3790 replies to this topic

[LeoVictoria]

More and more news of overdose deaths due to fentanyl. Apparently there have been hundreds in BC this year. Also now we have carfentanyl and other more potent drugs hitting the street that are more deadly.

What does this mean for the drug addicted population? After all heroin is actually not unhealthy and you can live for decades addicted but it seems fentanyl has a high mortality rate. At a rate of hundreds or thousands a year dead will we have fewer drug addicts or is that just people experimenting and getting it wrong?
If everyone switches to fentanyl what does that mean for long term drug use rates and mortality stats?

[LJ]

^Well if we get rid of narcan it means the problem will be over shortly.

[sebberry]

^Well if we get rid of narcan it means the problem will be over shortly.

 

Well in a sense that's true...

[Bingo]

A  B.C. drug producer known as Beeker says underground chemists are steps ahead of the police when it comes to the movement of illicit drugs on the streets.

Beeker is the subject of a new documentary titled Unstoppable: The Fentanyl Epidemic, in which he opens up about the big business behind the drug.

"I'm smarter than they are ... all of us chemists are smarter than the police, and we're gonna stay ahead of them," he coldly tells filmmaker Robert Osborne. "And if they find out one of the one's we are making, we'll make a different one — and this will go on forever."

"Fentanyl is soon to be obsolete. It's just not going to be out there because there's much more profitable drugs — it doesn't matter about better or safer — much more profitable drugs and molecules are on the way," Beeker says in the film.

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...attle-1.3868579

 

Vancouver Coastal Health is worried the city's overdose crisis could become worse after the deadly drug carfentanil was detected in the Downtown Eastside.

The Vancouver Police Department confirmed yesterday it had detected the deadly opioid for the first time in a drug seizure it made on Sept. 20.

According to Dr. Mark Lysyshyn with Vancouver Coastal Health, the opioid works similarly to fentanyl but is 100 times more potent.

The drug is typically used to tranquillize large animals like elephants.

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...cials-1.3863807

 

[Bingo]

 

Unstoppable: The Fentanyl Epidemic

Thursday, December 1, 2016 at 9 PM on CBC-TV

 

http://www.cbc.ca/fi...ntanyl-epidemic

 

 

[Mike K.]

For something so unstoppable it sure is doing its best to kill its customer base.

[Nparker]

For something so unstoppable it sure is doing its best to kill its customer base.

That's what I don't understand. By producing ever more lethal and cheaper drugs it seems to me a sort of law of diminishing returns will come into effect. Of course, the cynical part of me says the criminal element also has a hand in producing the 'antidote' such as Narcan, so I suppose as long as the taxpayers are footing the bill for that to keep the "customers" alive, things remain profitable.

[Karma2017]

Word on the street is...
Has anyone thought of this ..now theres this carfentanil showing up in Victoria it's already in Vancouver, and just like fentanyl creeped into the supplies, now carfentanil will... and why is that ...because these evil people they see that fentanyl is not working anymore because there are Narcan kits and naloxone everywhere...so just switching to something much more powerful to meet their evil ends and goals of completely eradicating and killing these so called ubdesirable people off so that once you overdose on that there is no coming back...they want to start with the easiest and pick them off first... just watch and see ....these safe shooting galleries are going to turn into morgues... don't get mad at me for being so dispassionate and detached I have to take the emotion out of it to see things as they are and rationally not simply blinded by sentiment I want to see what's really going on and the reality... we need more access to treatment places so people can get in and get away from the dope as fast as possible .. .it's not like anything's changed just the sense of urgency has changed and gotten more dire cus the margin of error has gotten much smaller... we are all paying for our complacency and allowance and tolerance of bad behavior

[Sparky]

Welcome to vibrantvictoria Karma2017

[Arnold]

It's welfare Wednesday right before Christmas. There's an extra little something under the tree for everyone. This is going to sound rude but it is not meant to be. Is there not some system in the world where the person on welfare gets the help that he needs but doesn't get cash that can be spent on drugs?

[LJ]

Sure, lots of systems. Food stamps etc. but of course in Canada we don't want to stigmatize the poor by making them debase themselves into using food stamps.

[jonny]

I'm sure food stamps cam be traded for meth and fentanyl too.

[VicHockeyFan]

I'm sure food stamps cam be traded for meth and fentanyl too.

 

Not straight across though.

 

We should have a system where the rent money goes to the landlord (like it often does automatically now) and the rest of the spending money comes weekly.

[Bingo]

Word on the street is...
Has anyone thought of this ..now theres this carfentanil showing up in Victoria it's already in Vancouver, and just like fentanyl creeped into the supplies, now carfentanil will... and why is that ...because these evil people they see that fentanyl is not working anymore because there are Narcan kits and naloxone everywhere...so just switching to something much more powerful to meet their evil ends and goals of completely eradicating and killing these so called ubdesirable people off so that once you overdose on that there is no coming back...they want to start with the easiest and pick them off first... just watch and see ....these safe shooting galleries are going to turn into morgues... don't get mad at me for being so dispassionate and detached I have to take the emotion out of it to see things as they are and rationally not simply blinded by sentiment I want to see what's really going on and the reality... we need more access to treatment places so people can get in and get away from the dope as fast as possible .. .it's not like anything's changed just the sense of urgency has changed and gotten more dire cus the margin of error has gotten much smaller... we are all paying for our complacency and allowance and tolerance of bad behavior

 

Eventually, Russian roulette might end up being the preferred way to go.

[jonny]

Not straight across though.

 

We should have a system where the rent money goes to the landlord (like it often does automatically now) and the rest of the spending money comes weekly.

 

I agree, or even daily or every couple of days. With e-transfers, that would be a piece of cake.

[Bingo]

Island Health spokeswoman Kellie Hudson said 45 people are on a wait-list for the 21-bed detox unit at Royal Jubilee Hospital.

That is more than double the usual number, but isn’t out of the norm for the Christmas season, especially given the cold weather, she said.

Twenty of those on the wait-list are “active and ready for treatment.”

The emergency department or mental-health care team would like to see the others attend detox, but the client might not be ready.

Wait times for a bed range from three to 11 days, with the average being six to seven days.

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.m7w8Iy2l.dpuf

[VicHockeyFan]

I agree, or even daily or every couple of days. With e-transfers, that would be a piece of cake.

 

Right, and it does not really harm anyone.  Those that are good with their money can leave it in the bank as it accumulates over the next 3 weeks.   Those that are bad with money will know they have money next week.

[On the Level]

 

Island Health spokeswoman Kellie Hudson said 45 people are on a wait-list for the 21-bed detox unit at Royal Jubilee Hospital.

That is more than double the usual number, but isn’t out of the norm for the Christmas season, especially given the cold weather, she said.

Twenty of those on the wait-list are “active and ready for treatment.”

The emergency department or mental-health care team would like to see the others attend detox, but the client might not be ready.

Wait times for a bed range from three to 11 days, with the average being six to seven days.

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.m7w8Iy2l.dpuf

 

 

I think we have our priorities out of whack if we are throwing money at getting drugs into addicts while refusing to fund detox.

[Nparker]

I think we have our priorities out of whack if we are throwing money at getting drugs into addicts while refusing to fund detox.

+1

[http]

Right, and it does not really harm anyone.  Those that are good with their money can leave it in the bank as it accumulates over the next 3 weeks.   Those that are bad with money will know they have money next week.

 

Accumulate.

 

VHF, you are a non-stop font of surprises, and need to calculate for us what the proposed weekly rate would be that would permit accumulation.