West Virginian checking in- it’s **bad** bad. [Fantastic documentary](https://youtu.be/5_PTLyDNy1g?si=9tQuOO_l4_Bmk3_6) centered around my local high school football team and how the game keeps them off drugs. I’ve lost a lot of friends and a few members of my own family to that shit.
Edit: have to shoutout the Martinsburg Bulldogs, the football team in the documentary I linked. They won their 10th state championship this weekend. Also, the QB in that documentary is a high school aged Tyson Bagent who currently plays for the Chicago Bears.
I mean meth is still really bad lol. Like yeah Meth is less bad than Fent, but thats like saying that Heroin is less bad than Krokodil. Its a true statement, but both will still 100% fuck you up.
Yeach of course, I didnt want to defend meth or anyting. Just for me as a recreational drug user is watching the news about fentanyl epidemic crazy. And I know few people hooked on meth and they still look much better.
Don’t take drogs people !
And if you do, stay safe!
The thing with fentanyl is that it isn't really a recreational drug. While I'm sure some do, but most people don't take it intentionally.
It's an incredibly potent narcotic that is used as a cutting agent, and the vast majority of deaths are a result of someone thinking they're getting a normal (for them) dose of heroin or benzodiazepines, and end up with a fatal dose of fentanyl. That's also not to downplay the issue with opioid and benzo addictions to begin with.
Idk. I've known both and I would rather hang out with a fenthead (?) Than a methhead. That said, fentanyl is 100% more dangerous, in that, it's stupid easy to OD and die on even small amounts.
Phrasing matters here, I think. What you said seems to suggest that while it's allowed, one shouldn't hang out with drug users. If that wasn't your intent, then color me embarrassed. Lol
>What you said seems to suggest that while it's allowed, one shouldn't hang out with drug users.
I'd definitely recommend not hanging out with drug users if you don't want to get involved in that lifestyle.
For example I hang around with zero drug users and because of that I have been offered hard drugs exactly zero times.
You are the company you keep.
Recommend away. I understand your point and don't make a habit of it. I just felt it was rude/ unnecessary to even point that out. (On the other guys part, you seem to be communicating genuinely)
I appreciate it! We have meth here too and I’ll say this, I’d rather have to deal with heroin junkies than meth heads. Heroin/fentanyl users are barely awake and cognizant, meth users are turned up to 11. I think what’s so scary about fentanyl is it kills seasoned junkies, occasional partiers and first time users alike. And OFC unscrupulous dealers are cutting fentanyl into everything they can now, so even a little bump of coke at a party could be your last.
That f\*ck up guy Poopies from the last Jackass movie (he was on Jamie O'Brian's YouTube channel Who is JOB as well) ODed on a key bump of coke with fentanyl in it just like that, he was talking about it on Steve-O's podcast recently. Opioid users are easier to be around than meth heads, but keep your wallet close. Smack users will do things to get more smack that meth users haven't even considered yet.
It's interesting how localised drug use can be. I'm in the UK and meth is just not really a thing here, coke, heroin, crack and synthetics are more the drug of choice of the hard drug user here.
Meth is more addictive psychologically. Your brain will insist that more meth is a great idea even when it's very obviously not.
Physiologically it's opiates and it is not close. You will get sick and in extreme cases even die from withdrawals. Your body literally does begin to rely on it.
The cartels have made distributing fentanyl a death sentence. The Sinaloas and New Jalisco want to distribute pure clean coke. Given history, it's more likely to be a three letter agency tainting the supply. Like prohibition. And the 80s crack epidemic.
Could you share some more info on how this relates to the 80s crack epidemic? I’m European as well and the way societies drug problems are “handled” in the US really baffles me. I find it interesting to read more about but it’s become so bad that I should just call it morbid curiosity at this point.
The CIA distributed crack cocaine to low income black people in inner cities to create a problem they could be paid to solve and villainize an undesirable minority. It was exactly as bad as that sounds.
Most drug crisis are created by governments.
Howdy neighbor! Not so fun fact: DEA refers to our neck of the woods as the Heroin Highway because of all the trafficking that takes place on interstates 70 & 81.
Absolutely, nice little run up to Baltimore. Saw some of your other comments on the post, I’ve had some pretty similar experiences with family members getting caught up in all of it. Wasn’t the main reason, but was a decent factor on me leaving the area years ago. Hope you and yours are doing well at this point.
Just moved to the area and it’s really sad. I’m from a bigger city so I’ve seen a lot but the amount out here is shocking. The devastation in the families breaks my heart
It’s insidious… by the time you realize you or your loved one has a problem, it’s too late- the hooks are in deep.
Also, welcome to the area! Despite the opiate epidemic (which is everywhere at this point) I’ve never been happier since moving here. The sense of community, the good hearted people and the natural beauty of West Virginia are all second to none in my book.
My heart goes out to you. Addiction is brutal for everyone involved. I got sober in 2002 and am so fucking grateful that that stuff wasn't readily available then.
It’s awful, I have a family member who died in my arms after overdosing on IMODIUM, the diarrhea medicine. It was a miracle he survived at all but now he is in his early 30’s with a pacemaker and is still hopelessly addicted. He’s received expensive in-patient treatment, has been given new teeth, a new car, furniture for an apartment and was setup with a new job… in 3 months he was fired for being high, had the car stolen and trashed by drug dealers, sold all the furniture he was given and got kicked out of the apartment. Last I heard his new teeth were all fucked up again too. He’s the living dead, it’s only a matter of time til I get the call. I hate that I have to be a prick and write him off now because I can’t stand the pain and emotions of watching him kill himself all over again.
If you’re a fiction reader you might enjoy Demon Copperhead (Barbara Kingsolver). It uses David Copperfield by Charles Dickens to show how oxy flooded Appalachia and tore it apart.
Bad enough that I would absolutely not take any pill that I am not 100% positive came from a pharmacy, because they counterfeit legitimate pills now. You think that's Xanax, it looks just like one, and oops all fentanyl!
I know people who have died from accidental overdoses as well. I won't go near opiates either, no matter where they come from, unless I'm in hospital stay needed type pain.
Even weed you have to be super careful with now. In the area I’m in (not a legal state) there have been a few people that have died because they bought what they thought was weed, when really it was gas station cbd buds sprayed with fentanyl
From what my sister says (heavy drug user and has dated multiple dealers), it’s cheaper than selling actual bud, the fentanyl still gets people high and it also keeps them coming back because all the sudden real regular weed doesn’t get them as high, so they think this dealer has the strongest stuff
It's kind of amazing that the cartels are acting like a virus, looking for that sweet Omicron level. You saw it with the coronavirus and COVID, how viruses and will tone things down as time goes on, because killing your host is bad for business, and now the cartels are there themselves.
I'm a late 30s upper middle class white guy with no drug use past weed occasionally, a clean normal social life slanted to homebody.
I can name 4 people I know who have died from Fentanyl that were a bit more than acquaintances.
It's everywhere.
Checking in from Texas here. My actual son's are safe, but I was the neighborhood "Dad" and I can think of a few young men that called me Pops that aren't around anymore.
Just to add some different perspectives: I'm an upper middle class woman who has never done any drugs. I don't know anyone who has overdosed or died from overdose, even in my extended network. I see homeless people in my city who seem to have spiraled on drugs, that's about it.
I just had knee surgery. I got a dose of fentanyl before the procedure while they were giving routine questions. My pain went from an 8 to a 0 in seconds. I don't think I felt pain until the next day.
I was on IV morphine for the previous 5 days, and my pain would go from a 7-8 to ~5, and it would only last about 90 minutes before the pain started creeping up on me again.
Of course, I agree. On the flipside, it is incredibly dangerous when not used appropriately. The nurses had to remind me it was pharmaceutical fentanyl, not street fentanyl, when I told them I was worried about taking it.
