We’ve all heard the term “Drop dead good”, (as in looking) but when it comes to heroin it has an all too literal meaning. The East coast of the United States has suffered in the last month or so a spate of overdose deaths due to a mix of Fentanyl and Heroin. In my area alone, Philadelphia and New Jersey, over twenty deaths have been attributed to this concoction. After a recent drug bust in Camden the effects seem to have quieted down. Some of what was confiscated was pure Fentanyl. Let me tell you junior, you won’t live to tell about what a great buzz it was if you snort or shoot that. The irony is that the junkies are falling all over themselves (no pun intended) to get a hold of this stuff. Never underestimate the addicted mind.
Fentanyl is a drug used mostly and very successfully I might add, in pain management for cancer patients and in surgery. It comes in a few forms such as patches, liquid, and as lollipops. It can be up to 80 times more potent than street level Heroin. Drugs in general are nothing to play with; but this stuff is a strict no-no.
Now it looks like this mixing practice is spreading, with the mid west being hit hard, Chicago and Detroit in particular. The Plains states are now gearing up for its arrival. This should give their law enforcement one big collective headache in which to heap upon their already nearly unmanageable Methamphetamine problem.
The questions being asked the most by all involved are:
1.Where is the Fentanyl coming from?
2.Why lace the Heroin with it to begin with?
Law enforcement officials are working at a fevered pace trying to find the drugs source or sources, and to find a common link in its origin. Thus far there have been no reports of any major thefts of potential sources like with companies that deal in it’s distribution or Medical facilities, so the popular theory seems to be that it is being manufactured clandestinely by someone perhaps somewhere like in Mexico.
And why lace the Heroin to begin with? It certainly does seem like a very bad business model to outright kill your clientele. Of course it comes as no mystery to anyone that buying drugs on the street from veritable strangers in and of itself is dangerous, but to this degree? I guess the motivation could always be a huge spike in sales and large short-term profit margins are all the allure needed.
Or could it be something darker and more sinister?
http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2006/east-coast-hit-by-rash-of.html
http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2006/deaths-prove-potent-lure-for.html
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-heroin23.html