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Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic

door Ben WESTHOFF

LedenBesprekingenPopulariteitGemiddelde beoordelingAanhalingen
1424191,119 (3.76)1
"A deeply human story, Fentanyl, Inc. is the first deep-dive investigation of a hazardous and illicit industry that has created a worldwide epidemic, ravaging communities and overwhelming and confounding government agencies that are challenged to combat it. "A whole new crop of chemicals is radically changing the recreational drug landscape," writes Ben Westhoff. "These are known as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and they include replacements for known drugs like heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana. They are synthetic, made in a laboratory, and are much more potent than traditional drugs"--and all-too-often tragically lethal. Drugs like fentanyl, K2, and Spice--and those with arcane acronyms like 25i-NBOMe-- were all originally conceived in legitimate laboratories for proper scientific and medicinal purposes. Their formulas were then hijacked and manufactured by rogue chemists, largely in China, who change their molecular structures to stay ahead of the law, making the drugs' effects impossible to predict. Westhoff has infiltrated this shadowy world. He tracks down the little-known scientists who invented these drugs and inadvertently killed thousands, as well as a mysterious drug baron who turned the law upside down in his home country of New Zealand. Westhoff visits the shady factories in China from which these drugs emanate, providing startling and original reporting on how China's vast chemical industry operates, and how the Chinese government subsidizes it. Poignantly, he chronicles the lives of addicted users and dealers, families of victims, law enforcement officers, and underground drug awareness organizers in the U.S. and Europe. Together they represent the shocking and riveting full anatomy of a calamity we are just beginning to understand. From its depths, as Westhoff relates, are emerging new strategies that may provide essential long-term solutions to the drug crisis that has affected so many."--Publisher's website.… (meer)
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Toon 4 van 4
Decent, if you haven't read much about the opioid crisis in the US. The author does get repetitive, especially about China and the chemicals/drugs that come from there. ( )
  pacbox | Jul 9, 2022 |
Not just about fentanyl, this book is about new psychoactive substances (NPS) that have relatively swiftly come to dominate the drug trade, whether or not people know they're purchasing them, or even want to buy them in the first place. If you're frustrated at your inability to buy things for your home and everyday life that aren't made in China, know that the drug addicted among us are probably equally as frustrated.

This book is very exhaustive about how this happened, why this is happening, and goes into a lot of detail about every aspect of the situation: from users, to dealers, to policymakers. I think it's a very eye-opening look that might surprise those of us who aren't in to the drug scene, or last toked up so many years ago, back in the "good old days" when you didn't have to worry about getting sold something toxic from a chemical lab.

Harm reduction strategies will go a long way to undoing some of the damage, but what I wonder is how things like the decriminalization and statewide legalization campaigns in the US has done to lower synthetic cannabinoid usage, for example. Probably there wasn't enough data by the time this book was published. But I think that would go a long way to indicating whether or not an end to prohibition will help to pull the plug on a lot of the shady black market dealings. I mean, this problem is NOT going to go way under our current system. But if people can buy (heavily regulated and heavily taxed) their drugs without having to resort to the black market in the first place, then the black market will become a much less attractive option. I think that was alluded to in the mentions of many countries that aren't experiencing issues, because even the black market knows they can't get away with selling shitty stepped-on crap in certain areas.

I'm tired of public policy officials shrugging their shoulders and just pouring more money into our OBVIOUSLY failed "war on drugs"... something needs to change, and the longer it takes, the more people are going to die in the process. ( )
  lemontwist | Apr 7, 2021 |
It’s no secret that I really enjoy medical non-fiction, but I really loved Fentanyl, Inc. I thought the way it looked at every aspect of the novel psychoactive substance trade was unique. From chemists manipulating chemical structures of precursors to fentanyl before countries can ban them, to the dealers, end users and those who want to change the way addiction is treated, Westhoff details it all.

