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Is Fentanyl a Boulder Danger or is it another government scare tactic?

Is Fentanyl Really Dangerous?

In short, yes it is.  It is dangerous for several reasons.  First, simplest, it is highly toxic in minuscule amounts. That means that to “dose”it, lab work must be extremely precise to avoid accidental overdose. Additionally, when a dealer “cuts” the drug, or uses it to cut heroin, it is not even a trained lab technician doing the lab work. It could be kitchen table science.  While commercial organic  chemistry labs with trained chemists and pure ingredients can synthesize a drug that  can be used with relative safety to produce drugs with the strength intended by the lab worker. The  tiny quantities of the ingredients, while technically challenging, is not that unusual or impossible. Recall that LSD, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide 25, the famous hallucinogen, is also extremely powerful in tiny amounts. But it is manufactured and dosed without particular problems in tiny amounts. Happily it is also not nearly as toxic as Fentanyl, and an overdose while potentially unpleasant, is not deadly virtually ever. So when we’re told how many times stronger Fentanyl is than other illicit drugs, that is largely misleading and a scare tactic. It is primarily deadly for other reasons.

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That is the danger emphasized by the common rubric about how dangerous Fentanyl is because it is so strong. That is misleading. The chemical danger is most severely a lab procedure and technical lab challenge. However, significant deadly problems exist beyond the mere strength of the drug. First, in tiny physical amounts, it is “opioid deadly.”  Not only can tiny amounts kill, the amounts that can be smuggled with great profit are far physically smaller and lighter, leading to more profitable smuggling. To over-simplify, it is easier to smuggle an ounce of powder than it is to smuggle a pound of powder. Profits from smuggling thus become greater and simpler for smugglers.

Originally, the drug was manufactured in China we believe, smuggled to  Mexico, and then to the United States with tragic results.  Because the manufacturer of the illegal deadly chemistry is not particularly difficult to synthesize, it is now apparently manufactured directly in Mexico and smuggled into the United States, simplifying the entire illegal end of the process.

 

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So this ideal product is more profitable to smuggle, easier to smuggle, self-sustaining in demand since it is highly addictive, self-marketing since it’s so addictive, and is truly the scourge the US government is telling us it is.Current street prices may be as low as $0.60 to $2.00 a dose. The cheaper it is on the street, the more dangerous it is.

What we are experiencing is a glut of Fentanyl overdose deaths; opioid deaths, but in greater numbers. The normally dangerous drug is being surreptitiously or more and more, openly added to street drugs including heroin, methamphetamine, and more. Consuming the highly deadly Fentanyl while thinking that the drug taken is heroin or cocaine or another illicit drug results in several problems. First, worst, and simplest, is death. You take it, you die. So the street drug which we already know are dangerous, addictive, potentially deadly from opioid overdose, and smuggled and sold illegally are now far more dangerous. Fentanyl is now a random death penalty for street drug users. Even anti-drug civilians I postulate do not propose a random death penalty for being a drug addict. Drug dealers are now murderers, even unintentionally. Smugglers can smuggle more doses of the drug far more easily since such small weights and volumes are needed for profitable smuggling. So profits are far greater, danger is extraordinarily greater. The random death penalty, by accident or intent is terrifying and cruel and unusually cruel punishment for illegal behavior.

Finally, since the drug is highly addictive, like other opioids, the underground illicit drug market is able to increase the demand for its products far more easily. The product literally sells itself.

So it is easy to see why Fentanyl is one of the most dangerous of the  illicit drugs currently extant. Are there solutions or amelioration to these challenges possible? YES!  Lenny  Lensworth Frieling

Leonard Frieling
  • Senior Counsel Emeritus to the Boulder Law firm Dolan + Zimmerman LLP : (720)-610-0951
  • Former Judge
  • Photographer of the Year, AboutBoulder 2023
  • First Chair and Originator of the Colorado Bar Association’s Cannabis Law Committee, a National first.
  • Previous Chair, Boulder Criminal Defense Bar (8 years)
  • Twice chair Executive Counsel, Colorado Bar Association Criminal Law Section
  • NORML Distinguished Counsel Circle
  • Life Member, NORML Legal Committee
  • Life Member, Colorado Criminal Defense Bar
  • Board Member Emeritus, Colorado NORML
  • Chair, Colorado NORML, 7 years including during the successful effort to legalize recreational pot in Colorado
  • Media work, including episodes of Fox’s Power of Attorney, well in excess of many hundreds media interviews, appearances, articles, and podcasts, including co-hosting Time For Hemp for two years.
  • Board member, Author, and Editor for Criminal Law Articles for the Colorado Lawyer, primary publication of the Colorado Bar Assoc. 7 Years, in addition to having 2 Colorado Lawyer cover photos, and numerous articles for the Colorado Lawyer monthly publication.
  • LEAP Speaker, multi-published author, University lectures Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, Denver University Law School, Univ. of New Mexico, Las Vegas NM, and many other schools at all levels.
  • http://www.Lfrieling.com
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