• andros_rex@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    The hysteria over fentanyl is insane. The fact that cops act like they’re going to die from just barely touching the stuff and this is taken seriously is Idiocracy tier.

    The opioid epidemic is because the Sackler family and Purdue made money from convincing doctors that opioids weren’t addictive - as in, the epidemic traces back to a letter to the editor that suggested that opioids weren’t addictive and was taken at face value as encouraged by the pharm industry.

    The fentanyl shit is a distraction. People don’t typically seek out fentanyl, they seek out substitutes for opioids that they often became addicted to legally, with the full encouragement of the medical industry.

    Beyond that, there’s a serious refusal to take pain seriously in the medical community which leads to people looking to self-medicate. (Like, just this year it’s finally standard practice to offer painkillers during IUD insertion - lots of us were told that it wouldn’t hurt/there weren’t nerves there. Yeah, forcing sharp shit through a cervix hurts.)

    The opioid epidemic is horrific and tragic, but it’s not the fault of the cartels - they’re just reaching for their cut.

    • TingoTenga@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      Very small quantities of fentanyl are used to cut/enhance other drugs, often without the knowledge of the consumer, thus making them more potent/addictive.

      • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        Yes - so the problem is not fentanyl itself, but the addiction crisis. It’s being used to cut heroin. Many rural/poor people in the early naughts in shitty, physically demanding jobs developed issues with pain. They received opioids, which were given out like candy, because the thriving secondary market for oxy and perc’s is profitable, and the Sackler’s were making money off it.

        Which causes mega problems. States sue, feds investigate. Then, the pendulum swings overnight. Many people who legitimately needed the pain management from opioids were abruptly caught off. Many people who got addicted after going on them after a work injury or bout with illness were also not really given the tools to deal with what they were experiencing - remember, doctors were told they weren’t addictive, so that’s what they were telling their patients too.

        Fentanyl is stronger than horse, so it’s great to cut with. Obviously you want to make money, so you can sell less heroin for more money if you add a bit of fentanyl to it (I do not believe that they are sneaking it into weed, that’s the kind of weird copaganda hysteria shit - but certainly party drugs)

        It’s a monster that was created by both intentional evil and negligence. The hysteria over fentanyl the drug exists to cover up the true narrative underneath here.

        Like, by no means is fentanyl not scary - fentanyl test kits should be available everywhere and from a harm reduction standpoint I don’t think there’s really anything other than “don’t do fentanyl, like even more than don’t do opioids don’t do fucking fentanyl” - but the hysteria over the form of the demon hides its source.

        • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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          22 days ago

          A lot of addicts would be fine with getting fentynal as well as long as they know it’s fentynal. It’s when they don’t know that they OD at higher numbers.

          • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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            21 days ago

            They wouldn’t pay as much for it when they know it’s pure fentanyl. Heroin lasts much longer, so you don’t have to take it as much to avoid withdrawals.