Monday, 12 December 2016

Fentanyl and you,. The real villains in the opioid overdose epidemic are counterfeit pills

quote [ When investigators sent counterfeit pills seized after the Sacramento poisonings for testing at the University of California, they found a wide disparity in the amount of fentanyl each contained. Some pills had as little as 0.6mg. Others were stuffed with 6.9mg of the drug, which would almost certainly be fatal. ]

As someone who depends on strong opioids to maintain a minimal quality of life. I truly hope that we can stop demonizing fentanyl and other strong medicines and focus on the real problems; i.e. poor addiction treatment, counterfeit drugs, and poor overall health care. The last thing the country needs is a revitalization of the war on drugs, which is what demonizing the drugs will do.

Follow up to discussions following Prince's overdose. Original discussion here: http://www.sensibleendowment.com/entry.php/5979

I am posting from my phone so can't easily copy entire article here; will try to update when home

Natasha Butler had never heard of fentanyl until a doctor told her that a single pill had pushed her eldest son to the brink of death – and he wasn’t coming back. “The doctor said fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. I know morphine is really, really powerful. I’m trying to understand. All that in one pill? How did Jerome get that pill?” she asked, her voice dropping to a whisper as the tears came. “Jerome was on a respirator and he was pretty much unresponsive. The doctor told me all his organs had shut down. His brain was swelling, putting pressure on to the spine. They said if he makes it he’ll be a vegetable.”


The last picture of Jerome shows him propped immobile in a hospital bed, eyes closed, sustained only by a clutch of tubes and wires. Natasha took the near impossible decision to let him die.

“I had to remove him from life support. That’s the hardest thing to ever do. I had him at 15 so we grew together. He was 28 when he died,” she said. “I had to let him die but after that I needed some answers. What is fentanyl and how did he get it?”
[SFW] [politics] [+4 Interesting]
[by jsabin69]
<-- Entry / Comment History

lilmookieesquire said @ 11:38pm GMT on 12th December
I always copy the article because sometimes urls get moved around and the article is lost forever

lilmookieesquire said @ 11:38pm GMT on 12th December
I always copy the article because sometimes urls get moved around and the article is lost forever

Edit: Also, it avoids the issues of live editing



<-- Entry / Current Comment
lilmookieesquire said @ 11:38pm GMT on 12th December
I always copy the article because sometimes urls get moved around and the article is lost forever

Edit: Also, it avoids the issues of live editing




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