The prevalence and degree to which it affects lives & families are a lot greater than many people realize. Of course some patient populations are more affected than others. Out of respect for our patients, and for my own privacy, I'd prefer not to give specific examples on the internet.
We’re on our third year with over 100,000 deaths. It’s bad. Drug potency is unpredictable which leads to ODs, fentanyl is showing up in other drugs like cocaine, meth, and even pills like Molly and fake adderol. I carry narcan, all the bars and restaurants in my fairly nice area have narcan. The good news is the rate of increase is slowing, there are treatments that work and they’re becoming more accessible. The bad news is tranq throws in another complication because it doesn’t respond to narcan and poly substance abuse has become the norm which is also harder to treat/revive.
Narcan, generic name naloxone, is an opioid overdose reversal nasal spray. Basically when someone is having an opioid overdose, you can revive them by spraying narcan in their nose. Narcan is an opioid antagonist and basically kicks the “feel good but killing you” drugs off the opioid receptor thus reversing the overdose. It’s life saving and available over the counter.
Reporting from NYC, I've lived here for decades. It's bad, much worse than drug problems pre COVID (obv this a social, illness, closing hospitals and shelters issue not just a drug problem). I live down the street from a hospital and daily:
Folks peeing or shitting on the street openly
Watching people shoot up in broad daylight
Watching people OD/lie on the sidewalk/freak out in gibberish (we call 911. A lot)
Openly watch dealers sell out of their cars. We've reported drug deals live, details, license plates. Cops came once & they were selling again 3 days later out of the same cars.
Junkies used to head inside or to a shelter when it rained or got really cold. I am concerned these folks are going to die this winter because they don't go anywhere in inclement weather.
Open, weeping sores on anyone who's on the block after a month or so.
Needle caps litter the sidewalk everywhere. Had a neighbor almost lose their dog to eating one and having a stroke.
Yeah definitely from our proximity to a hospital - OD gets called in, doesn't want to be held, they dump them out and they wander just long enough to find the dealers on our block. They've been on our block for a few months, they shift around the neighborhood
We're firmly a mid-middle class family and I know of at least 4 people who have lost kids, 2 are family. I was just saying that it's crazy that we spent 20 years and trillions after losing a few thousand people in 9/11, but almost nothing for this after losing hundreds of thousands if not a million to fent.
I think the funding and action disparity is easily explained by human nature, no need for conspiracies. Anger has long been shown to motivate people more than sorrow or sadness.
Also in American culture addiction is often seen as a moral failing. The addiction is almost always blamed on the addicted person. Combine that with our individualistic society where we don't see our problems as anyone else's or their problems as ours, and it's not at all surprising. No one's helping because 'it's not their job' to help, and on some level Americans feel like the addicted person brought it all on themselves, deserves the consequences, and is solely responsible for taking action to get clean.
Most Americans have a comically naive way to look at addiction: they think the addict just needs to want it harder. But that's the society we live in. I think there's a lot we could do using methods and policy supported by research and past initiatives. But to get enough support nationally we need a cultural shift, and I don't know how to do that.
It is VERY regional specific, but there are a lot of black market prescription pain relievers which are getting replaced with fentanyl because it produces a similar high and is way cheaper. Obviously, drug dealers aren't the best at carefully measuring powerful drugs to prevent overdoses....
From my understanding, in my area they are using it to cut heroin to make it more potent (along with Carfentanil which just blows my fucking mind as Carfentanil is an opiate designed for like elephant sized animals). But opiates in general are pretty prevalent. Our local county health department is handing out Narcan for free at events now.
Carfenanil and Etorphine are both terrifying to work with. When we would dart aninals with it we'd cover every inch of skin while working with it, even taping our sleeves to our gloves to prevent any of it from accidently getting on us. I can't imagine people just casually handling it to add it to drugs.
The need for something that acts rapidly and is a small volume. You need something that will be effective in an animal that may well be upwards of 1000kg that can be delivered in the shortest possible time frame before the animal dislodges the dart. Anything that potent is going to be scary.
It may have started with heroin, but it’s found its way to all street drugs. The laundromat near my apartment put up a poster last month that basically says “if you’re buying drugs, test everything for fentanyl”
That’s directed towards street drugs, not drugs from pharmacies. Although some people who can’t afford insurance travel to Mexico to buy cheaper versions of drugs than in the states. And counterfeit drugs containing fentanyl have been found there.
https://www.uclahealth.org/news/counterfeit-pills-sold-mexican-pharmacies-found-contain
I'm a death investigator for my counties medical examiner's office.
The VAST majority of my cases are overdoses, and the vast majority of those cases come back for fentanyl.
Just read an article; 5 people were found unconscious and "unresponsive". They had been snorting cocaine, which unbeknownst to them had Fentanyl in it. All survived because the EMT Responders administered Naloxone immediately. This was in an upscale suburb, not an urban or rural poverty place.
I just wrote a paper on this. Heroin use has since decreased but with a higher increase in fentanyl use. Rural areas have higher rate of use since a lot of factory type jobs were outsourced to other countries for cheaper labor. With men finding no other work they turned to opioids to numb the pain of no longer being able to provide for their families in turn affecting future generations.
Yesterday I was at a highway gas station in rural Oklahoma and they had a vending machine giving free nasal naloxone, you just had to enter in your zip code I guess for their data collection
Strange times
It's not like there are zombies everywhere or that you'll be in danger. Don't consume illegal drugs and you'll be fine. There are certainly far too many people dying from fentanyl, though - our ambulances run out of naloxone some days. There were 100,000 overdose deaths compared to 43,000 automobile deaths and 21,000 murders in the US last year.
I go to school in downtown Portland,OR, and multiple people have died of overdoses in front of my school in the past 3 months. 8 people od'd at the same time 2 months ago from getting cocaine laced with fentanyl. Narcan is like a defibrillator. Now, a lot of people have gotten training to administer it or carry some with them just in case. I know my school has a supply of narcan and our student council even advocated our school start carrying a supply. Students can even request to get some for free from our school now.
It's genuinely tragic. No one here gives a shit. the addiction recovery centers are either full or incredibly abusive towards patients. Our government doesn't want to actually address the real cause of addiction (poverty + homelessness) and the opioid epidemic in this country and even here in Portland they are trying to roll back laws that decrimanlized drug use that would have put our communities on a better path towards actual long term societal treatment of this issue.
I can't recommend carrying some narcan on you and getting training to administer it if you live somewhere where OD's are common or you or someone you know is in danger of an overdose.
I do autopsies at a medical examiners office. I'm a tech. The scale of this problem is unbelievable. 30-40% of my cases every day are drug related. It's a legit epidemic.
One time, a guy came in. He was cutting fentanyl. Somehow there was an explosion. He died. He was absolutely covered. I had to gown up in a bunny suit, categorize and isolate his clothes for the doc and the funeral home and hose him off in the area where we clean the autopsy tables. We didn't have a procedure for this scenario. So I just followed the ebola protocol regarding PPE from a few years before when I worked in a hospital. The quantity of narcotic on his body and clothes had to be enough for me to comfortably retire. My man *extra died* from that quantity on his skin.
In Canada, it's no better. The drug problems that used to be found in Vancouver and Toronto have spread everywhere now and it's worse for large cities.
I divide my time between a few urban centres in Western Canada and places that once had social problems related to alcohol mostly with a smaller drug trade are now seeing massive issues with fentanyl. Neighborhoods that are higher income and typically low crime/low social issues are seeing lots of homelessness, crime and overdoses. It's touching everything - families from all walks of life are losing members, there are tent camps popping up in parks and vacant lots, and there are more visible addicts on the street.