The book is very well researched, right down to the trip Westhoff makes to China to see an NPS lab in action. (He had to pose as a potential purchaser to do so, but it wasn’t as underhand as you might expect – the companies answered his questions on Skype, provided price lists and offered alternatives when the drugs were banned). The story is also told in a logical fashion, at first explaining what NPS are and their history (an intriguing tale of its own), talking to those using and suppling and then looking at those making the drugs possible. This is not a backyard setup, the creation of NPS is a big, relatively co-ordinated industry using laboratories around the world to make and stay ahead of the game. The book discusses NPS that you may have read about in the media, such as fentanyl (a potent opioid painkiller that some are using illicitly instead of heroin), ‘legal cannabis’ and ecstasy. Fentanyl, Inc. is certainly not a dry read, thanks to Westhoff’s engaging style that uses interviews and time spent with people in the field to show what is happening. He explains how many drugs are cut with others (often fentanyl, sometimes things more odd like worming treatments for dogs) and how users have no way of knowing what they are taking. Various organisations have tried to set up pill testing worldwide (including in Australia) so people can make an informed decision before they take an NPS. This has been met with resistance in multiple countries. Westhoff details all this, and gives examples of places where pill testing and supervised injection rooms are used with success.

The opioid epidemic is prevalent in a lot of minds and books like this demonstrate that there is a huge need out there for education, intervention and change. The problem is rampant and Westhoff explains this well, showing issues across many countries. He also devotes a significant amount of the book to describing interventions to treat addiction, offer alternative means to take illicit drugs more safely and discuss the future. This is all very interesting and it’s a pity that these things get mainly talked about in books rather than discussed in a more public arena. Still, this book is an eyeopener to anyone who reads it of just how coordinated and advanced the illicit drug trade is in aiming to get new highs to market at any cost. Save your money and don’t do drugs kids.

Thank you to Scribe for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com ( )
  birdsam0610 | Oct 19, 2019 |
A far reaching and impeccably researched on our current opioid epidemic. I've heard of fentanyl, in fact I've heard of many of the drugs discussed within this book. What I didn't realize was how far reaching the drug problem is, not contained to just the US but so many other countries as well, from Sweden to New Zealand. Just how many designer, synthetic drugs are in existence, how for every drug made illegal, another is waiting to take its place.

This is a comprehensive view of the drug trade, the chemists and manufacturers who make them, to how they are marketed, effect their users and the history of some of these drugs. Some made for good, medical purposes, but a small change in the drugs chemical makeup and it becomes a powerful street drug. It's almost overwhelming, how can this wave of new drugs ever be stopped. I was also surprised that many of these powerful drugs are coming from and produced in China.

The author does provide some solutions to better handling of the drug crisis. Not sure how these would work but better control over the drugs people are taking, treatment rather than just punishment, may be a better way than how it is handled now. Some users actually do not know s drug is tampered with, until it is too late, so a place where they could come and use their drugs under the view of qualified personnel may help. I don't know, but this book is alarming and at this point anything that can be tried, should be. Very eye opening, and frightening both, well worth reading.

ARC from Edelweiss. ( )
  Beamis12 | Sep 17, 2019 |
Toon 4 van 4
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"A deeply human story, Fentanyl, Inc. is the first deep-dive investigation of a hazardous and illicit industry that has created a worldwide epidemic, ravaging communities and overwhelming and confounding government agencies that are challenged to combat it. "A whole new crop of chemicals is radically changing the recreational drug landscape," writes Ben Westhoff. "These are known as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and they include replacements for known drugs like heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana. They are synthetic, made in a laboratory, and are much more potent than traditional drugs"--and all-too-often tragically lethal. Drugs like fentanyl, K2, and Spice--and those with arcane acronyms like 25i-NBOMe-- were all originally conceived in legitimate laboratories for proper scientific and medicinal purposes. Their formulas were then hijacked and manufactured by rogue chemists, largely in China, who change their molecular structures to stay ahead of the law, making the drugs' effects impossible to predict. Westhoff has infiltrated this shadowy world. He tracks down the little-known scientists who invented these drugs and inadvertently killed thousands, as well as a mysterious drug baron who turned the law upside down in his home country of New Zealand. Westhoff visits the shady factories in China from which these drugs emanate, providing startling and original reporting on how China's vast chemical industry operates, and how the Chinese government subsidizes it. Poignantly, he chronicles the lives of addicted users and dealers, families of victims, law enforcement officers, and underground drug awareness organizers in the U.S. and Europe. Together they represent the shocking and riveting full anatomy of a calamity we are just beginning to understand. From its depths, as Westhoff relates, are emerging new strategies that may provide essential long-term solutions to the drug crisis that has affected so many."--Publisher's website.

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