Op-Ed The next generation of illicit drugs? Think ‘synthetic’

[thegreenhand]

The next generation of illicit drugs? Think ‘synthetic’​

JIm Crotty
STAT News
5 Aug 2022

Excerpt:

The illicit drug market continues to become more treacherous. Illicit drugs killed more than 107,000 Americans in the last 12 months, the most on record, and are now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45, more than firearms, car accidents, and Covid-19.

The increase in overdose deaths can be attributed to one drug — fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that is many times more powerful than heroin. Once found only in hospitals, fentanyl is now ubiquitous. It can be found in every corner of America and in some places has supplanted the supply of other drugs like heroin.

Fentanyl is the latest illicit drug to spread across the U.S., but it won’t be the last. What might the next era of drug trafficking look like?

Some experts have suggested we are already entering a “fourth wave” of the opioid crisis, with fentanyl increasingly being mixed with stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine, combinations known as speedballs and goofballs. Others have noted the emergence of nitazenes, a family of novel synthetic opioids that are more powerful than fentanyl. Public health authorities have detected nitazenes in the Southwest, South, Midwest, and some sections of the eastern United States.

 

[S.J.B.]

Yeah, that's been the case since the late 19th century...

 

[JoshLobbs]

Apparently there's more possible organic compounds than carbon atoms in the universe.
Shits wack yo.
I hope we the next big adulterant that is as potent and cheaply synthesised as fent is less toxic.

 

[JoshLobbs]

Apparently there's more possible organic compounds than carbon atoms in the universe.
Shits wack yo.
I hope we the next big adulterant that is as potent and cheaply synthesised as fent is less toxic.

Fuck I bet £10 that it will be some sort of barbiturate. Those shits were lethal. Lol I can see the headlines now "is your child taking lethal injections recreationaly?".

 

[thegreenhand]

I hope we the next big adulterant that is as potent and cheaply synthesised as fent is less toxic.

Unfortunately, that seems unlikely

Are you familiar with the iron law of prohibition ?

It essentially says that as law enforcement spending on interdiction efforts goes up, the more potent the drugs become. It’s cheaper for smugglers to move less volume of a high potency product than it is move more volume of a lower potency product.

 

[JoshLobbs]

Unfortunately, that seems unlikely

Are you familiar with the iron law of prohibition ?

It essentially says that as law enforcement spending on interdiction efforts goes up, the more potent the drugs become. It’s cheaper for smugglers to move less volume of a high potency product than it is move more volume of a lower potency product.

Yea but a potent product with a LD50 in the grams range is what I'm hoping for.

5-12hr length
20-50 ug threshold dose
400-500 mg/kg lethal dose
Medium to intense to extreme high
Cheap reagents, but not so cheap that kids can make it.
Gibs serotonin and/or dopamine and/or gaba but not so much that it strips your brain of them.
Low chance (I mean lower than nicotines chance) of causing psychosis.

A drug like this is the unicorn needed.

Pie in the sky idea, but you gotta aim high to get high.