Fentanyl laced Oxy, Valium, and Xanax

[crash_davis 23113]

Why would cartels knowingly and willingly kill off their customer base? Anyway, this may hit close to home for some. Fake Oxy, Valium, Xanax pills laced with fentanyl are killing people.

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/russian-roulette-with-your-life-fentanyl-laced-pills-killing-central-texans/

Quote

“The illegal prescription pills that are being diverted and sold illegally, along with counterfeit oxycodone pills, are an extreme danger to the public,” according to the federal complaint. “Cartels and domestic clandestine pill press operations are manufacturing counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is lethal in minute doses.”

 

 

Counterfeit pills, like the one Cameron took, are particularly deadly. Drug dealers are pressing fentanyl into the shape of common prescription pills, like Xanax and Valium and oxycodone. Users don’t know what’s in them or that it’s fentanyl.

“It’s Russian roulette — you have absolutely no idea where that thing came from,” Dwayne said. “And yeah, it could be your best friend who means you absolutely no harm, and they got it from a friend and
they have no idea where it came from.”

Justin Miller, a sergeant in the organized crime unit of the Cedar Park Police Department, said he’s been policing narcotics for eight years and the past 18 months have been the busiest he’s ever seen. Counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl are a major driver of that uptick in narcotics crime, he said.

Some batches of pills are so strong “even a portion of one of these pills can cause a fatal overdose,” Miller said.

Miller said he and his team have caught about 30 suppliers.

What is fentanyl

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 100 times stronger than morphine. Pharmaceutical fentanyl is used to treat severe pain, often caused by advanced cancers. Fentanyl is addictive and can cause overdoses and death. Illegal fentanyl is increasingly being pressed into counterfeit pills.

When fentanyl is added to a pill, it makes no perceptible difference in color, taste or smell. Only a lab test can tell you if a pill is laced, Miller said.

“These pills are made in someone’s garage; they’re made in someone’s house, and it’s made by someone mixing up the components of it,” he said. “You don’t know if that one pill has a small amount of fentanyl or a huge dose of fentanyl that is likely to kill you.”

 

[XYZ 2154]

I thought this had been discussed before, and the consensus opinion was that these criminal operations are not doing it on purpose but they must suck at preventing cross-contamination or whatever.

[crash_davis 23113]

that begs the question is fentanyl an ingredient for these drugs? 

if not, then why would it even get introduced in the making of the fake drugs?

Edited July 27, 2021 by crash_davis

[Bevo 13577]

1 minute ago, XYZ said:

I thought this had been discussed before, and the consensus opinion was that these criminal operations are not doing it on purpose but they must suck at preventing cross-contamination or whatever.

fentanyl is an opiod like oxycodone and morphine but is 50-100 times more potent than morphine. If drug distributors can get it at a low price, they can cut it to crazy low doses and give people the same effect. But dealers have to be careful dosing because it is so potent.

[Harrison Bergeron 1798]

I think the OP gives common criminals way to much credit for being able to consider complex economic models and the time value of money ... or maybe they do and that's the point?

[Gene Parmesan 4007]

4 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

that begs the question is fentanyl an ingredient for these drugs? 

if not, then why would it even get introduced in the making of the fake drugs?

My understanding is it's cheaper and easier to procure.  Apparently there is more room for error when making drugs in a garage versus a lab though.

[Brothahorn 10087]

[alincoln 2371]

The cost to manufacture an "oxy" pill is less using fentanyl as the active ingredient.  The cartels sloppily use the same pill presses to produce "valium" and "xanax" that they use for "oxy" and the cross-contamination is killing people who have no tolerance to opiates. 

[BearSchlong 8094]

There's a well-known recovery speaker and professional interventionist that was once in rehab, where a therapist asked him "what was his drug of choice" and when he couldn't provide a definitive answer she proposed a hypothetical:

"Pretend for a minute there's a table in front of you with drugs laid out on it - cocaine, meth, weed, heroin, pills, and bottles of whisky, vodka, tequila etc.  You are told you can pick one thing, what's it gonna be?"

He answered "8 ball of cocaine"

She said "Well, maybe that's your drug of choice, cocaine."

He replied "I'll take that 8 ball of cocaine, sell it, and buy a case of Jack Daniels"

His point was that Jack Daniels does exactly the same thing, every time. There's no quality control with drugs.