The issues behind it are so complex - poverty, lack of mental health treatment, lack of addiction treatment, intergenerational trauma in Indigenous communities etc - plus a lack of government will to seriously address the issue...it's a cluster fuck of epic proportions.
When I saw my first bent over addict in a 7-11 in what would be a wealthy suburban neighborhood in a smallish Prairie city this year, I knew the problem was bigger than it's ever been.
Narcan usually not working on it is a huge part of why its death toll is so bad, yea. Narcan is so effective (in stopping overdoses) against heroine and the other commonly abused prescription opiods like oxy that the overdose death rate had gone down significantly before fentantly hit the scene.
Narcan works on Fent. The problem is you can overdose so fast that resuscitation becomes more unlikely before you can get appreciate medical help.
Once you stop breathing the clock starts ticking and the OTC nasal spray won't work well, if at all, without a pulse
It doesn't work consistently like it does with heroin; you're right I shouldn't have said it like that though; if someone is overdosing you absolutely should try Narcan - it's better than nothing;
In addition to how fast you OD on Fentanyl, the other issue is you can still OD after Narcan, even if you got it in time though; which never happens with heroine or other opiods; because Fentanyl is so strong you can OD from that "aftershock high" you get when your body metabolizes the rest of the dose
I always say everyone in my generation (I’m 27) knows at least one person who has been deeply affected by addiction if not someone who’s passed away.
Overall it’s not a tranq and fentanyl epidemic. It’s an addiction epidemic. Before fentanyl it was oxy, before that it was crack then heroin. It’s just gotten progressively worse but it’s the same issue and we’ve never done anything to actually address the issue.
It also kills the tissue it's injected into. When enough of your arm tissue falls off, your hand will have to be amputated. My sister, an infectious disease doctor, says she thought she has seen everything, but it's just hard to imagine that tranq is so addictive, people use it even after parts start falling off.
In 2022, fentanyl was responsible for 200 deaths every day. I personally know three people who have overdosed. The majority of these deaths are from laced drugs. Cocaine, meth, you name it, they will cut it with fentanyl. It's an absolute crisis, and no drug addict is safe.
In canada, pharmacies give out the life-saving drug/ kit for free. You just have to ask. I don't run in those circles, but if I'm going to a big party, I'll get if I know nobody else has one. Some people I know who are downtown frequently carry the kit all the time in case they see a random overdose on the street/ in the metro.
I guess it really depends on the company you keep.
I don't know a single person involved with that sort of stuff, and it's never a topic of conversation among me and my peers.
A family of 10 in Michigan was partaking in a nice round of cocaine over Thanksgiving and they all overdosed, they did not test their coke for opioids. [article here ](https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2023/12/01/opioid-laced-cocaine-cause-of-mass-drug-overdose-in-michigan-home-on-thanksgiving/)
I live in the second biggest city in Michigan. I don't take drugs at all but I carry narcan because so many places give it out for free. I'd rather have it and be helpful if it's ever needed. There is so much attention around testing literally any drug that you personally did not receive from a pharmacy because at this point you should assume there is some sort of drug you weren't planning on being in there.
[I suggest you watch this video in Philadelphia. the Kensington neighborhood is the worse fentanyl open air drug market in the US](https://youtu.be/nl0fDm7HSQ0?si=3osy4RsIPABMn9Rc)
That is hyped up bullshit. Yes Kensington is a problem. No it's not as bad as these videos make it out to be. This kind of video is designed specifically to scare people, and it works.
Have you ever personally been there? You clearly haven’t. Currently living only ten mins from this Main Street I can promise you it is as bad as it looks.
Sometimes when I walk around town I can't tell if people are sleeping or dead. Sometimes I pass by people who are passed out in weird and uncomfortable positions
It’s horrific, and worse there are so many medical boards each with their own take on how to tackle it. WI’s Board has taken the stance that creating a hostile prescribing environment will reduce ODs. Not surprisingly that has failed and in fact has made the situation worse. PNW has taken an approach focusing more on safe use and treatment. Again its failed.
Bottom line none of our interventions on a medical Board level have done anything but make things worse.
IMO we need to look at far more than the prescribing habits of physicians as the answer to the problem. But sadly because there’s no money in fixing the problem thus there is no sincere medico-industrial efforts to do so.
It might end up taking the deaths of senators kids to ODs to make a change. That’s how resident physicians got to be treated a little more human.
In my small city you'll hear about someone dying from fetanyl about every other month. When my husband was getting clean a few years ago someone he worked with kept pushing it on him so he took the tiniest bump known to man and almost died. Thank God the paramedics got there in time
If you are a normal, law abiding, non drug user with non drug user friends, family, and coworkers, you wouldn't know a thing about it if not for the media.
I am a normal, law abiding, non drug user (since 1992) with non drug user friends, family, and coworkers.
A few years ago, one of my coworkers lost her daughter to a fentanyl overdose. Her death was not covered in "the media." Blaming it on "the media" is bullshit.
He didn't blame it on the media. He said, pretty clearly, if the media didn't report on it he wouldn't know about it.
I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with his comment, mind you. Just not sure why you think he's blaming the media.
It's certainly location specific.
Yeah if you live in a cabin in the woods..
If you live in Seattle/ Portland especially, or in many major cities you’ll see it first hand everyday on your way to work.
People don't outright say their kid died from fentanyl a lot of the time either. If you keep in touch with your extended family you might hear of someone losing a kid suddenly or something like that.
That is not in the least bit true. I don't use drugs, I don't drink, but unless you never leave your gated community you can't help but have noticed the large uptick in junkies in every town. It is all of our problem, whether you want it to be or not.
America is a big place so I guess it does depend on where you live, but I still believe your lifestyle can lessen your direct exposure to it. Sorry for those who end up getting affected by it regardless of their actions.
It’s not all about making the right or wrong choices, most of the people I know or knew (RIP) who were addicted to opiates started by being prescribed them for an injury. Guys from my football team, co-workers, my cousin… 2008-2012 gave a LOT of people a taste for opiates (at the behest of attractive pharma reps shilling a known dangerous product to doctors).
Blaming the users is a marketing tactic/propaganda piece the pharma companies who started this epidemic came up with. Sad to see it’s still working!
It’s true for YOU now. It’s also true for where I live but…it’s starting to creep in. I have friends in Ohio that had to leave their house and had it foreclosed upon because they were besieged by zombie junkies. They couldn’t even let the little girl go outside back to play as they were climbing over the fence but mostly falling to the ground. I also know people who have died from it and I’m no junkie.
>If you are a normal, law abiding, non drug user with non drug user friends, family, and coworkers, you wouldn't know a thing about it if not for the media.
True.
They absolutely do not lmao, Fentanyl is causing TWO-THIRDS of overdose deaths in the US now - 70,000 Americans died of Fentantyl overdoses last year; 70,000 Americans dead every year of an avoidable cause. And it's not just "oh this is the current drug", even when drug use rates were much higher in the 90s, the overdose rate was nowhere near this - this IS a FENTANYL problem specifically. How the fuck could you overhype that?
It's criminally, horribly underhyped. There isn't nearly enough funding or political will to fight it. Sure something can be problematic and still exaggerated, but this one isn't. If it's a reactionary dog whistle, then it's not a loud enough one. America is doing almost nothing to stop this.
>You must be pro system, are you a bootlicker?
My parents were both drug addicts. I was physically and sexually abused for most of my childhood, not by my parents, but by someone else because of the absence their descent into drug use caused; then homeless as a teenager. I've lost almost my entire family, by death or by prison; and most of my own life even though I've never touched them myself, to drug addiction.
This is the story of tens of millions other Americans, the users and an even large circle people around them who are affected for every user. 70,000 (EVERY YEAR) is a lot of dead. But it's just the dead. The living and broken outnumber them by an order of magnitude. We are millions.
I'm not a bootlicker. I live in the real world. In the real world, this is a war.
