Perhaps you know something experts don’t but for now I’ll take the experts’ word on this.
As I understand it the problems arises when someone who has been on prescription opiate pain medication are cut off (for whatever reason).
Then, either because they are still in pain (often the case) and/or because they have become addicted to the prescription medication they turn to illicit drugs like heroin. Once on that path the chances of an overdose increase dramatically.
The opioid crisis tends to be framed in terms of people dying and preventing deaths. But it is economically devasting to the affected communities as well. Every cent of disposable income goes to pill mill docs,heroin dealers and pharma companies. No money remains to refresh the community or support local businesses. Businesses suffer losses from theft and have trouble retaining good employees. Large stores find themselves hosting more shoplifters than actual shoppers. Neighbors steal from each other. Large numbers of children are neglected or constantly bounced around between relatives and foster care. Social service agencies don’t have the resources to keep up.
And people that think it’s about getting high just don’t understand the depths of the problem. Your doctor may have prescribed those pills for your back pain, but they don’t just target your back. The pain may dampen any euphoria, but those pills are still going to do their work on the pain of your dead end job or stagnant or broken marriage. Or maybe they relieve the pain that comes from being misunderstood and alienated because you’re rich and famous. Or any of the psychological pain we all live with. Not to mention the physical dependence.
And OxyContin is EXPENSIVE on the street, the number I’ve heard is $1 per milligram. Which is why so many people turned to heroin.
My point is that we are told that there is 30 mg of heroin in the left vial, and 3 mg of fentanyl in the right vial. As the vials appear to have indentical dimensions, it doesn’t appear that the to drugs are shown in a 10:1 ratio by weight unless the fentanyl is quite a bit more dense than heroin.
It’s the expert’s own visual graphic and description that makes me question if they are being truthful. I did a bit of searching for the densities of each drug but haven’t found anything yet that is useful for comparison. I do doubt that the density is that much different between the two substances.
From the article.
Maybe that’s a fatal dose of heroin as bought from a dealer (already cut) and the fentanyl is pure.
So apples to oranges. Thanks, I missed that ‘equivalent’ wording.
May be it has some thing to do with hydrocodone, morphine, codeine, Oxycontin/Oxycodone was the range from 2000 to 2010?
And now it is fentanyl as a alternative not realizing it made worse problem so bad they cannot even think about how mad the problem would be!!
An alternative to the range of hydrocodone, morphine, codeine, Oxycontin/Oxycodone drug abuse, addicts, pill mills and kids and teens getting hooked on it and using it to get high.
So they pushed fentanyl as an alternative and not realizing it made worse problem on thinkable.
What is the point many hard core heroin users shoot up 30 mg of heroin or 40 mg of heroin…
The other elephant in the room. Many drugs make you feel great, and you can indulge without becoming addicted. I’m not advocating, but I took my share of drugs in HS and college many years ago, and never got hooked. The first time I did cocaine I thought "“This is how I’m supposed to feel.” But never sought them out after college.
Another data point:
You are going along with an assumption that is not correct. Fentanyl is not being “pushed” by doctors.
The fentanyl on the black market is not coming from diverted prescriptions. Doctors are not prescribing fentanyl instead of other opioids.
Black market fentanyl is produced overseas, typically in China, by clandestine drug labs. It is then smuggled into the US and used in adulterated heroin or counterfeit pills.
People are not overdosing on pharmaceutical sources of fentanyl. People OD on black market fentanyl because consistent dosing is very difficult and you are at the mercy of whoever is making the batch to use sane and consistent amounts of fentanyl in the counterfeit products.
So if I understand what are saying people are not overdosing on fentanyl from the doctor? Only the fentanyl you get from the street?
What about people who get fentanyl from the doctor but take higher dosage than what the recommends? O other means not designed by it? Like people trying to get high snorting it or shooting it up like heroin?
Or is it only the fentanyl from the street?
I’m not sure about Fentanyl but with other opioids, what frequently happens is that a doctor prescribes more than the patient needs. (I’ve been prescribed Hydrocodone three times and never finished the bottle before I stopped needing them.) This leads to opioids sitting in medicine cabinets to be stolen (burglars, guests, or family members). Then the thief either takes the drug recreationally or sells it on the street for cash.
I’m just saying that there are indirect consequences of opioid prescriptions that can go further than the patient.
Cite from the NIH: Mechanisms of Prescription Drug Diversion Among Drug-Involved Club- and Street-Based Populations - PMC
Fentanyl - 1.1g/ml
Heroin 1.56g/ml
Those look like 3.5ml vials. If they are, then heroin should take up less than 1% of the volume of the vial.
Virtually all drugs have side-effects; there are very few magic bullets. So yes, legally prescribed fentanyl causes addiction and overdose deaths. But these are a small fraction of the total fentanyl addiction and overdose problem–most of it is from the illegal market.
On the other side of the coin there are tens of millions of Americans suffering from pain (both acute and chronic). And for some of these fentanyl is the best solution to this pain.
sweat209: do you live in the U.S.? I can’t remember. I do remember you said that English was not your first language, and that you were helping out people who were learning English with some of your questions here.
The reason I bring this up is that doctors in sweat’s area may be different than the U.S., especially in poorer countries.
Of course, sweat may be talking about the U.S., even if they don’t live there.
That not point he said people overdose on it from street not from the doctor. The fentanyl epidemic is people getting fentanyl from the street not the doctor.
This must have to do with quality control where some fentanyl from one dealer is stronger than other fentanyl from other dealer.
No, the problem is it’s near impossible for a dealer to evenly mix the fentanyl through the larger drug mixture. Fentanyl is so potent that a small concentration in the mix is fatal to the person who gets that portion.
Who is pushing fentanyl? Government, DEA, media or doctors board that all doctors have to do of what they say?
From 2000 to 2010 Oxycontin/Oxycodone, hyrdromorphone AND morphine was range.
Now 2010 to now fentanyl is range.
So what has changed? If more doctors are giving out fentanyl and less and less doctors are giving out Oxycontin/Oxycodone, hyrdromorphone AND morphine these days.
So why is Fentanyl so potent from the street but not so potent from the pharmaceutical companies that the doctor give you?