He said with pills there are some days when you have to simply be content to lay back and keep checking your pulse.

[South Austin 52504]

Five or so years ago a kid could take a valium, oxy, or xanax and the big risk was short-term feeling like shit or long-term possible addiction.  Now I have to tell my daughter that if she decides to try what might seem to be a harmless prescription drug that thousands of people take every day for pain, there's a decent change her life could end at the snap of a finger. Scares the shit out of me.

Edited July 27, 2021 by South Austin
wut

[Captainant 27668]

lack of regulation is gonna make any manufactured good susceptible to cutting/counterfeiting. Shit, even the weed vape pens were getting cut with vitamin E acetate. Stick to stuff the way it comes out of the ground 

[BearSchlong 8094]

Just now, South Austin said:

Five or so years ago a kid could take a valium, oxy, or xanax and the big risk was short-term feeling like shit or long-term possible addiction.  Now I have to tell my daughter that if she decides to try what might seem to be a harmless prescription drug that thousands of people take every day for pain, there's a decent change her life could end at the snap of a finger. Scare's the shit out of me.

My daughter had a roommate a few semesters ago that went unconscious several times after taking "xanax" - and then got upset when my daughter called the EMTs to take her to the hospital.

I'd be surprised if that girl lives past 25.

[Hmmm 155]

If I remember the documentary correctly, peeps in Mexico buy large quantifies of chemicals from China to produce fentanyl.  Much cheaper to produce something from raw ingredients vs. buying something that's already produced.  

Would guess the majority of fentanyl gets mixed with other drugs by dealers trying to make more money by lacing it and not the peeps producing it.  

Pretty sure most of this is covered on "Dope".

Edited July 27, 2021 by Hmmm

[Hate 20108]

Five or so years ago a kid could take a valium, oxy, or xanax and the big risk was short-term feeling like shit or long-term possible addiction.  Now I have to tell my daughter that if she decides to try what might seem to be a harmless prescription drug that thousands of people take every day for pain, there's a decent change her life could end at the snap of a finger. Scare's the shit out of me.

This is exactly where I am as well. My son is about to be 13 and I’ve already started talking to him about it. This reality really does “scare you to death”. I’m not naive enough to think he won’t at some point be tempted to experiment with drugs, but I hope I’ve done a good enough job of educating him on the potential risks with each drug.

[Macanudo 12978]

9 minutes ago, BearSchlong said:

My daughter had a roommate a few semesters ago that went unconscious several times after taking "xanax" - and then got upset when my daughter called the EMTs to take her to the hospital.

I'd be surprised if that girl lives past 25.

She's already dead.  She just doesn't know it yet.

[BearSchlong 8094]

Also why I'm glad my daughter gets her THC from dispensaries.

[Sandman 3403]

My dad was given fentanyl when he was in the hospital for his heart attack/bypass surgery. It made him hallucinate and he said it was horrible. He told them no more after that. That shit scares me. 

[JohnnyRage 1617]

If this is a serious question, it’s because it is lighter and has immense efficacy. This makes it efficient, efficiency equals profit. Why would cartels care about thousands of deaths when there are millions of users and millions of soon to be users?

[JohnnyRage 1617]

1 minute ago, JohnnyRage said:

If this is a serious question, it’s because it is lighter and has immense efficacy. This makes it efficient, efficiency equals profit. Why would cartels care about thousands of deaths when there are millions of users and millions of soon to be users?

The only solution is to eliminate the demand, good luck with that. If you can’t eliminate demand then you need to reverse the profits in prohibition. But this needs to be across the country as Portland is learning the hard way.

Cartels will be stymied, but they will move on to other forms of smuggling, like human smuggling or highly taxed or regulated goods.

[Captainant 27668]

41 minutes ago, JohnnyRage said:

If this is a serious question, it’s because it is lighter and has immense efficacy. This makes it efficient, efficiency equals profit. Why would cartels care about thousands of deaths when there are millions of users and millions of soon to be users?

Another aspect is that it's much easier to smuggle because it's got such a small dosage. A gelcap or two filled with it could be cut into hundreds or thousands of doses

[Player 4575]

1 hour ago, JohnnyRage said:

If this is a serious question, it’s because it is lighter and has immense efficacy. This makes it efficient, efficiency equals profit. Why would cartels care about thousands of deaths when there are millions of users and millions of soon to be users?