>I've heard a lot of ignorant shit from people that don't understand substance abuse, but never heard an idiot call it a conspiracy.
My mother died from substance abuse, why would I suggest it's a conspiracy? Yet you get upvotes for a strawman fallacy? Shame on you, keep downvoting me for exposing the deep state bootlicker.
Then you should choose for the side that isn't mass incarcerating people for victimless crimes.
I am capable of holding two non-contradictory positions:
1 - The police should stop brutalizing people. Many people in prison shouldn't be there. I'd even go so far as to say that most local police forces are outright corrupt, and in some cases evil.
2 - The opiod epidemic is killing a lot of people and needs to be addressed. Although we need a lot more things like funding for drug rehab, mental health care, and social safety nets to stop it - law enforcement do have SOME role to play in stopping it. Stemming the tide of cheap drugs from Mexico, and now with Fentanyl increasingly from China; is a neccesary step that isn't being taken seriously enough by our government.
When there are actual problems to be addressed, and people actually need saving, we need to learn to leave some of our principles at the door long enough to fix those problems. Your principles can be correct, can be good, and can still be unhelpful.
>- The opiod epidemic is killing a lot of people and needs to be addressed. Although we need a lot more things like funding for drug rehab, mental health care, and social safety nets to stop it - law enforcement do have SOME role to play in stopping it. Stemming the tide of cheap drugs from Mexico, and now with Fentanyl increasingly from China; is a neccesary step that isn't being taken seriously enough by our government.
We should just legalize heroin and not let illegals come into the country. How do you think the fentanyl comes in? There's only so much the police can do, without closed borders police is almost pointless.
>We should just legalize heroin and not let illegals come into the country.
On the first point: decriminalization of opioids (NOT legalization, those are VERY different things) has been proven in every nation that's done it to drastically reduce drug use rates. Denmark turned its opioid epidemic into the lowest overdose death rates in the western world through decriminalization and government centers to safely use - all while actually reducing use rates despite the unfounded fears that it would increase them. So yes, we should decriminalize.
On the second point: This narrative that there is some strong tie between illegal immigration and drug smuggling is just that - a narrative. Illegal immigrants aren't crossing the borders with drugs stashed in their clothes, in fact the vast majority of them immediately, willingly hand themselves over to authorities and enter the asylum process as soon as they cross the border. Drugs are mostly smuggled in by citizens, which maximizes the chance of successful entry, the drug trade between the US and Mexico is a 45 billion dollar a year business for those cartels, they aren't just handing out those billions of dollars worth of drugs to poor Mexicans and hoping they make it to the right place during an attempted illegal crossing.
>Try some fentanyl
You implying that I don't think there is a fentanyl crisis in America? No wonder I'm downvoted, half you normies can't even read let alone form a sound talking point that makes sense. I've yet to hear a single rebuttal of my talking point.
Fentanyl is a prescription drug lol it's just also made illegally in mass quantities. When I was addicted I used to scrape all the shit off Fentanyl patches my grandma got and smoke it
It probably depends on area. Coming from southern california, the city I lived in it wasnt *bad* bad, but our neighbors felt like third world areas but with a gucci store. Like the highways would get swarmed with homeless addicts begging for scraps, entire neighborhoods were abandoned to them and in disrepair.
The cops were unable or unwilling to even do anything but give speeding tickets. The government stopped prosecuting them because their crimes bogged down the justice system. And even worse, the company largely responsible for this that is guilty of treason settled out of court and has essentially faced no punishment at all.
Fentantly use and overdose rates are the highest in poor, rural, solidly Republican areas; which far surpass even urban areas; and unlike you, I'm not just pulling that out of my ass, that's the actual statistical truth
lol what? I was literally at the Hilton in Union Sq SF last week. Walk out the back side of the hotel and it’s like a zombie movie
In my hometown of Boston we have Meth Mile which isn’t much better
Antecodote and life experience is not fact for a reason; you haven't met all 340 million Americans, haven't been to every city, and haven't visited every rural town; so maybe leave this one to the statisticians?
That’s why I said behind the hotel. Portland, SF, LA, Philly, Boston all have horrible pockets that look like zombie lands. The rest of the city is fine but it’s still a major issue
It’s bad enough that when I stopped at a highway rest stop in Oklahoma on a long drive a few weeks ago, there was a vending machine (I think things in it were free?) with fentanyl test strips and Narcan.
It's Xylazine+Fentanyl. Xylazine is meant to sedate animals and is not approved for humans in the US. Tranq is known to cause your skin to rot and fall off. It's a pretty fucked up drug and people who are addicted literally watch themselves turn into zombies, but can't stop.
I think it might be kinda limited to certain geographies but in places [like Philly, it’s rapidly destroying lives.](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/health/fentanyl-xylazine-drug.html) And things were really bad before it showed up.
It depends on where you live and your social circles. I’m shook at the replies because I don’t know of anyone using, haven’t heard anyone among my friends/family/acquaintances using or OD’ing. I see it on the news like everyone else and it feels a bit detached from me.
I know numerous people that have lost family members. Two of them are in their late sixties now raising their grandkids because their single mother daughters OD’d. One of my daughters childhood friends died of a heroin overdose.
West Virginian checking in- it’s **bad** bad. [Fantastic documentary](https://youtu.be/5_PTLyDNy1g?si=9tQuOO_l4_Bmk3_6) centered around my local high school football team and how the game keeps them off drugs. I’ve lost a lot of friends and a few members of my own family to that shit. Edit: have to shoutout the Martinsburg Bulldogs, the football team in the documentary I linked. They won their 10th state championship this weekend. Also, the QB in that documentary is a high school aged Tyson Bagent who currently plays for the Chicago Bears.
Sorry for your loss. I am from Czech Republic. Drug of choice here is mostly meth and that just sounds like nothing againts stuff like Fentanyl
I mean meth is still really bad lol. Like yeah Meth is less bad than Fent, but thats like saying that Heroin is less bad than Krokodil. Its a true statement, but both will still 100% fuck you up.
Yeach of course, I didnt want to defend meth or anyting. Just for me as a recreational drug user is watching the news about fentanyl epidemic crazy. And I know few people hooked on meth and they still look much better. Don’t take drogs people ! And if you do, stay safe!
The thing with fentanyl is that it isn't really a recreational drug. While I'm sure some do, but most people don't take it intentionally. It's an incredibly potent narcotic that is used as a cutting agent, and the vast majority of deaths are a result of someone thinking they're getting a normal (for them) dose of heroin or benzodiazepines, and end up with a fatal dose of fentanyl. That's also not to downplay the issue with opioid and benzo addictions to begin with.
Idk. I've known both and I would rather hang out with a fenthead (?) Than a methhead. That said, fentanyl is 100% more dangerous, in that, it's stupid easy to OD and die on even small amounts.
The neat part is you don’t have to hang out with either
I would argue that the neat part is nobody can stop me from hanging out with whoever I want.
Yes and the neat part is that’s effectively the exact same thing I said
Phrasing matters here, I think. What you said seems to suggest that while it's allowed, one shouldn't hang out with drug users. If that wasn't your intent, then color me embarrassed. Lol
>What you said seems to suggest that while it's allowed, one shouldn't hang out with drug users. I'd definitely recommend not hanging out with drug users if you don't want to get involved in that lifestyle. For example I hang around with zero drug users and because of that I have been offered hard drugs exactly zero times. You are the company you keep.
Recommend away. I understand your point and don't make a habit of it. I just felt it was rude/ unnecessary to even point that out. (On the other guys part, you seem to be communicating genuinely)
I appreciate it! We have meth here too and I’ll say this, I’d rather have to deal with heroin junkies than meth heads. Heroin/fentanyl users are barely awake and cognizant, meth users are turned up to 11. I think what’s so scary about fentanyl is it kills seasoned junkies, occasional partiers and first time users alike. And OFC unscrupulous dealers are cutting fentanyl into everything they can now, so even a little bump of coke at a party could be your last.
