I had a relative die this way and my family said he literally still had needle in his arm, I have heard this in other overdose stories as well. What happens that causes them to die so instantly?
In: Biology
[fentanyl or carfentanil](https://gandaracenter.org/what-is-carfentanil-fentanyl-vs-carfentanil-synthetic-opioid/) that’s thousands of times more potent than heroin mixed in with filler and maybe a bit of real heroin in the baggie.
this is done because fentanyl and carfentanil are cheap and easy to transport because they are so incredibly potent, very little is needed to be smuggled in. a bit more than a two-thirds of an ounce (20g) of fentanyl is ”equivalent” to a kilogram of heroin, and a third of an ounce (10g) of carfentanil is ”equivalent” to a kilogram of *fentanyl*.
this works out to carfentanil being around 5000 times as strong as heroin, so a gram of carfentanil (about the size of a tylenol or apap pill) is ”equivalent” to just over 11 *pounds* (5kg) of pure heroin.
professional licenced and experienced labs have difficulty turning raw fentanyl into human-size doses, usually measured in *micrograms* (a millionth of a gram.. a grain of sand is around 50 micrograms). an illicit lab taking an ounce of fentanyl and mixing it out to a couple kilograms of i-can’t-believe-it’s-not-heroin is going to have a hell of a time getting the drug and the fluff thoroughly mixed so that there aren’t any ”hotspots”.
so some kid gets a bag of junk that’s supposed to be pure heroin, is expecting it to be heroin mixed with some filler, gets a bag of filler will a small hotspot of fentanyl, shoots up from the bag and gets only the fluff this round. the kid doesn’t feel anything, so shoots up again, gets maybe a little be high because the bag *was* mixed… just not well. kid goes to shoot up again, grabs the hotspot of nearly pure fentanyl (hey, you can’t tell one powder from another without a lab), shoots it up, and is in immediate od as he’s just put the equivalent of 50x as much opioid in his vein as he’s used to.
with carfentanil, it’s 100x worse. looks at the pictures in the link i left at the top.
these two drugs are so dangerous, if there’s even the remotest possibly either is involved, law enforcement or lab folks are *required* to have several doses of naloxone (opiate antidote) drawn up and ready to go, just in case. with carfentanil, a single dust-like grain of it in your eye can be a fatal dose, and fentanyl isn’t far behind.
complicating the matter is that because so little has such a large effect, even if the addict could get their drugs tested, it would be like trying to find 3 grains of salt in a spoonful of sugar: virtually impossible to do without destroying the drugs in the process.
it’s counterintuitive, but the vast majority of people get hooked on opiates for a reason… very few get hooked for the fuck of it. opiates dull grief, and even *loneliness*, in addition to physical pain. most addicts are self-medicating issues they don’t know how to fix, and their ”cure” causes more problems.
if we want to fix this, we need to treat the underlying problems and the *very* first thing necessary is to change the laws to avoid making addicts automatically criminals. hell, follow the lead of some more successful countries and provide a safe space, clean needles, some supervision, and clean, lab made opiates. eliminate most of the overdoses, halt the spread of the comorbidities such as hepatitis c, and start offering counseling and treatment.
until this us-of-a stops trying to sweep this into private prisons for the poor and betty ford for the rich, there’s going to be a black market for opiates, and people are going to die because those running the market have absolutely no interest in anything other than making money…. one might even say it’s the ultimate and worst expression of capitalism: no regulations, buyer beware, the cost of entry is the cost of your stock….
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