[Bevo 13577]

1 hour ago, Sandman said:

My dad was given fentanyl when he was in the hospital for his heart attack/bypass surgery. It made him hallucinate and he said it was horrible. He told them no more after that. That shit scares me. 

Decent chance that if you have been sedated fentanyl and propofol were used.

[Bevo 13577]

55 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Another aspect is that it's much easier to smuggle because it's got such a small dosage. A gelcap or two filled with it could be cut into hundreds or thousands of doses

I'm not sure about the legality but if a Mexican doctor brought over 100 capsules that could go a long way.

[texasjacket 289]

On 7/27/2021 at 12:03 PM, South Austin said:

Five or so years ago a kid could take a valium, oxy, or xanax and the big risk was short-term feeling like shit or long-term possible addiction.  Now I have to tell my daughter that if she decides to try what might seem to be a harmless prescription drug that thousands of people take every day for pain, there's a decent change her life could end at the snap of a finger. Scares the shit out of me.

Yep, What I see happening is that kids sneak some pills from NaNa's medicine cabinet, and get hook on them. Then, when that source dries up, they go to the black market and try to by the 'same thing' which is no way the same as the professional made pill. 

[ztejas 43449]

There have been plenty of similar discussions on here in one topic or another. I still think fentanyl or opiate laced benzos are very rare if not close to an urban legend. The bigger issue is opiates - especially heroin - being laced with fentanyl. 

When it comes to what you tell your kids - it doesn't really matter. Unless you are quite experienced or want to use a test kit you shouldn't trust whatever someone hands you. Even if it's straight xanax you can still get fucked up way too quickly and make some terrible decisions.

Then again, booze has that affect, too.

[Elvis 3371]

What do y'all think about a sealed bottle of vicodin from a Mexican pharmacy?  Is that legit or garage made?  Label says Aboot Laboratories from North Chicago, IL.  Wait, what the fuck is North Chicago?

[Cajun 11705]

On 7/27/2021 at 12:00 PM, BearSchlong said:

There's a well-known recovery speaker and professional interventionist that was once in rehab, where a therapist asked him "what was his drug of choice" and when he couldn't provide a definitive answer she proposed a hypothetical:

"Pretend for a minute there's a table in front of you with drugs laid out on it - cocaine, meth, weed, heroin, pills, and bottles of whisky, vodka, tequila etc.  You are told you can pick one thing, what's it gonna be?"

He answered "8 ball of cocaine"

She said "Well, maybe that's your drug of choice, cocaine."

He replied "I'll take that 8 ball of cocaine, sell it, and buy a case of Jack Daniels"

His point was that Jack Daniels does exactly the same thing, every time. There's no quality control with drugs.

He said with pills there are some days when you have to simply be content to lay back and keep checking your pulse.

Earl H

[tbone_ 14123]

Five or so years ago a kid could take a valium, oxy, or xanax and the big risk was short-term feeling like shit or long-term possible addiction.  Now I have to tell my daughter that if she decides to try what might seem to be a harmless prescription drug that thousands of people take every day for pain, there's a decent change her life could end at the snap of a finger. Scares the shit out of me.

I’ve had this same convo with my 14yo.

Trying hard to explain to her that shitty Mexican pill factories cranking out fake oxy with cheap Chinese made fentanyl (so potent that 1 grain gets you high, two grains kills you) probably doesn’t have that same quality control in their manufacturing process as a US controlled Eli Lilly plant.

It’s a fair amount for a 14yo to wrap their heads around, and especially to remember for the next however many years after she’s had a few beers.

Scary as all fuck.

[BearSchlong 8094]

Earl H

Yep. Watch out for that Hightower kid, he's a maniac!

[Cajun 11705]

He hit TINY!!!

 

[Harrison Bergeron 1798]

On 7/27/2021 at 12:07 PM, Captainant said:

lack of regulation is gonna make any manufactured good susceptible to cutting/counterfeiting. Shit, even the weed vape pens were getting cut with vitamin E acetate. Stick to stuff the way it comes out of the ground 

Remember all the hysteria a couple years about about kids vaping ... they were not dying from JUUL pods but that's what the meedya told us.