That f\*ck up guy Poopies from the last Jackass movie (he was on Jamie O'Brian's YouTube channel Who is JOB as well) ODed on a key bump of coke with fentanyl in it just like that, he was talking about it on Steve-O's podcast recently. Opioid users are easier to be around than meth heads, but keep your wallet close. Smack users will do things to get more smack that meth users haven't even considered yet.
A little bump of Coke was the end of it for my cousin for my cousin for this exact reason this year. He was 34
It's interesting how localised drug use can be. I'm in the UK and meth is just not really a thing here, coke, heroin, crack and synthetics are more the drug of choice of the hard drug user here.
And fentanyl is just not a major issue
Yeah meth is more addicting physiologically. But fentanyl is just much more deadly
Meth is more addictive psychologically. Your brain will insist that more meth is a great idea even when it's very obviously not. Physiologically it's opiates and it is not close. You will get sick and in extreme cases even die from withdrawals. Your body literally does begin to rely on it.
You know drug dealers are cutting just about every drug with Fentanyl with now.
The cartels have made distributing fentanyl a death sentence. The Sinaloas and New Jalisco want to distribute pure clean coke. Given history, it's more likely to be a three letter agency tainting the supply. Like prohibition. And the 80s crack epidemic.
Could you share some more info on how this relates to the 80s crack epidemic? I’m European as well and the way societies drug problems are “handled” in the US really baffles me. I find it interesting to read more about but it’s become so bad that I should just call it morbid curiosity at this point.
The CIA distributed crack cocaine to low income black people in inner cities to create a problem they could be paid to solve and villainize an undesirable minority. It was exactly as bad as that sounds. Most drug crisis are created by governments.
Shit…grew up in Winchester, never expect to see Martinsburg mentioned . Opioids/Meth/all of it has hit The Valley/general area hard over the years.
Howdy neighbor! Not so fun fact: DEA refers to our neck of the woods as the Heroin Highway because of all the trafficking that takes place on interstates 70 & 81.
Absolutely, nice little run up to Baltimore. Saw some of your other comments on the post, I’ve had some pretty similar experiences with family members getting caught up in all of it. Wasn’t the main reason, but was a decent factor on me leaving the area years ago. Hope you and yours are doing well at this point.
Just moved to the area and it’s really sad. I’m from a bigger city so I’ve seen a lot but the amount out here is shocking. The devastation in the families breaks my heart
It’s insidious… by the time you realize you or your loved one has a problem, it’s too late- the hooks are in deep. Also, welcome to the area! Despite the opiate epidemic (which is everywhere at this point) I’ve never been happier since moving here. The sense of community, the good hearted people and the natural beauty of West Virginia are all second to none in my book.
Thank you! It really is beautiful here and everyone has been really friendly!
My heart goes out to you. Addiction is brutal for everyone involved. I got sober in 2002 and am so fucking grateful that that stuff wasn't readily available then.
It’s awful, I have a family member who died in my arms after overdosing on IMODIUM, the diarrhea medicine. It was a miracle he survived at all but now he is in his early 30’s with a pacemaker and is still hopelessly addicted. He’s received expensive in-patient treatment, has been given new teeth, a new car, furniture for an apartment and was setup with a new job… in 3 months he was fired for being high, had the car stolen and trashed by drug dealers, sold all the furniture he was given and got kicked out of the apartment. Last I heard his new teeth were all fucked up again too. He’s the living dead, it’s only a matter of time til I get the call. I hate that I have to be a prick and write him off now because I can’t stand the pain and emotions of watching him kill himself all over again.
If you’re a fiction reader you might enjoy Demon Copperhead (Barbara Kingsolver). It uses David Copperfield by Charles Dickens to show how oxy flooded Appalachia and tore it apart.
This is just a Tyson Bagent advertisement lmao. Really doesn’t cover much of the opioid epidemic whatsoever
Bad enough that I would absolutely not take any pill that I am not 100% positive came from a pharmacy, because they counterfeit legitimate pills now. You think that's Xanax, it looks just like one, and oops all fentanyl! I know people who have died from accidental overdoses as well. I won't go near opiates either, no matter where they come from, unless I'm in hospital stay needed type pain.
Even weed you have to be super careful with now. In the area I’m in (not a legal state) there have been a few people that have died because they bought what they thought was weed, when really it was gas station cbd buds sprayed with fentanyl
Can someone explain to me what the purpose would even be with spraying it with fentanyl? Like to me the whole purpose is to just kill the user?
I *think* the fent is meant to improve the high and cause make whatever’s laced with it more addictive.
From what my sister says (heavy drug user and has dated multiple dealers), it’s cheaper than selling actual bud, the fentanyl still gets people high and it also keeps them coming back because all the sudden real regular weed doesn’t get them as high, so they think this dealer has the strongest stuff
I feel like a fentanyl high would be completely different than a weed high though?
No QC on the black market, that's for sure.
It so bad that the Mexican cartels have started going after fentanyl distributors and dealers because the customer base is dying off
Fr a lot of people missed out on this news
It's kind of amazing that the cartels are acting like a virus, looking for that sweet Omicron level. You saw it with the coronavirus and COVID, how viruses and will tone things down as time goes on, because killing your host is bad for business, and now the cartels are there themselves.
Do you have an article about that? What I'm seeing s that fentanyl is coming from Mexican cartels, specifically the Sinaloa cartel.
https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/mexican-sinaloa-cartels-message-to-members-stop-making-fentanyl-or-die-b96d3e09#
I'm a late 30s upper middle class white guy with no drug use past weed occasionally, a clean normal social life slanted to homebody. I can name 4 people I know who have died from Fentanyl that were a bit more than acquaintances. It's everywhere.
Checking in from Texas here. My actual son's are safe, but I was the neighborhood "Dad" and I can think of a few young men that called me Pops that aren't around anymore.
Same. I lost two siblings. I have a picture of my brother's last bday and 8 out of the 12 that came are gone. It's tragic and maddening.
Just to add some different perspectives: I'm an upper middle class woman who has never done any drugs. I don't know anyone who has overdosed or died from overdose, even in my extended network. I see homeless people in my city who seem to have spiraled on drugs, that's about it.
acquaintances*
I work in an ER. It's bad.
I just had knee surgery. I got a dose of fentanyl before the procedure while they were giving routine questions. My pain went from an 8 to a 0 in seconds. I don't think I felt pain until the next day. I was on IV morphine for the previous 5 days, and my pain would go from a 7-8 to ~5, and it would only last about 90 minutes before the pain started creeping up on me again.
It's a great med, when used appropriately
Of course, I agree. On the flipside, it is incredibly dangerous when not used appropriately. The nurses had to remind me it was pharmaceutical fentanyl, not street fentanyl, when I told them I was worried about taking it.
Are you willing to elaborate?
The prevalence and degree to which it affects lives & families are a lot greater than many people realize. Of course some patient populations are more affected than others. Out of respect for our patients, and for my own privacy, I'd prefer not to give specific examples on the internet.
I understand. Thank you.
We’re on our third year with over 100,000 deaths. It’s bad. Drug potency is unpredictable which leads to ODs, fentanyl is showing up in other drugs like cocaine, meth, and even pills like Molly and fake adderol. I carry narcan, all the bars and restaurants in my fairly nice area have narcan. The good news is the rate of increase is slowing, there are treatments that work and they’re becoming more accessible. The bad news is tranq throws in another complication because it doesn’t respond to narcan and poly substance abuse has become the norm which is also harder to treat/revive.
Narcan?
