Getting high on elephant tranquilizer: Carfentanil reaches the U.S.
www.pulseheadlines.com/high-elephant-tranquilizer-carfentanil-reaches/48466/
For those politicians and voters that are opposed to “closing our borders” … are they directly/indirectly supporting/encouraging/condoning the importing of Methamphetamine, Marijuana, Heroin coming from Mexico and Carfentanil and other synthetic drugs coming from China. The main reason for the increasing OD’s on our streets and DEA’s justification of increasing the funding of our war on drugs/pts.
If “more government” is the answer – by many people/politicians – to solve virtually any/all problems.. why has the DEA been fighting the war on drugs for some 46 yrs and things are seemingly getting worse ?
Carfentanil, a drug that’s 100 times stronger than fentanyl, the drug that killed Prince, is making its way to the streets of the Midwest, forcing a state of emergency upon the state of Ohio.
Opioid strength is usually measured against morphine. Fentanyl is 50 to 1,000 times stronger than morphine, which makes carfentanil optimistically 5,000 times stronger than morphine. Carfentanil is now being mixed with heroin, which has led to a spike in overdoses.
Authorities state that usually, 4 or 5 overdoses a day is what they would expect with only heroin and other common opioids hitting the streets. That amount has increased tenfold in Southwest Ohio.
Elephant tranquilizer is not for humans
Carfentanil is so potent that first responders and emergency personnel are advised to wear gloves and protective clothing, as inhaling or touching a minimal amount can cause an effect on the human body.
Because the body takes so much to process carfentanil and is so quickly exposed to its effects, the high obtained from carfentanil is much longer and intense and most of the time the body cannot contain it, leading to an overdose.
Usually, opioid overdoses are treated with naloxone, which is also often provided to opioid addicts trying to recover and to fend off withdrawal symptoms. But carfentanil overdoses are much more severe, which significantly reduces the chances of saving an overdosing patient’s life. It has been reported that emergency staff had to employ at least three times the regular dosage of naloxone to reverse carfentanil overdoses.
An elephant tranquilizer, carfentanil has a restricted distribution among veterinarians. It is a potent opioid used only for sedating large animals with resistant circulatory systems.
Ease of distribution is the main issue
According to the DEA, most carfentanil available on U.S. streets originates from China. People can create an anonymous account on the Internet and buy the drug with relative ease, stated DEA spokesman Russ Baer. He warns that people can quickly obtain synthetic opioids that are much stronger than opium derivates, which originate from poppy plants.
One of the main issues with opioid distribution is the lack of sizeable penalties. Because selling opioids on the street are considered a crime less punishable than murder or anything involving violence, the legal implications are much softer. But the circumstances should change if the trafficked drug is carfentanil, which has a very high mortality as it is not supposed to be consumed by humans in the first place.
The known uses of carfentanil
Carfentanil is sold under the name Wildnil. The DEA classifies it as analogous to fentanyl. It is often administered in 1ml or lesser doses, most of the times through intramuscular administration with a dart. As the animal is treated with carfentanil, it can be operated upon, although veterinarians recommend constant monitoring. In the U.S., carfentanil is mostly used to tranquilize moose and deer, applying a dose on their back, neck or shoulders. Carfentanil’s indications suggest that it should not be used in animals that have cardiovascular or respiratory diseases, which in humans, is often a contributing factor to death by carfentanil overdoses.
Veterinarian recommendations also point out that carfentanil should only be used with naloxone at hand, as it is the most widely-accepted reversal agent. 100Mg of naloxone have to be applied for each milligram of carfentanil. To legally obtain carfentanil, the purchaser must have the DEA’s approval.
One of the most widely-known uses of carfentanil was during a 2002 hostage crisis in Moscow. 50 armed terrorists attacked the Dubrovka Theater, taking 850 prisoners. The theater’s inner architecture was such that regular military actions could not provide an appropriate window for taking out the gunmen. Russian forces had to enter the ventilation system and deploy a chemical agent to neutralize the terrorists.
The Russian military used an aerosol containing carfentanil to knock out the Chechen terrorists. The aerosol’s contents were not disclosed until a 2012 research confirmed its composition thanks to the analysis of the urine of two of the operation’s survivors.
The effects of the aerosol appeared to be too severe, and when emergency personnel made it to the scene, they were not carrying the correct reversal agent, in this case, naloxone. The episode resulted in 165 deaths, including hostages and all the Chechen terrorists, mainly attributed to respiratory failure caused by carfentanil overdosing.
According to the DEA, at least 12 substances analogous to fentanyl are produced or distributed on the U.S.’s drug traffic. Most of these opioids can be smoked or snorted, but the primary method of consumption is intravenous administration.
Unlike other synthetic opioids which can be acquired through a doctor’s prescription, carfentanil displays an entirely different type of drug, as it is never administered to humans with a medical purpose. Even if the DEA regulates its distribution and consumption, it has not stopped U.S’s drug traffickers from mixing carfentanil and heroin to cut the product and offer a more powerful high. Unwarily, people buy the mix and overdose, which usually leads them to their death.
Even if prescription drugs are strictly regulated, addicts will always find a way to get their dosage until penalties become much higher and the availability of illicit opioids, at least those such as carfentanil that cannot be legally obtained, is reduced to zero.
Filed under: General Problems
Janet…instead of ending your life, why not move somewhere that allows you reasonable access to the meds that you need. Understand that may non-English speaking countries often have colonies of English speaking expats, often American but also Canada, the UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
Here is an idea. I have a friend with CRPS who is Canadian. She needed to come to this country with her three children to escape a horribly violent and abusive small community in Quebec that had targeted her (it’s a long and very odd story for another time and place) and as she has CRPS, she needs to be on a very “unapproved by CDC’s new standards” regimen of long and short acting opioids. No American physicians were willing to help her, so every ninety days, she’d have to return to Canada, see her physician in Montreal, get her meds filled, returning and picking up where her life left off four or five days earlier. She had a wonderful support system in the group helping her escape the former environment who would care for her children and wholly supported all four of them, including the flights to and from Quebec. She is on the Canadian National Health Plan and her meds were free. She has now returned to Canada with her children under a different set of circumstances that allow her and her children to live a normal life as compared to a year ago. My point is that Canada had and has no problem with her doc prescribing her the meds she needs to function. They speak English there (even in mostly French speaking Quebec).
I don’t know you and have never met you. Still, your life is too precious to voluntarily end over this issue, especially when there are solutions. I know pulling up stakes and settling in a new land will be the most difficult thing that you have ever done. Consider it is doable and I’m sure someone in your circle will be able to assist you. They payout for the effort is so much greater than the effort itself in the long run. If you’re going to go to another country, I submit that you go there to live and not to die prematurely. We all get there, but why give our adversaries the satisfaction that they managed to reduce by one, another life that they see as an undue burden on their agenda. Go and get the relief you need in spite of them and live. Go and, in doing so, give them the “50% Peace Sign” aka the Hawaiian Peace Sign, aka the bird aka the middle finger. Who knows…you may be the forerunner of another underground railroad, built in the 21st century but with the same concept of salvation for another marginalized, minimized and exploited people..us..
My position having been without pain meds for 9 months is that if I can’t get to a decent pain management Dr soon I am going to Switzerland for euthanasia. I cannot live like this anymore.