Edited July 29, 2021 by Harrison Bergeron

[Constant 6732]

Wasn’t thinking and put my bare hand in an arrested persons pocket and was exposed to fentanyl. Had to go to the hospital and the whole nine. Nasty stuff. 
 

You’d think I would have learned an ultimate lesson when I did something similar and grabbed an opened mayonnaise packet in someones pocket. 

[Herbie Hancock 7348]

I still think fentanyl or opiate laced benzos are very rare if not close to an urban legend.

1) I’ve revived multiple people in the last few months, of all ages and from all walks of life, that thought they had purchased real Xanax from Leroy down the street. It wasn’t. And it’s happening all over the country. So, think whatever you want, but you’re dead wrong.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

Chronicle investigation story about Fentanyl that dropped today: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/fentanyl-deaths-soaring-texas-key-steps-16349531.php

This stuck out to me:

Quote

Just 15 counties — including Harris County — report overdoses through medical examiners or coroners. In the smaller counties justices of the peace handle death inquests. Few have any training in assessing medical causes of death, or the ability to conduct autopsies that would indicate a cause of death. As a result, experts say, many overdose deaths aren’t identified.

...

Most suburban and rural counties rely on elected justices of the peace, who are not required to have medical training, or to conduct post-mortems.

And even using medical examiners doesn't necessarily produce good data:

Quote

Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office said they do not track causes of death by specific drug.

One of the flaws in Texas is having 254 counties. The counties could offer better services for their constituents if some counties consolidated. Eliminate the duplicate work and use the extra funding for more/better services. Of course that scares people about eliminating good paying county jobs.

[Captainant 27668]

1 hour ago, Constant said:

Wasn’t thinking and put my bare hand in an arrested persons pocket and was exposed to fentanyl. Had to go to the hospital and the whole nine. Nasty stuff. 

shit I'm sorry to hear that man - that's scary stuff to be exposed to, I'm glad to hear you're ok from it.

[Mole 4333]

I meant to click on For Sale but instead clicked Daily Texan and was mildly surprised by the thread title.

[jeevsie 3734]

5 hours ago, Elvis said:

What do y'all think about a sealed bottle of vicodin from a Mexican pharmacy?  Is that legit or garage made?  Label says Aboot Laboratories from North Chicago, IL.  Wait, what the fuck is North Chicago?

You could end up dead on the toilet.

[We’reTexas 1473]

10 hours ago, ztejas said:

There have been plenty of similar discussions on here in one topic or another. I still think fentanyl or opiate laced benzos are very rare if not close to an urban legend.

It’s been a big problem in the Bay.

[Chopper 17235]

People got hooked on opioids but fentanyl is cheaper and has a lot more bang for the buck, so to speak.

This thread reminded of an article in Wa Post a few months ago. It was probably posted here but should be a lot better known. How Johnson & Johnson companies used a ‘super poppy’ to make narcotics for America’s most abused opioid pills

 

Quote

 

Johnson & Johnson’s supply chain began in Tasmania, an island 150 miles south of mainland Australia, where scientists in the mid-1990s altered the genetics of thousands of plants to engineer a “super poppy” that was particularly rich in opiates.

Tasmanian farmers grew the novel plants, enticed by flashy incentive prizes — a Mercedes, a Jaguar, a BMW — that a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary awarded for growing the best crop.

The poppies were then exported to the United States where another Johnson & Johnson subsidiary refined them into oxycodone and hydrocodone, and the narcotics were shipped as white crystalline powders to the nation’s pillmakers.

Critical to the globe-spanning effort were years of company lobbying to help persuade the U.S. government to loosen a key rule on narcotics imports, allowing the U.S. subsidiary to produce rising amounts of opioids out of Tasmanian poppies, according to records and interviews reviewed by The Washington Post.

From 2013 to 2015, near the peak of U.S. opioid production, the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary in Tasmania was harvesting thousands of acres of poppies and the U.S. subsidiary was manufacturing enough oxycodone and hydrocodone — the two most abused prescription opioid drugs — to capture half or more of the U.S. market, according to company documents.

So while Purdue Pharma, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and other manufacturers are often linked to the opioid crisis, it was two subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson, a brand better known for baby powder and Band-Aids, that were producing the narcotics in many of the abused pills.