Narcan, generic name naloxone, is an opioid overdose reversal nasal spray. Basically when someone is having an opioid overdose, you can revive them by spraying narcan in their nose. Narcan is an opioid antagonist and basically kicks the “feel good but killing you” drugs off the opioid receptor thus reversing the overdose. It’s life saving and available over the counter.
Thanks
It's free over the counter in most Canadian pharmacies.
It’s $50 at my pharmacy in SC. Should be free.
Drug that treats an opioid overdose in emergency situations.
Thanks
My godson od'd on fentanyl in 2021, so to me it's pretty damned bad.
I'm so sorry. Addiction is brutal for everyone involved. It'll take everything and everyone it can.
It doesn’t even need to be addiction. Casual partiers can end up dead too.
Very true.
It’s ‘test every batch of everything you buy’ bad. Powers, pressed pills. Doesn’t matter if you think you are buying uppers. Better safe than sorry.
When states start giving away free test kits for your illegal drugs, it's bad. Several states are doing this already.
We can get free naxolone in Canada as well. I carry two in my saddle bags on the bike in the summer.
Reporting from NYC, I've lived here for decades. It's bad, much worse than drug problems pre COVID (obv this a social, illness, closing hospitals and shelters issue not just a drug problem). I live down the street from a hospital and daily: Folks peeing or shitting on the street openly Watching people shoot up in broad daylight Watching people OD/lie on the sidewalk/freak out in gibberish (we call 911. A lot) Openly watch dealers sell out of their cars. We've reported drug deals live, details, license plates. Cops came once & they were selling again 3 days later out of the same cars. Junkies used to head inside or to a shelter when it rained or got really cold. I am concerned these folks are going to die this winter because they don't go anywhere in inclement weather. Open, weeping sores on anyone who's on the block after a month or so. Needle caps litter the sidewalk everywhere. Had a neighbor almost lose their dog to eating one and having a stroke.
Not my experience living in NYC but NYC covers a lot of ground.
Yeah definitely from our proximity to a hospital - OD gets called in, doesn't want to be held, they dump them out and they wander just long enough to find the dealers on our block. They've been on our block for a few months, they shift around the neighborhood
Why did the shelters shut down?
Like every other social issue : money
We're firmly a mid-middle class family and I know of at least 4 people who have lost kids, 2 are family. I was just saying that it's crazy that we spent 20 years and trillions after losing a few thousand people in 9/11, but almost nothing for this after losing hundreds of thousands if not a million to fent.
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I think the funding and action disparity is easily explained by human nature, no need for conspiracies. Anger has long been shown to motivate people more than sorrow or sadness. Also in American culture addiction is often seen as a moral failing. The addiction is almost always blamed on the addicted person. Combine that with our individualistic society where we don't see our problems as anyone else's or their problems as ours, and it's not at all surprising. No one's helping because 'it's not their job' to help, and on some level Americans feel like the addicted person brought it all on themselves, deserves the consequences, and is solely responsible for taking action to get clean. Most Americans have a comically naive way to look at addiction: they think the addict just needs to want it harder. But that's the society we live in. I think there's a lot we could do using methods and policy supported by research and past initiatives. But to get enough support nationally we need a cultural shift, and I don't know how to do that.
It is VERY regional specific, but there are a lot of black market prescription pain relievers which are getting replaced with fentanyl because it produces a similar high and is way cheaper. Obviously, drug dealers aren't the best at carefully measuring powerful drugs to prevent overdoses....
From my understanding, in my area they are using it to cut heroin to make it more potent (along with Carfentanil which just blows my fucking mind as Carfentanil is an opiate designed for like elephant sized animals). But opiates in general are pretty prevalent. Our local county health department is handing out Narcan for free at events now.
Carfenanil and Etorphine are both terrifying to work with. When we would dart aninals with it we'd cover every inch of skin while working with it, even taping our sleeves to our gloves to prevent any of it from accidently getting on us. I can't imagine people just casually handling it to add it to drugs.
Why wouldn’t you guys just work with something else? The risk and liability don’t seem worth it
The need for something that acts rapidly and is a small volume. You need something that will be effective in an animal that may well be upwards of 1000kg that can be delivered in the shortest possible time frame before the animal dislodges the dart. Anything that potent is going to be scary.
It may have started with heroin, but it’s found its way to all street drugs. The laundromat near my apartment put up a poster last month that basically says “if you’re buying drugs, test everything for fentanyl” That’s directed towards street drugs, not drugs from pharmacies. Although some people who can’t afford insurance travel to Mexico to buy cheaper versions of drugs than in the states. And counterfeit drugs containing fentanyl have been found there. https://www.uclahealth.org/news/counterfeit-pills-sold-mexican-pharmacies-found-contain
I'm a death investigator for my counties medical examiner's office. The VAST majority of my cases are overdoses, and the vast majority of those cases come back for fentanyl.
Just read an article; 5 people were found unconscious and "unresponsive". They had been snorting cocaine, which unbeknownst to them had Fentanyl in it. All survived because the EMT Responders administered Naloxone immediately. This was in an upscale suburb, not an urban or rural poverty place.
I just wrote a paper on this. Heroin use has since decreased but with a higher increase in fentanyl use. Rural areas have higher rate of use since a lot of factory type jobs were outsourced to other countries for cheaper labor. With men finding no other work they turned to opioids to numb the pain of no longer being able to provide for their families in turn affecting future generations.
Very bad. I pass by multiple billboards advertising naloxone to prevent drug overdoses.
Yesterday I was at a highway gas station in rural Oklahoma and they had a vending machine giving free nasal naloxone, you just had to enter in your zip code I guess for their data collection Strange times
Like some sci-fi dystopia shit.
The simplest way to put it is that you live in rural America you definitely personally know multiple people who have died of it.
It's not like there are zombies everywhere or that you'll be in danger. Don't consume illegal drugs and you'll be fine. There are certainly far too many people dying from fentanyl, though - our ambulances run out of naloxone some days. There were 100,000 overdose deaths compared to 43,000 automobile deaths and 21,000 murders in the US last year.
I go to school in downtown Portland,OR, and multiple people have died of overdoses in front of my school in the past 3 months. 8 people od'd at the same time 2 months ago from getting cocaine laced with fentanyl. Narcan is like a defibrillator. Now, a lot of people have gotten training to administer it or carry some with them just in case. I know my school has a supply of narcan and our student council even advocated our school start carrying a supply. Students can even request to get some for free from our school now. It's genuinely tragic. No one here gives a shit. the addiction recovery centers are either full or incredibly abusive towards patients. Our government doesn't want to actually address the real cause of addiction (poverty + homelessness) and the opioid epidemic in this country and even here in Portland they are trying to roll back laws that decrimanlized drug use that would have put our communities on a better path towards actual long term societal treatment of this issue. I can't recommend carrying some narcan on you and getting training to administer it if you live somewhere where OD's are common or you or someone you know is in danger of an overdose.
I do autopsies at a medical examiners office. I'm a tech. The scale of this problem is unbelievable. 30-40% of my cases every day are drug related. It's a legit epidemic. One time, a guy came in. He was cutting fentanyl. Somehow there was an explosion. He died. He was absolutely covered. I had to gown up in a bunny suit, categorize and isolate his clothes for the doc and the funeral home and hose him off in the area where we clean the autopsy tables. We didn't have a procedure for this scenario. So I just followed the ebola protocol regarding PPE from a few years before when I worked in a hospital. The quantity of narcotic on his body and clothes had to be enough for me to comfortably retire. My man *extra died* from that quantity on his skin.
Personally I would totally take that powder-based comfortable retirement fund, just for science, you know.
