[Note: This posting is a continuation of a report on
the development of a civics unit of study.
This unit is directing students to formulate informed positions on the
opioid epidemic. Presently, this
development, in real time, is reporting a set of factoids on a particular drug which
is part of this epidemic.]
The drug problem has
been with this nation for a long time.
If one considers alcohol a drug, its been part of the American story
almost from the beginning. But with the opioid
chapter – and especially regarding fentanyl – that story seems to have taken a
significant turn. Here is a thought from
Christopher Caldwell of The Weekly Standard:
There
have always been drug addicts in need of help, but the scale of the present
wave of heroin and opioid abuse is unprecedented. In Maryland, the first six months of 2015 saw
121 fentenyl deaths. In the first six
months of 2016, the figure rose to 446.[1]
The turn in the nation’s drug story does not promise to have a happy
ending; it has already been tragic to too many.
And
the problem seems to be concentrated in certain areas of the country. This posting looks at some of those
areas. A good place to begin is Ohio. For example, in 2014, the Center for Disease
Control was able to attribute 998 deaths there to fentanyl overdoses and then
the same number in only the first five months of the following year, 2015 – a similar
rate of increase to that of Maryland.
Reflecting
on this development, a federal official in northern Ohio attempted to underline
it by saying:
One of the truly terrifying things is the [fentanyl]
pills are pressed and dyed to look like oxycodone. If you are using oxycodone
and take fentanyl not knowing it is fentanyl, that is an overdose waiting to
happen. Each of those pills is a potential overdose death.[2]
Another
state with a concentration of overdoses is New Hampshire. There reports indicate that two thirds of
deadly overdoses were, at least in part, due to fentanyl consumption. Again, as indicated in the previous posting,
consumers were often unaware they were taking this potent, synthetic opioid.[3]
Of
course, along with its hidden presence, it is sold under various names. For example, in Florida, fentanyl pills are
sold on the street under the name Xanax.[4]
And this aspect leads one to another
angle to the story; that of the producers and the suppliers. There the story
shifts attention mostly abroad in trying to find out where are the sources of
the drug originating and what are the costs in producing and attaining it.
The
Drug Enforcement Administration reports that an interested party can purchase
one kilogram of fentanyl for $3,000 to $5,000 in China and smuggling it into
the US can be accomplished by merely mailing it there. That smuggled kilogram can mean a million and
half dollars in sales. This inexpensive
drug abroad, in turn, motivates drug dealers to purchase it and then mix the fentanyl
in with other drugs they sell without the eventual consumer knowing it.[5]
According
to the medical news outlet online, STAT, Mexican cartels are the main suppliers
of heroin, but it is from China that most raw fentanyl originate. It is also the main source of production
machinery.[6] This machinery opens the potential for many
places producing and supplying the drug in pill form. For example, police in British Columbia found
a lab producing 100,000 fentanyl pills every month. These pills are then sent to Calgary, Alberta,
causing a fentanyl problem there, 90 overdoses in 2015.[7]
And
finally, domestic production capabilities have been found. A drug lab in Southern California was one. There, pill producing machines were potentially
producing thousands of pills per hour.
This facility was discovered by federal agents. [8] So, as of this writing, while better
knowledge has become shared concerning the dangers of the drug, fentanyl, helping
to level off consumption rates, the production and distribution seems to be amply
in place. The next posting will address
the prevalence of pill mills.
[1] Christopher Caldwell, “American Carnage: The Landscape of Opioid Addiction,” First Things, April 2017, accessed June
18, 2018, https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/04/american-carnage
.
[2] David Armstrong, Truly Terrifying: Chinese Suppliers Flood US and Canada with
Deadly Fentanyl,” STAT, April 5, 2016, accessed July 4, 2018, https://www.statnews.com/2016/04/05/fentanyl-traced-to-china/
.
[3] “Addressing America’s Fentanyl Crisis,” National
Institute on Drug Abuse/Advancing Addiction Science, April 6, 2017, accessed on
July 4, 2018, https://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/noras-blog/2017/04/addressing-americas-fentanyl-crisis
.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] David Armstrong, “’Truly Terrifying’: Chinese Suppliers Flood US and Canada with
Deadly Fentanyl,” April 5, 2016, accessed July 4, 2018, https://www.statnews.com/2016/04/05/fentanyl-traced-to-china/
.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