 

 

 

[crash_davis 23113]

6 hours ago, Herbie Hancock said:

 

1) I’ve revived multiple people in the last few months, of all ages and from all walks of life, that thought they had purchased real Xanax from Leroy down the street. It wasn’t. And it’s happening all over the country. So, think whatever you want, but you’re dead wrong.

 

There was a recent high profile death in West campus because the student thought he had regular Xanax. Shit's happening. Idiots who think otherwise are idiots.

[C-Man 27227]

On 7/27/2021 at 12:07 PM, Captainant said:

lack of regulation is gonna make any manufactured good susceptible to cutting/counterfeiting. Shit, even the weed vape pens were getting cut with vitamin E acetate. Stick to stuff the way it comes out of the ground 

As Harold Ramis said to Seth Rogen in Knocked Up: "No Pills, No Powders. If It Grows In The Ground It's Probably OK."

I, too, am having conversations with my kids that my parents never would've had with me.

[hookem48 4687]

If only people could just be happy smoking pot

[TwiceHorn 31471]

On 7/29/2021 at 2:22 PM, Harrison Bergeron said:

Remember all the hysteria a couple years about about kids vaping ... they were not dying from JUUL pods but that's what the meedya told us.

Media probably with an assist from big tobacco.

[Harrison Bergeron 1798]

2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Media probably with an assist from big tobacco.

Definitely. The meedya and Big Tobacco were certainly in cahoots. I mean, you would think if it was smart, Altria would just buy Juul, but I'm sure it was cheaper to work with the authoritarians to hurt business.

[Serak The Preparer 3431]

1 hour ago, Harrison Bergeron said:

Definitely. The meedya and Big Tobacco were certainly in cahoots. I mean, you would think if it was smart, Altria would just buy Juul, but I'm sure it was cheaper to work with the authoritarians to hurt business.

Yes, I'm sure Altria would just love to buy a company that just paid $40 M to settle a lawsuit alleging that Juul was targeting teen users in North Carolina. That multiple other states have also filed lawsuits alleging similar behavior in other states has no bearing I am sure. IT'S JUST THE MEEDYA!

Edited August 2, 2021 by Serak The Preparer

[Harrison Bergeron 1798]

35 minutes ago, Serak The Preparer said:

Yes, I'm sure Altria would just love to buy a company that just paid $40 M to settle a lawsuit alleging that Juul was targeting teen users in North Carolina. That multiple other states have also filed lawsuits alleging similar behavior in other states has no bearing I am sure. IT'S JUST THE MEEDYA!

Right? That would be insane.

[Hank Scorpio 17729]

I think Altria is probably a little bit pissed that their 10 billion plus investment in Juul is now worth 2-3 billion. 

[Superhero 8830]

On 7/29/2021 at 9:30 AM, Elvis said:

What do y'all think about a sealed bottle of vicodin from a Mexican pharmacy?  Is that legit or garage made?  Label says Aboot Laboratories from North Chicago, IL.  Wait, what the fuck is North Chicago?

400 miles north of Chicago gets you into Canada. That's where you'll find aboot labs.

[ztejas 43449]

On 7/29/2021 at 3:06 PM, Herbie Hancock said:

 

1) I’ve revived multiple people in the last few months, of all ages and from all walks of life, that thought they had purchased real Xanax from Leroy down the street. It wasn’t. And it’s happening all over the country. So, think whatever you want, but you’re dead wrong.

 

I'm biased then, I guess. Just haven't come across it. And if I did you wouldn't be reviving me. I'd be tipping off the dealer and it would be off the streets extremely quickly.

On 7/29/2021 at 5:15 PM, We’reTexas said:

It’s been a big problem in the Bay.

That's shitty. I don't live in the bay. Just speaking from personal experience across most of Texas. As far as I'm concerned it's extremely rare here. 

[hullabelew 3724]

On the east coast, there are a lot of fake Percocet that are killing off people.  I know of about 5 rarely recently.  

Media, the FDA, DEA and Congress are all to blame.  I'm currently listening to Patrick Radden Keefe's book, "Empire of Pain".   It makes me stabby to learn how the FDA and DEA were essentially paid off through the Sackler's reign and the continuing impact this is having.