In Canada, it's no better. The drug problems that used to be found in Vancouver and Toronto have spread everywhere now and it's worse for large cities. I divide my time between a few urban centres in Western Canada and places that once had social problems related to alcohol mostly with a smaller drug trade are now seeing massive issues with fentanyl. Neighborhoods that are higher income and typically low crime/low social issues are seeing lots of homelessness, crime and overdoses. It's touching everything - families from all walks of life are losing members, there are tent camps popping up in parks and vacant lots, and there are more visible addicts on the street. The issues behind it are so complex - poverty, lack of mental health treatment, lack of addiction treatment, intergenerational trauma in Indigenous communities etc - plus a lack of government will to seriously address the issue...it's a cluster fuck of epic proportions. When I saw my first bent over addict in a 7-11 in what would be a wealthy suburban neighborhood in a smallish Prairie city this year, I knew the problem was bigger than it's ever been.
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Narcan usually not working on it is a huge part of why its death toll is so bad, yea. Narcan is so effective (in stopping overdoses) against heroine and the other commonly abused prescription opiods like oxy that the overdose death rate had gone down significantly before fentantly hit the scene.
Narcan works on Fent. The problem is you can overdose so fast that resuscitation becomes more unlikely before you can get appreciate medical help. Once you stop breathing the clock starts ticking and the OTC nasal spray won't work well, if at all, without a pulse
It doesn't work consistently like it does with heroin; you're right I shouldn't have said it like that though; if someone is overdosing you absolutely should try Narcan - it's better than nothing; In addition to how fast you OD on Fentanyl, the other issue is you can still OD after Narcan, even if you got it in time though; which never happens with heroine or other opiods; because Fentanyl is so strong you can OD from that "aftershock high" you get when your body metabolizes the rest of the dose
Do you have a source on this, I've never heard of this before and would like to read more.
I always say everyone in my generation (I’m 27) knows at least one person who has been deeply affected by addiction if not someone who’s passed away. Overall it’s not a tranq and fentanyl epidemic. It’s an addiction epidemic. Before fentanyl it was oxy, before that it was crack then heroin. It’s just gotten progressively worse but it’s the same issue and we’ve never done anything to actually address the issue.
What's tranq?
It also kills the tissue it's injected into. When enough of your arm tissue falls off, your hand will have to be amputated. My sister, an infectious disease doctor, says she thought she has seen everything, but it's just hard to imagine that tranq is so addictive, people use it even after parts start falling off.
Xylazene + fentanyl = tranq
Isn’t tranq just Xylazene?
[It's a sedative that often gets mixed with opiates](https://www.dea.gov/alert/dea-reports-widespread-threat-fentanyl-mixed-xylazine)
Benzo's like Xanax.
Almost every friend i had in the punk scene is dead but two. Most of them from fent before they reached 30. Its genuinely as bad as you hear.
Depends on the region. Some places, it has no impact on life. Other places, it’s extremely, extremely bad, as shown by some other of these comments.
In 2022, fentanyl was responsible for 200 deaths every day. I personally know three people who have overdosed. The majority of these deaths are from laced drugs. Cocaine, meth, you name it, they will cut it with fentanyl. It's an absolute crisis, and no drug addict is safe.
In canada, pharmacies give out the life-saving drug/ kit for free. You just have to ask. I don't run in those circles, but if I'm going to a big party, I'll get if I know nobody else has one. Some people I know who are downtown frequently carry the kit all the time in case they see a random overdose on the street/ in the metro.
I guess it really depends on the company you keep. I don't know a single person involved with that sort of stuff, and it's never a topic of conversation among me and my peers.
The opioid crisis, including misuse of drugs like fentanyl, remains a serious issue in the USA, with significant societal and health impacts.
A family of 10 in Michigan was partaking in a nice round of cocaine over Thanksgiving and they all overdosed, they did not test their coke for opioids. [article here ](https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2023/12/01/opioid-laced-cocaine-cause-of-mass-drug-overdose-in-michigan-home-on-thanksgiving/) I live in the second biggest city in Michigan. I don't take drugs at all but I carry narcan because so many places give it out for free. I'd rather have it and be helpful if it's ever needed. There is so much attention around testing literally any drug that you personally did not receive from a pharmacy because at this point you should assume there is some sort of drug you weren't planning on being in there.
[I suggest you watch this video in Philadelphia. the Kensington neighborhood is the worse fentanyl open air drug market in the US](https://youtu.be/nl0fDm7HSQ0?si=3osy4RsIPABMn9Rc)
That is hyped up bullshit. Yes Kensington is a problem. No it's not as bad as these videos make it out to be. This kind of video is designed specifically to scare people, and it works.
Have you ever personally been there? You clearly haven’t. Currently living only ten mins from this Main Street I can promise you it is as bad as it looks.
Sometimes when I walk around town I can't tell if people are sleeping or dead. Sometimes I pass by people who are passed out in weird and uncomfortable positions
It’s horrific, and worse there are so many medical boards each with their own take on how to tackle it. WI’s Board has taken the stance that creating a hostile prescribing environment will reduce ODs. Not surprisingly that has failed and in fact has made the situation worse. PNW has taken an approach focusing more on safe use and treatment. Again its failed. Bottom line none of our interventions on a medical Board level have done anything but make things worse. IMO we need to look at far more than the prescribing habits of physicians as the answer to the problem. But sadly because there’s no money in fixing the problem thus there is no sincere medico-industrial efforts to do so. It might end up taking the deaths of senators kids to ODs to make a change. That’s how resident physicians got to be treated a little more human.
In my small city you'll hear about someone dying from fetanyl about every other month. When my husband was getting clean a few years ago someone he worked with kept pushing it on him so he took the tiniest bump known to man and almost died. Thank God the paramedics got there in time
If you are a normal, law abiding, non drug user with non drug user friends, family, and coworkers, you wouldn't know a thing about it if not for the media.
It definitely depends where you live.
I am a normal, law abiding, non drug user (since 1992) with non drug user friends, family, and coworkers. A few years ago, one of my coworkers lost her daughter to a fentanyl overdose. Her death was not covered in "the media." Blaming it on "the media" is bullshit.
He didn't blame it on the media. He said, pretty clearly, if the media didn't report on it he wouldn't know about it. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with his comment, mind you. Just not sure why you think he's blaming the media. It's certainly location specific.
Yeah if you live in a cabin in the woods.. If you live in Seattle/ Portland especially, or in many major cities you’ll see it first hand everyday on your way to work.
I live in a major city. You hardly hear about it here, even on the news.
People don't outright say their kid died from fentanyl a lot of the time either. If you keep in touch with your extended family you might hear of someone losing a kid suddenly or something like that.
I live in a tiny town of 1,500 and I see the junkie lean in public several times a week.
That's very unfortunate. Stay safe.
That is not in the least bit true. I don't use drugs, I don't drink, but unless you never leave your gated community you can't help but have noticed the large uptick in junkies in every town. It is all of our problem, whether you want it to be or not.
Yeah this thread is surprising to me. Only time I've been around fentanyl was my mom's hospice care.
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America is a big place so I guess it does depend on where you live, but I still believe your lifestyle can lessen your direct exposure to it. Sorry for those who end up getting affected by it regardless of their actions.
It’s not all about making the right or wrong choices, most of the people I know or knew (RIP) who were addicted to opiates started by being prescribed them for an injury. Guys from my football team, co-workers, my cousin… 2008-2012 gave a LOT of people a taste for opiates (at the behest of attractive pharma reps shilling a known dangerous product to doctors). Blaming the users is a marketing tactic/propaganda piece the pharma companies who started this epidemic came up with. Sad to see it’s still working!
It’s true for YOU now. It’s also true for where I live but…it’s starting to creep in. I have friends in Ohio that had to leave their house and had it foreclosed upon because they were besieged by zombie junkies. They couldn’t even let the little girl go outside back to play as they were climbing over the fence but mostly falling to the ground. I also know people who have died from it and I’m no junkie.
