Pills that kill: why are thousands dying from fentanyl abuse? | Hacker News Reader

Pills that kill: why are thousands dying from fentanyl abuse?

theguardian.com

6 pointsfinid7 comments

Even as Americans are getting their heads around fentanyl, it is being eclipsed. In September, the DEA issued a warning about the rise of a fentanyl variant that is 100 times more powerful – carfentanil, a drug used to tranquilise elephants.

Wait! Fentanly is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, but carfentanil is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, and folks are still taking it.

That's nuts, just freakign nuts.

I'm never sure why per-unit potency gets mentioned by media articles about narcotic drugs. It's not like someone taking a gram of heroin would go and take a gram of carfentanil.

It is important when the lethal dose starts being measured in the range of 5 micrograms, well below the ability of an unaided human to discern.

Drug users aren't measuring out micrograms from a vial of pure medication. It'll be in a solution or pill form.

you're missing the point so hard it's crazy. drugs that are lethal in the single microgram range can not be safely handled outside of an actual laboratory with rigiorous safety standards and techniques.

It doesn't matter what form it reaches the end user in when every step of the production process has the potential for invisible lethal mistakes due to the slightest lapse of attention or proceedure- and that assumes the original dosage proceedure was designed correctly.

But it is likely she was getting the pills from Mexican cartels using ingredients from labs in China where production of fentanyl’s ingredients is legal.

If ingredients for fentanyl originates from China, are the chinese abusing it like we do here?

With the rise of the middle class in China, illicit drug usage has risen along with it.

http://www.dw.com/en/china-fighting-uphill-battle-in-war-on-...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com