Fentanyl-related deaths skyrocket in Baltimore
http://www.wbaltv.com/article/fentanyl-related-deaths-skyrocket-in-baltimore/8681319
Frier struggled with addiction for 30 years and has now been in recovery for a little more than 18 months.
“Drugs through the mail. Was that ever something you came across?” WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Omar Jimenez asked.
“I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a nice way to get something.’ “The same drug that’s been killing everybody here in Baltimore, that fentanyl, they have ordered it through the mail,” Frier said.
It’s a common practice in the region.
“They’ll usually ship it in a container, a package that’s labeled as something else,” said Todd Edwards, special agent with the DEA.
The DEA said the latest spike in synthetic supply is coming in part from China, and it’s getting into Baltimore through every day packages.
“Whether it’s printer cartridges, printer toner, toys, something like that and they’ll ship it to whatever address you want,” Edwards said.
Authorities said one of the biggest challenges is the sheer volume of packages in circulation at any given time. For example, UPS said on average, on a non-peak day they deal with over 18 million packages and documents.
“Unless you have an ongoing investigation, it’s very hard to find these packages. Fentanyl is tasteless. It’s odorless. Dogs can’t detect it,” Edwards said.
So how do authorities even begin to tackle this?
“It’s just a very difficult job,” Edwards said.
The DEA said a dose of heroin is about a 10th of a gram, but fentanyl comes in micro-doses of one one thousandth of a gram, which is a grain of salt, but about 50 times more potent than the heroin itself.
“Now, it’s not only stuff you can get addicted to. It’s stuff that’s going to kill you,” Edwards said.
Through September of 2016 it killed 503 people in the Baltimore metro, more than three and a half times the amount from all of 2015, which was 137 deaths.
It’s a first-hand experience Frier hopes will change.
“I’ve seen people buy, walk around the corner, take a sniff and die right there. It’s frightening that our city has come to this, and I’m so scared that it’s going to deteriorate even further,” Frier said.
It is a feeling shared by the many fighting the epidemic on the ground, on the web and through a combination of those two in the mail.
The DEA said they’re trying to work with Chinese officials to open a third office there as they try and get a handle on the supply of synthetic drugs, specifically fentanyl, flowing into the region.
Filed under: General Problems
The chance of having an operation in China to stop Fentanyl from coming into the US is long gone. Trump made sure of that last week when he pissed the Chinese government off. Now, even if sanctions on mail and parcel posts are put on china, the Chinese Cartels will just set up a relay location in a country where there aren’t sanctions, which I wouldn’t doubt if they already have relay sites setup just in case.
Let’s put it this way,,, the career criminals are far more intelligent than the elected and appointed criminals we have in government. I’m sorry to say that addicts will do almost anything to get their fix and drug cartels will do anything to supply their customers. The single best way to slow addiction is to educate and treat addiction as the illness it is. The DEA and DOJ screwed this up years ago when they started criminalizing addiction instead of finding ways to help the addicts get better. That’s just like the crooks in government to create a huge problem inorder to collect money property seizures and fines. Then when it gets out of hand and they can’t stop it, they blame everyone else but themselves.
As far back as 1973, if the DEA, DOJ and ATF would have gotten the CDC involved to fight the problem of illicit drugs from other countries instead of the DEA using the rise of cartels as a fund raising opertunity, the problem of addiction in the US would not be nearly what it is today. If the CDC would have declared addiction a disease and not a crime and started educating in our schools, our medical professionals and law enforcement of signs, symptoms and the dangers of illicit drugs usage, curbing or slowing the addiction epidemic would be a greater success than we realize.
Finally. If the DEA and CDC would have been more concerned about illegal drugs on the streets instead of going after easy targets like Doctors and pharmacists a decade or more ago, the addiction and overdose deaths totals would be much lower. Both these agencies actions has actually caused more harm than good. Their attacks on prescribing doctors has pushed Real patients to the streets to find very dangerous drugs to self medicate.
So this is how I look at it. Not a single politician from 1973 to the current idiots sitting in office, either party, and not a single bureaucrat occupying spaces in federal buildings across the nation have done anything other than fuel addiction and overdose death. But they have helped to create hundreds of multi millionaires and even billionaires in the illegal drug trade.
Until they find a way to detect the drug in packages it will be impossible to stop. Even if they do stop it addicts will find something else. The problem is they are not treating the disease of addition but just worrying about the drug. Mood altering drugs have been around the beginning of time and will never be stopped completely. While every country has it drug problems it seems our is so much worse then other Western Countries because they have not criminalized the users but get them real help when needed. Even with this going the wait for help in some places if you don’t have funds to get into rehab or insurance is up to a year. That is ridiculous. Meanwhile Chronic pain patient are given a choice when they are cut off. Politicians have now made us buy on the street and hope for the best thus helping the cause of illegal drugs, lose what quality of life or for some commit suicide. Those who thought Trump would save your meds voted for someone who will now gut SS and Medicare, Veterans care and health care overall. Thanks.
Just a fyi,,,”try to open a dea shop on china,”’,,told u all,,,,,the dea is not allowed in South America any more,ie,,human rights abuses,,,,,there NOT in china,,,there not in the Middle east,,soooooo,,,the easiest target to justify their enormousness salaries,employment,retirement on our dime,,, is our doctors,,This is why our doctors are getting illegally arrested,,jmo,mary