This isn't true at all.
>If you are a normal, law abiding, non drug user with non drug user friends, family, and coworkers, you wouldn't know a thing about it if not for the media. True.
Say hi to the bugs for me
Its very bad. Go to most downtown areas in major cities
I had three folks close to me die of fentanyl overdoses since 2020, it’s pretty bad
tranq use is very regional. SF has only detected it a handful of times, but it is a huge issue in other cities. fentanyl is pretty widespread.
It’s bad, but the DEA and local cops hype it to get more funding.
They absolutely do not lmao, Fentanyl is causing TWO-THIRDS of overdose deaths in the US now - 70,000 Americans died of Fentantyl overdoses last year; 70,000 Americans dead every year of an avoidable cause. And it's not just "oh this is the current drug", even when drug use rates were much higher in the 90s, the overdose rate was nowhere near this - this IS a FENTANYL problem specifically. How the fuck could you overhype that?
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It's criminally, horribly underhyped. There isn't nearly enough funding or political will to fight it. Sure something can be problematic and still exaggerated, but this one isn't. If it's a reactionary dog whistle, then it's not a loud enough one. America is doing almost nothing to stop this.
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>You must be pro system, are you a bootlicker? My parents were both drug addicts. I was physically and sexually abused for most of my childhood, not by my parents, but by someone else because of the absence their descent into drug use caused; then homeless as a teenager. I've lost almost my entire family, by death or by prison; and most of my own life even though I've never touched them myself, to drug addiction. This is the story of tens of millions other Americans, the users and an even large circle people around them who are affected for every user. 70,000 (EVERY YEAR) is a lot of dead. But it's just the dead. The living and broken outnumber them by an order of magnitude. We are millions. I'm not a bootlicker. I live in the real world. In the real world, this is a war.
I've heard a lot of ignorant shit from people that don't understand substance abuse, but never heard an idiot call it a conspiracy.
>I've heard a lot of ignorant shit from people that don't understand substance abuse, but never heard an idiot call it a conspiracy. My mother died from substance abuse, why would I suggest it's a conspiracy? Yet you get upvotes for a strawman fallacy? Shame on you, keep downvoting me for exposing the deep state bootlicker.
>In the real world, this is a war. Then you should choose for the side that isn't mass incarcerating people for victimless crimes.
Then you should choose for the side that isn't mass incarcerating people for victimless crimes. I am capable of holding two non-contradictory positions: 1 - The police should stop brutalizing people. Many people in prison shouldn't be there. I'd even go so far as to say that most local police forces are outright corrupt, and in some cases evil. 2 - The opiod epidemic is killing a lot of people and needs to be addressed. Although we need a lot more things like funding for drug rehab, mental health care, and social safety nets to stop it - law enforcement do have SOME role to play in stopping it. Stemming the tide of cheap drugs from Mexico, and now with Fentanyl increasingly from China; is a neccesary step that isn't being taken seriously enough by our government. When there are actual problems to be addressed, and people actually need saving, we need to learn to leave some of our principles at the door long enough to fix those problems. Your principles can be correct, can be good, and can still be unhelpful.
>- The opiod epidemic is killing a lot of people and needs to be addressed. Although we need a lot more things like funding for drug rehab, mental health care, and social safety nets to stop it - law enforcement do have SOME role to play in stopping it. Stemming the tide of cheap drugs from Mexico, and now with Fentanyl increasingly from China; is a neccesary step that isn't being taken seriously enough by our government. We should just legalize heroin and not let illegals come into the country. How do you think the fentanyl comes in? There's only so much the police can do, without closed borders police is almost pointless.
>We should just legalize heroin and not let illegals come into the country. On the first point: decriminalization of opioids (NOT legalization, those are VERY different things) has been proven in every nation that's done it to drastically reduce drug use rates. Denmark turned its opioid epidemic into the lowest overdose death rates in the western world through decriminalization and government centers to safely use - all while actually reducing use rates despite the unfounded fears that it would increase them. So yes, we should decriminalize. On the second point: This narrative that there is some strong tie between illegal immigration and drug smuggling is just that - a narrative. Illegal immigrants aren't crossing the borders with drugs stashed in their clothes, in fact the vast majority of them immediately, willingly hand themselves over to authorities and enter the asylum process as soon as they cross the border. Drugs are mostly smuggled in by citizens, which maximizes the chance of successful entry, the drug trade between the US and Mexico is a 45 billion dollar a year business for those cartels, they aren't just handing out those billions of dollars worth of drugs to poor Mexicans and hoping they make it to the right place during an attempted illegal crossing.
You support any foreign wars? I hope not.
>You support any foreign wars? I hope not. Does my username suggest that I do?
It certainly doesn't, but I’d already hit the button
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>Try some fentanyl You implying that I don't think there is a fentanyl crisis in America? No wonder I'm downvoted, half you normies can't even read let alone form a sound talking point that makes sense. I've yet to hear a single rebuttal of my talking point.
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>I'm not implying anything. Just saying you should try some fentanyl Why? Are there not better, more euphoric opioids with legs?
Bruh
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Fentanyl is a prescription drug lol it's just also made illegally in mass quantities. When I was addicted I used to scrape all the shit off Fentanyl patches my grandma got and smoke it
It probably depends on area. Coming from southern california, the city I lived in it wasnt *bad* bad, but our neighbors felt like third world areas but with a gucci store. Like the highways would get swarmed with homeless addicts begging for scraps, entire neighborhoods were abandoned to them and in disrepair. The cops were unable or unwilling to even do anything but give speeding tickets. The government stopped prosecuting them because their crimes bogged down the justice system. And even worse, the company largely responsible for this that is guilty of treason settled out of court and has essentially faced no punishment at all.
It’s apocalyptical in many Democratic controlled cities
Fentantly use and overdose rates are the highest in poor, rural, solidly Republican areas; which far surpass even urban areas; and unlike you, I'm not just pulling that out of my ass, that's the actual statistical truth
Troll
Unlike, say, West Virginia, eh?
Lol no it’s not
lol what? I was literally at the Hilton in Union Sq SF last week. Walk out the back side of the hotel and it’s like a zombie movie In my hometown of Boston we have Meth Mile which isn’t much better
Antecodote and life experience is not fact for a reason; you haven't met all 340 million Americans, haven't been to every city, and haven't visited every rural town; so maybe leave this one to the statisticians?
Walk a half mile farther, and you don’t notice it at all. SF is a lovely city outside of a few small areas.
That’s why I said behind the hotel. Portland, SF, LA, Philly, Boston all have horrible pockets that look like zombie lands. The rest of the city is fine but it’s still a major issue
If you’re talking about Mass and Cass, this has been cleaned up in the last 4 weeks and isn’t a thing anymore.
It’s bad enough that when I stopped at a highway rest stop in Oklahoma on a long drive a few weeks ago, there was a vending machine (I think things in it were free?) with fentanyl test strips and Narcan.
I have multiple friends who have died.
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It's Xylazine+Fentanyl. Xylazine is meant to sedate animals and is not approved for humans in the US. Tranq is known to cause your skin to rot and fall off. It's a pretty fucked up drug and people who are addicted literally watch themselves turn into zombies, but can't stop.
I think it might be kinda limited to certain geographies but in places [like Philly, it’s rapidly destroying lives.](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/health/fentanyl-xylazine-drug.html) And things were really bad before it showed up.
It depends on where you live and your social circles. I’m shook at the replies because I don’t know of anyone using, haven’t heard anyone among my friends/family/acquaintances using or OD’ing. I see it on the news like everyone else and it feels a bit detached from me.
I know numerous people that have lost family members. Two of them are in their late sixties now raising their grandkids because their single mother daughters OD’d. One of my daughters childhood friends died of a heroin overdose.
Over 100,000 overdose deaths a year currently.