Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins • Hacker News Board

Re: Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins

#81

Post by paulcole » Wed, May 23, 2018, 9:45 PM UTC

vis52 wrote: post #76

civilian wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, here's a crazy thought. Why don't we end the drug war? Then people can easily get safe drugs with accurate dosages. The deaths, money laundering. They're not symptoms of drug dealers, they're symptoms of the drug war. We should clean it up, but it's naive to think that we should just "fight the drug war harder".

That's exactly what they did in Portugal and the results have been nothing short of amazing.

Have you ever thought about writing headlines for Buzzfeed?

Edit: I meant that as a compliment.

Re: Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins

#82

Post by jnbiche » Wed, May 23, 2018, 9:45 PM UTC

DanAndersen wrote: post #75

lr4444lr wrote: post #2

As an American, the irony of comeuppance isn't lost on me, given that we did have some involvement against them in the Opium Wars.

The Chinese have a long memory of the effect that widespread drug addiction has on a nation and a people. It wasn't until Mao that the issue was addressed, and they were actually quite effective: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China#Unde... >The Mao Zedong government is generally credited with eradicating both consumption and production of opium during the 1950s using unrestrained repression and so…

> They don't seem to have the stomach for it.

Oh, and what would the West's "having the stomach" entail, exactly? Re-education camps? Execution for dealers?

Re: Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins

#83

Post by beat » Wed, May 23, 2018, 9:47 PM UTC

Not to comment on the politics, but... I had fentanyl during a medical procedure a while back, and I can totally see why it's so addictive. It was wonderful. Both pain and anxiety were totally wiped out, and and the comedown was clean and fast, with no ill effects at all. It's the most pleasant drug I've ever experienced.

As long as this kind of high exists, people are going to take it.

Re: Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins

#84

Post by sannee » Wed, May 23, 2018, 9:48 PM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #52

rhizome wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't legislate a state of mind, and people have different reactions to different substances, so I'm a little confused as to what form this "broad ban" would take.

Just ban chemicals that interact with certain receptors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin_receptor_agonist#5-H...

That's extremely non-selective - for instance [1] is a random paper discussing ethanol interacting with the 5-HT2A receptors (at least if you are a male rat that is).

It would likely also lead to unforeseen consequences. For example, the Czech government attempted to ban growing Phalaris, but had to backpedal as it's a common unassuming weed.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9347073

Re: Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins

#85

Post by toomuchgov » Wed, May 23, 2018, 9:52 PM UTC

Clubber wrote: post #71

chiefalchemist wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. But hardly the traditional drug dealer biz model. They're the original subscription model. I don't aee how growth by killing your customers is sustainable.

I would think they treat it like other businesses treat churn. As long as you have more new subscribers than cancelling subscribers, you're still growing.

That is how my SaaS works.

After a few months of recurring revenue from a company, my app causes them to go bankrupt and stop paying me.

I then find new customers that are impressed I was able to bankrupt a company with my product in only a few months.

Re: Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins

#86

Post by jnbiche » Wed, May 23, 2018, 9:52 PM UTC

arca_vorago wrote: post #33

StaticRedux wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The attack that never happened and/or has never been proven? From the line you yourself posted: "Webb's series led to three federal investigations, none of which found evidence of any conspiracy by the CIA or its employees to bring drugs into the United States."

Where do you think the CIA fucking learned it from? MI6 (who learned it in opium wars 1&2) taught to OSS (CIA) how to get funding off books so congress couldn't pull the purse strings and they could do whatever they wanted... and this has indeed been proven multiple times... You are the same kind of person who called us talking about NSA pre-Snowden "tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists" and then post-Snowden came out wi…

Anyone who was paying attention before Snowden knew there was mass surveillance happening. See Room 641A, Stellar Wind, Quest Communication's refusal to cooperate, etc. These were all reported well before Snowden in major media such as the NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, etc. I remember many of these were first reported back in 2006.

On the other hand, no reports on CIA programs selling crack cocaine to the inner city have ever been described or verified by any major media outlet, as far as I am aware[1]. Nor have I seen any convincing evidence of such a program.

But I'm open to any evidence you can show me, if you have any.

Also, as someone else pointed out, MI6 wasn't founded until a half century after the Opium Wars.

1. Despite many major media outlets—the same ones who outed programs like Stellar Wind—investigating the claims that the CIA smuggled drugs into black communities, they all found that there was no evidence of such a program.

Re: Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins

#87

Post by theNJR » Wed, May 23, 2018, 9:53 PM UTC

dqpb wrote: post #68

This is revenge for the "100 years of shame". China is at war with the West.

I've long been confused why this isn't talked about more. It's seemed very obvious to me that this is exactly what is happening.

Re: Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins

#88

Post by beat » Wed, May 23, 2018, 9:55 PM UTC

DanAndersen wrote: post #75

lr4444lr wrote: post #2

As an American, the irony of comeuppance isn't lost on me, given that we did have some involvement against them in the Opium Wars.

The Chinese have a long memory of the effect that widespread drug addiction has on a nation and a people. It wasn't until Mao that the issue was addressed, and they were actually quite effective: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China#Unde... >The Mao Zedong government is generally credited with eradicating both consumption and production of opium during the 1950s using unrestrained repression and so…

May the West always lack the stomach to do what Mao did.

Re: Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins

#89

Post by stronglikedan » Wed, May 23, 2018, 9:56 PM UTC

Johnny555 wrote: post #63

cowboysauce wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There doesn't need to be anything sinister about it. Fentanyl is cheap and potent. You can take cheap, low quality heroin, mix it with a little fentanyl and sell it for more profit as high quality heroin. However, if it's not mixed perfectly, you end up with "hotspots" of fentanyl. If someone ends up with a hotspot they can easily overdose. The occasion overdose also attracts more users because it gives the impressio…

The occasion overdose also attracts more users because it gives the impression of potent, high quality heroin. Is that really the case? Do people think "Oh my god, that stuff almost killed me, must be good stuff -- give me some more!"

Yes. One of my best friends was an addict and died by Fentanyl OD. That is exactly how she thought.

Re: Deadly Chinese Fentanyl Is Creating a New Era of Drug Kingpins

#90

Post by oh-kumudo » Wed, May 23, 2018, 9:56 PM UTC

nacho2sweet wrote: post #49

Fentanyl is a huge problem in Vancouver, where we are usually ground zero for all new opiate trends. Besides killing over 1100 people a year in BC, the money also seeps back into our overheated real-estate market through casino money laundering. It is a crazy cycle. I have no idea why world governments and our own don't say and do more against China. Spineless.

But China has THE strictest drug law anywhere on the planet. China doesn't consume those drugs, it is because there is a market so they are creating those drugs. Why didn't Canadian government just ban it? Put those dealers into jail and grab their profit? Stricter law enforcement works.