Fentanyl: A Free Press Special Report

[phr]

I found this 15+ article report on last year's US fentanyl outbreaks It includes articles about the Mexican chemist behind it and how the drug affected people. Included with the articles are photos, maps, and a fentanyl timetable. I figured people affected by the outbreak and people that are into dope might find it very interesting.

Below is the prologue and a link to the index of the articles. Just explore the site by yourself, as there's just way too much stuff there and it would not be practical to create threads for each.

PROLOGUE
How are this teenager and rogue chemist in Mexico linked? By a mega drug suspected of killing her and hundreds of others in metro Detroit.

BY JIM SCHAEFER and JOE SWICKARD

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

They call him El Cerebro.

The Brain.

Ricardo Valdez, rogue chemist, never met Bloomfield Township teenager Lauren Jolly. Or retired Detroit autoworker Fred Lee Rogers. Or Shelby Township bowling prodigy Brandon Hilgendorf.

But they might have known his handiwork.

Valdez spent 11 years in a U.S. prison for making a synthetic drug called fentanyl, which is like heroin times 50. And when he got out, he quickly set up shop in Mexico.

He cooked another batch, 22 pounds, authorities claim -- enough to get 80 million people high if it didn't kill them -- and sent it across the border. The drug's trail is easy to trace.

More than 1,000 dead nationwide. More than 300 in metro Detroit alone.

Suburban kids, city kids, a musician, folks like your neighbor or hard-luck cousin. Nowhere did fentanyl hit harder than Detroit.

"If you want to blame me for it, I guess it's convenient," the chemist protests from prison in Mexico.

Free Press reporters tracked El Cerebro, fentanyl and hundreds of drug users over the past year. From Detroit flophouses that rent rooms by the hour, to the suburban life of Lauren Jolly, whose death showed that affluence, family affection and a good school can't always shield children from killer drugs. From a Chicago street gang to an exclusive interview in a Mexican prison with fentanyl's most notorious chemist, this is their story.

It's the tale of a killer no bigger than a few grains of salt, the swath it cut through the heart of America and the reality that it could happen again.


Special Reprt Index Link

 

[Khadijah]

Know what really pisses me off about this shit, well not just one thing but ill keep it to one for now.

The dude who manufactured the fent was livin in america and manufactured it back in 93. He wasnt a US citizen as far as i know, he came here when he was 7 illegally.

After he got outta jail in 2003, he got deported to mexico.

IN MEXICO, he manufactured fentanyl. or so they say.

He didnt bring it to america or enter america at all.

Mexican police arrested him, and sent him to mexican jail

Now the US wants to BRING HIM BACK TO THE US so they can give him jailtime in the US

HOW THE FUCK DOES THIS WORK?!? He did a crime in ANOTHER COUNTRY, what the fuck can the US government do about that? He aint a US citizen. They can send him back to mexico after he serves his time, and is done with it, and his debt to society or whatever bullshit is payed off. And they dont want him in the country. But then he makes 10 kilos of fentanyl and they WANT him back now just so they can punish him? How the fuck is that even the US's business? Im mad confused and pretty disturbed by how goddamn stupid that is

 

[lurkerguy]

Well he shipped his fentanyl to the USA, which violates US law.

You can be charged in America, and extradited from your home country, for simply conspiring/discussing plans of criminal activity in America.

Definitely you can be for actually shipping drugs to America that are illegal here.

And as much as other countries claim to hate the USA, most foreign governments have a full fledged ass kissing extradition agreement with the USA, and will send their own citizens to the slaughter to stay in the USAs good graces no problem.

 

[phr]

Well he shipped his fentanyl to the USA, which violates US law.

You can be charged in America, and extradited from your home country, for simply conspiring/discussing plans of criminal activity in America.

Definitely you can be for actually shipping drugs to America that are illegal here.

Exactly. I'd imagine that the conspiracy charge would be the main one. I hope he gets charged for some of the OD's. This is actually one time where I'm glad we could extradite these pieces of shit and throw them through our legal system. Shit, the drug dealing penalties(death) in SEA look pretty good right about now.

