Well one possible way would be for all the tuff mommies and daddies that are sick of seeing the kids in their neighbour hood getting hooked on fentanyl and opioids get together and have a "talk" with the dealers. Fentanyl and opioids are a real problem in my area and I think the government makes it worse they treat fentanyl and opioids addiction by putting the addicts on a free methadone program which doesn't work. Cheers and happy weekend!
I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't be in favor of it. I don't know if your response was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek because he didn't express why it's dangerous or because you personally don't understand how deadly it is. Our death rates associated with opiates aren't from people using heroin. It's because so much of it is laced with fentanyl in varying amounts. I mentioned it in my post as well, but it's also not just in heroin. It's showing up in everything, including marijuana. Ergo, even people who want nothing to do with opiates and fentanyl are getting exposed to it... and dying.
I actually went to a lecture/ discussion on opiates a couple weeks back and they talked a lot about fentanyl. The guys hosting it were teachers who teach addiction treatment specialists; both were doctors, but one was a psychologist and the other a medical doctor. I knew it was a problem, but I didn't get the scope of the problem until that lecture.
I haven't confirmed this through independent sources, but the lecturers were teachers at my college, so I don't have reason to doubt any of it. So, the gist is that it takes so little fentanyl to produce a high- a drop or a couple granules, and because so little is needed to lace an entire batch of whatever (it's showing up in ALL drugs now, even marijuana), it doesn't need to be shipped in large quantities. Most is coming in from Asia, but because we're talking such small amounts, a package of it the size of your cell phone could lace thousands of "doses." And, with it being so small, it's easier for shippers to wrap it up in multiple air-tight containers. Drug dogs won't catch it. Ergo, we have almost no chance of stopping it from entering the country. Of course, it can be made here too, but that isn't happening so much yet. Apparently even the feds don't have a clue how to reduce it. They're not even strategizing. They've got nothing.
Ergo, as far as I can tell, the best method isn't to try to stop fentanyl, but to educate the public and provide treatment. Do people really understand how little fentanyl can kill them? Do they really understand that it's impossible (outside a lab) to tell how much fentanyl in in their product? I doubt it. I think the push should be towards education first. I don't think that will stop it, but if we arm people with narcan and similar, it will save lives and hopefully impress upon them the danger of what they're doing.
I'm also in favor of decriminalization. This stuff happens because it's all black market. If we think back to prohibition of alcohol and the things that happened to people from drinking moonshine- prohibition didn't stop alcohol consumption. It just made it more dangerous for those who consumed anyway. Same thing here. I'd rather see it regulated. I'd rather see people know exactly what they're getting and have treatment options when they're ready to get out. The dealers have all the power now. They shouldn't because even they don't know what they're meddling with most of the time.
Phew.. I didn't even really know what it was! I assumed it was a pain relief patch.. I am not really up on drugs, it's not something I really encounter and never have.. I may need to get better informed. It seems from what's been said that it's really nasty! And yes, bad enough to have drug addiction but to have it made even more dangerous by this seems worse :(
1. Don't purchase or use anything which contains it. 2. Help people learn other ways of getting high than depending on drugs. Because as long as all people want to do is get high as fast and as cheaply as possible they are supporting such substances.
This post was edited by officegirl at May 12, 2019 8:01 AM MDT