/

 

[manboychef]

All the more reason to find a way to regulate it rather than prohibit it. I think most addicts would prefer to get heroin as opposed to fentanyl...so instead of letting them die, let them get high.

 

[Purposefull]

I've been using the patches used from someone I know for some time now. They're 100 and 50 microgram patches. I cut them into small strips and swallow them. When I say small strips I mean approximately 1/4 inch by about 1/2 inch. At first I took them to control pain which I still have, but over time I've become quite addicted to them. I'm very careful about cutting the strips and use only what I need for the pain and seldom get the buzz most people might want, but if I take more I can definitely feel it .When I feel the need to back off from them I start hitting kratom awhile until I get my tolerance back in check, (and by the way, kratom is great at night for keeping the morning sickness or dope sickness away. I chug down about a teaspoon before bedtime every night) but I also know there is going to come a time and likely soon when I will no longer be able to get them so I'm preparing myself and have a decent stock of kratom on hand, but plan to stock up more on kratom because I really need to kick this problem.
I'll never give them to anyone else especially someone who only wants the buzz. Any fool can swallow a full patch and that would very likely spell their demise.
I'm not particularly proud of what I do, but I am careful and don't drink alcohol or anything else that might make me lose track and accidentally overdose myself.
I have to say that they certainly beat shooting heroin because of no needle tracks or infections and they don't constipate me like heroin did.
I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who has no or very little tolerance for opiates and certainly not for people who just want the buzz because it is very powerful.
The person I get them from is very careful as well, but they have them prescribed.
I wouldn't think of trying street fentynol that's been cut over and over with who knows what.
As to the outrageous claims of it being 1000 times stronger than heroin...nonsense. I've done both. It's like saying a ton of feathers is 1000 times heavier than a ton of lead. A ton of feathers certainly takes up more space, but a ton weighs a ton.

 

[manboychef]

[MENTION=407667]Purposefull[/MENTION]: That is exactly what I am talking about. It is not the chemical, but the user. By the logic that it should be banned because some people hurt themselves with it, is similar to saying that bcause some people get into car wrecks by driving recklessly that no one should drive.

I believe that if a person wants to use it is there choice. Why not make it as safe as possible for them.

 

[Purposefull]

Well we're leaving out the money equation. There's no money to be made by just letting people decide whether to kill themselves or not. There are millions of ways to do that and they're not all banned.. If all the possible methods of dying were banned you couldn't wear shoes or eat food, but we have to have a pipeline to fuel the prison economy with free labor and provide JOBS guarding the public from the public.

 

[Purposefull]

Consider this. If the distribution of the water supply were handled the same way illicit drugs are you wouldn't be able to drink it or bath in it.What governments did in essence is to turn the whole thing over to criminal enterprises for distribution and said that the public couldn't possibly decide what's good for us and what isn't and yet cut funding to inspect foods that routinely poison us. Give it time and possession of water will be outlawed unless prescribed by your doctor and the rest you'll have to buy on the black market. Hello Flint Michigan.

OK, so my cynical side is showing today.