 

['medicine cabinet']

nice post bro, that video of the chemist is interesting. its surprising he would just talk openly about what he was doing, but im sure he doesnt know much about the distribution lay out. it would be a liability for the trafickers.

 

[garuda]

The US will seek extradition for crimes commited against American citizens abroad.
Yes you heard right, I know of at least one case where a long time expat was murdered over a personal issue in a non-hostile country and the US got the suspects extradited to stand trial in the US for a crime commited on foreign soil.

Fucking scary isn't it? You're not safe anywhere in the world from uncle sammie.

Oh and every single person that died would probably be alive right now if you could buy heroin at any pharmacy, because black market drugs of unknown origin are better then a well regulated market!

 

[phr]

Oh and every single person that died would probably be alive right now if you could buy heroin at any pharmacy, because black market drugs of unknown origin are better then a well regulated market!

Of course, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't extradite him.

 

[bingalpaws]

Are you against what he was doing/making? He wasn't the one on the streets calling it heroin.

 

[Jamshyd]

Lacy: As with what LG said... I don't know about elsewhere, but the canadian counsular affairs constantly alerts travellers that if they are caught with drugs in another country, they will be subject to that countries laws, and not Canada's.

Since that guy sold his drugs in the US, I guess legally he is the responsibility of the US.

Or so tradition goes...

 

[drew345]

yea charging the guy is bullshit he was just trying to make money and satisfy junkies. the street dealers are the assholes not warning people.

 

[Khadijah]

Lacy: As with what LG said... I don't know about elsewhere, but the canadian counsular affairs constantly alerts travellers that if they are caught with drugs in another country, they will be subject to that countries laws, and not Canada's.

Since that guy sold his drugs in the US, I guess legally he is the responsibility of the US.

Or so tradition goes...

Yea but he didnt sell the shit, other people did. he stayed in mexico AFAIk.



Anyways, whoever is saying "Yea fuck that piece of shit" Why? like others said, he wasnt the one on the streets callin it heroin. would you blame a heroin maker for their products extremely pure uncut strenth? It aint the fault of the manufacturer when someone who eats 12 e pills dies, and people on here be like "yo thats wrong, they made their own choice, dont go after the maker of the pills" but when it comes to this how is it different. he just created the supply to satisfy the demand. he aint a piece of shit. you cant really blame nobody but the people who pushed the bags knowing it could be dangerous but you shoudl also blame the users , cuz as much as they were unsuspecting and they were victims of the product in a way, it aint like they took it without knowin liek any heroin user knows, that dope purity is never consistent and you can always die from your next shot. dont push the blame onto those who dont deserve it.

 

[phr]

^
He knew exactly what his product was and it's potential. Remember he did this before and got popped for it. It doesn't matter if he sold it himself, he knowingly put out a product that he knew wasn't going to get cut right and would lead to a lot of deaths. If he really did care, he could have cut it himself. That would take heat off him and allow him to operate much longer. He either couldn't cut it himself for whatever reason, or he just didn't give a fuck.

Yeah regular heroin causes OD's, but not like this. Even highly pure dope, which is common on the streets right now, doesn't cause nearly as much damage.

As for the dealers that knowingly sold this with out informing customers, they deserve prosecution as well.

 

[Banquo]

it was super reckless of this guy to churn this stuff out and pass it on. i have no sympathy at all. he should locked up for a long long time

 

[bingalpaws]

I guess I'm just surprised people are agreeing that he should be sentenced for producing the products we consume. Heroin being cut with it sucks, and that is a problem caused not only by him, but by the dealers, by ignorant/naive users, prohibition in general, etc. He produced a product that people demand. People love fent. How can we get mad at the clandestine chemists who make what we like?

I'd say it's a stretch to assume that he should be this super ethical chemist, and cut the stuff himself while he's in mexico, drastically increasing the voulme of the product that then needs to be smuggled across the border. It sucks when people die, but going after the producers isn't the answer, legalization is.

