RIP to this poor child and may she receive angel wings and justice. What a horrible, horrible event. And so easily preventable it's infuriating. I hope her parents have plenty of time to think about what they did while in prison. Drug use in a home with children - especially where they can
reach the drug! - is about one of the riskiest, dumbest, and most awful things you can do in my personal opinion. I recently had a best friend die from an overdose of street fentanyl at the beginning of this past summer - he was in a bad place and didn't know he was even taking fentanyl because that is not the drug he intended to do. Only 24. He was extremely precious to me. Living without him is very hard. Sorry for the diversion from topic, I'll continue.
I have studied things like this for quite some time. I am far along in college for my criminal justice degree and I got a head start working in the field. I happen to know a decent amount about drugs due to many classes taken about drugs and alcohol and how they affect both individuals and the community at large, as well as some health issues and surgeries I have experienced. I'd like to share something with you all. It is important knowledge that I hope everyone is open to learning. My favorite teacher always said, "The more informed you are, the better!" and I agree.
This poor baby girl seems to have overdosed on street fentanyl that is being made in batches by civilians, obviously outside of hospitals.
Fentanyl is a painkiller meant for severe pain, in patients who are proven to be opioid tolerant.
It is 50 to 100x stronger than morphine - morphine is derived directly from opium and fentanyl is a synthetic (lab made) opioid - and very dangerous (obviously, we all know that from the news we see all the time in this country).
However, I have some personal experience to add as well. I was on the patch you exchange every 3 days for quite some time and it helped me very much. I've also had rather hefty injections of it at the hospital before and after surgery, and I did not feel overly drugged in any sense. The issue America is seeing is
street fentanyl - not fentanyl prescribed by doctors. Doctors prescribing fentanyl is rarer than you think. You never know the amount you're getting. It could be and likely is a highly concentrated amount. The propaganda and fear-mongering about fentanyl - no, you can't just simply be next to it and pass out or die as people like to say, I have even heard COPS say this and it is entirely untrue.
I just care about justice and the truth, so I thought I'd let you all know something I have learned, as I used to believe even being in the same room as fentanyl could kill you.
In the past 10 years,
opioid prescribing has gone down nearly 50% while overdoses have continued to rise, largely due to street fentanyl.
CDC's Drug Overdose Map
American Medical Association's Report on Prescribing & Overdoses
Opioid prescriptions have decreased (PDF) by 44.4 percent between 2011-2020, including a 6.9 percent decrease from 2019-2020. Along with the sharp decreases in opioid prescriptions,
new AMA data (PDF) also show that physicians and other health care professionals used the state PDMP more than 910 million times in 2020. The report also highlights that more than 104,000 physicians and other health care professionals have an “X-waiver” to allow them to prescribe buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder. This is an increase of 70,000 providers since 2017, yet 80 to 90 percent of people with a substance use disorder receive no treatment.
“The nation’s drug overdose and death epidemic has never just been about prescription opioids,” said AMA President Gerald E. Harmon, M.D.
“Physicians, have become more cautious about prescribing opioids, are trained to treat opioid use disorder and support evidence-based harm reduction strategies. We use PDMPs as a tool, but they are not a panacea. Patients need policymakers, health insurance plans, national pharmacy chains and other stakeholders to change their focus and help us remove barriers to evidence-based care.”
Additionally:
Our
nation’s leading toxicology experts have concluded that “the risk of clinically significant exposure to
emergency responders is extremely low” and accidentally getting fentanyl on your skin is “unlikely to cause opioid toxicity.”
Street Fentanyl VS Emergency Room Fentanyl
"Fentanyl can be compared to fire. When in a fireplace, fire can bring warmth, comfort, and security. It can even save your life. When blazing through a structure or neighborhood, however, fire can have catastrophic effects on property and life." - Dr. Erik C. Smith, MD
Many people are intent on having it banned altogether, when really, street drugs are the issue here. Just trying to do my best to stop the common myths I see about any topic! I hope this is informative.