 

[bingalpaws]

And I've got a question that I just can't make any sense out of. I read that entire story btw, very interesting. But something from the beginning of it just doesn't make sense to me. They're saying that there are over 1,000 deaths from his batch that was enough for 80 million doses? I must be tarded or something, because the way I'm reading that just doesn't make sense. I'd have to imagine there are way more than 1,000 deaths for every 80,000,000 doses of just plain heroin, let alone fent.
I'm sure the answer is obvious and that I'm just missing something right in front of my eyes, but I can't figure that out.

 

[The Real Fatman]

Yea but he didnt sell the shit, other people did. he stayed in mexico AFAIk.



Anyways, whoever is saying "Yea fuck that piece of shit" Why? like others said, he wasnt the one on the streets callin it heroin. would you blame a heroin maker for their products extremely pure uncut strenth? It aint the fault of the manufacturer when someone who eats 12 e pills dies, and people on here be like "yo thats wrong, they made their own choice, dont go after the maker of the pills" but when it comes to this how is it different. he just created the supply to satisfy the demand. he aint a piece of shit. you cant really blame nobody but the people who pushed the bags knowing it could be dangerous but you shoudl also blame the users , cuz as much as they were unsuspecting and they were victims of the product in a way, it aint like they took it without knowin liek any heroin user knows, that dope purity is never consistent and you can always die from your next shot. dont push the blame onto those who dont deserve it.

agreed.

 

[jersey drape]

The way I look at it is the lawmakers and politicians who cause this blackmarket of impure heroin to thrive across america are the real criminals and the loss of lives were their responsibility, not some mexican chemist.

If I brought over a redcup filled with Vodka, or what I said was Vodka and offered it to someone randomly off the street... no one would drink it...
why would they? They can go get their own cheap enough and be sure it's not tainted...

 

[phr]

Of course legalization would most likely prevent this from happening. But that's not happening anytime soon.

------------------------------
Let's say all opiates were legal and this happened. Would you still be against his incarceration?


Either way you look at it, its someone being reckless and creating a dangerous substance that caused 1000+ deaths.

 

[jersey drape]

I'm not against his incarceration..... that's not the point, the point is we create the demand for this type of activity..... who could say no to the profit margin?

I really feel bad for the families of the people who died because of this.. because they are truly the ones left to suffer. And i'm sure they have very little knowledge or reasoning to know this really could have been prevented had our country not been so ignorant.

 

[bingalpaws]

Yeah regular heroin causes OD's, but not like this. Even highly pure dope, which is common on the streets right now, doesn't cause nearly as much damage.

I wonder if, during alcohol's prohibition, the underground speakeasies just sold beer. Then someone started bringing hard liquor around. I wonder if all of those who drank booze (illegally) would be talking like this about some alcohol poisoning because someone started bringing around some whiskey and scotch.

That's obviously just an analogy, I dunno much about alcohol's prohibition, and assume the speakeasies prolly did serve hard alcohol (isn't it easier to make? hmm). But the thing is, because the products are illegal, there is no regulation. Same thing here. Opiates cannot be purchased in the US (or anywhere? lol), so they have to be bought and sold illegally. When you buy a bag of dope you know there's no way of telling what is in there. That's really all there is to this. It was too strong. But it's not like the blood should be on this guy's hands because he made a great product. Hell, many on here love fent anyways. He made a great product, and it did what it was supposed to do - get you high in very small concentrations. It's not fair to be upset at him, he didn't force you to take his product. He didn't instruct his street dealers (not that he would've known them anyways) to misrepresent his product. He simply created fentanyl in his lab. He then sold his fent for market value to someone else.

I didn't see anything in that story that painted him as anything more than a basic clandestine chemist. He made a product and he made it well. Unfortunately, shady dealers, ignorant politicians, and naive users are all responsible for the deaths, not just the guy who produced it.