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Why aren't fentanyl test strips more widespread? (2021)

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Re: Why aren't fentanyl test strips more widespread? (2021)

#31

Post by monkeybutton »

Vladimof wrote: post #24
monkeybutton wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's people out there whose opinions are that addiction is a problem that "eventually solves itself". When I first heard that I just tried to change topics as quick as possible, it was just a conversational dead end. I still don't know what to say.

What we need is the scientific community to come together like they did for Covid vaccines... we need an addiction vaccine for drugs and alcohol... It probably killed a lot more people then Covid-19...

There is actually research in that area! Apparently one can make a vaccine that trains the immune system to attack and remove drugs. But it could interfere with medical procedures because of the overlap with recreational drugs. Also the huge ethical and moral questions it poses like who gets final say over what you do with your own body. Unlike a viral disease, getting high isn't contagious and doesn't directly and immediately affect those around you.

Re: Why aren't fentanyl test strips more widespread? (2021)

#32

Post by jowsie »

woodruffw wrote: post #18
girvo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US and Canada: not really. In other countries, yes. Australia's heroin supply is still basically just heroin, and extremely high purity, even on the street, interestingly. While fentanyl does exist here, it's not that common. I cannot give a good reason as to why. It's interesting.

I'm not saying this is the reason, but out of curiosity: does Australia's drug agency/agencies place as strong of an emphasis on border interdiction? A large part of the US's drug policy emphasizes "flashy" seizures of large amounts of drugs at the border, which has incentivized smugglers to pursue more potent (and therefore more compact) alternatives.

My information on the scene is extremely out of date, but 10 years ago it was more common for users to get some prescription morphine and convert it to heroin themselves. There was also a pretty big market for illicit acetic acid because of this, too.

This was because importation was difficult, making any imported product vastly more expensive than what you could make yourself.

Re: Why aren't fentanyl test strips more widespread? (2021)

#33

Post by Vladimof »

metadat wrote: post #27
monkeybutton wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's people out there whose opinions are that addiction is a problem that "eventually solves itself". When I first heard that I just tried to change topics as quick as possible, it was just a conversational dead end. I still don't know what to say.

Vladimof: Unfortunately it's not only a physical ailment. It's a complex mental and emotional issue, too. Hard to concoct a vaccine targeting all 3 axes with current technology levels.

It could be true, but we need more people working on this problem, that's for sure

Re: Why aren't fentanyl test strips more widespread? (2021)

#34

Post by DantesKite »

l0ng1nu5 wrote: post #9

The real question we should be asking is why can't these poor people get access to proper medicine and treatment? Instead they have to resort to playing Russian roulette every time they use. Decriminalisation and regulation are the biggest harm reduction measures that could be taken and it would have the added bonus of freeing up space in the prisons and reducing the power of the cartels. There wouldn't be a fent pro…

Decriminalisation doesn’t seem to be working in San Francisco.

Re: Why aren't fentanyl test strips more widespread? (2021)

#35

Post by Vladimof »

monkeybutton wrote: post #31
Vladimof wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What we need is the scientific community to come together like they did for Covid vaccines... we need an addiction vaccine for drugs and alcohol... It probably killed a lot more people then Covid-19...

There is actually research in that area! Apparently one can make a vaccine that trains the immune system to attack and remove drugs. But it could interfere with medical procedures because of the overlap with recreational drugs. Also the huge ethical and moral questions it poses like who gets final say over what you do with your own body. Unlike a viral disease, getting high isn't contagious and doesn't directly and i…

> Unlike a viral disease, getting high isn't contagious and doesn't directly and immediately affect those around you.

I'm pretty sure that most heavily addicted people would voluntary get such a vaccine... unless there's a major downside

Re: Why aren't fentanyl test strips more widespread? (2021)

#37

Post by perardi »

Havoc wrote: post #7

Can one even get stuff not laced with it these days? As a casual outside observer I thought no. In which case test strips are less useful

Define “stuff”. And I’m not being pedantic.

I am aware, in passing, of the purity of club drugs. I mean, theoretically. Totally in the abstract, in case you’re a DEA plant.

It heavily depends on what, and where. In my…research…

Street-level opiates? I honestly have no idea, besides what I hear in the media. Not my bag.

Cocaine? It’s rare, but it happens, and it seems to be ramping up in scale, unfortunately. And more realistically, it’s contaminated with significant amounts of filler, including lidocaine to give you that mouth tingle.

Ketamine? Nah. Either pretty darn pure, or just cut with filler. (Well…mostly nah, I am pretty sure a friend got some cut with PCP one time.)

Ecstasy/molly (which is such a semantic jumble): rare, but it happens. But more likely, instead of the MDMA you want, it’s MDA, or some other substituted phenethylamine…or just sucrose as filler, and it does nothing at all.

Other more obscure club drugs, such as the stuff people claim is 2C-B? Rare, but plausible, and there was a rash of that in California recently.

Re: Why aren't fentanyl test strips more widespread? (2021)

#38

Post by rjbwork »

DantesKite wrote: post #34
l0ng1nu5 wrote: post #9

The real question we should be asking is why can't these poor people get access to proper medicine and treatment? Instead they have to resort to playing Russian roulette every time they use. Decriminalisation and regulation are the biggest harm reduction measures that could be taken and it would have the added bonus of freeing up space in the prisons and reducing the power of the cartels. There wouldn't be a fent pro…

Decriminalisation doesn’t seem to be working in San Francisco.

Decrim without legalization or free supply to addicts doesn't do a lot for the poverty side of things. People are still going to spend every cent they can scrape together on their drug. We could supply the entire country's heroin/fent supply for probably 1/1000 what the average street user is paying for their doses, and we could prevent overdoses since there would be a chemically pure version of the drug with a labeled dosage available.

Until we, as a society, get over our desire to punish people for getting inebriated, addicts will continue to dwell in abject poverty while funding violent drug distribution organizations. This is a choice that we have made, and we're going to live with the consequences until we reverse course.

Re: Why aren't fentanyl test strips more widespread? (2021)

#39

Post by ComputerGuru »

woodruffw wrote: post #16
rayiner wrote: post #5

> people who use drugs (PWUD) New acronym just dropped. :-/

It's consistent with the practice of using "people-first language"[1]. It sounds a little clunky to my ears in a lot of individual instances, but the overarching goal (making it harder to subconsciously dehumanize people) seems reasonable to me. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People-first_language

I just noticed it appearing fairly out of the blue in all the articles regarding the monkeypox spread; pretty much all outlets are using the same language viz "gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with other men."

It seemed extremely awkwardly worded but now I know why! Thanks for sharing that link.

Re: Why aren't fentanyl test strips more widespread? (2021)

#40

Post by Gigachad »

rjbwork wrote: post #38
DantesKite wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Decriminalisation doesn’t seem to be working in San Francisco.

Decrim without legalization or free supply to addicts doesn't do a lot for the poverty side of things. People are still going to spend every cent they can scrape together on their drug. We could supply the entire country's heroin/fent supply for probably 1/1000 what the average street user is paying for their doses, and we could prevent overdoses since there would be a chemically pure version of the drug with a label…

Why would we want to accept normal people taking drugs which will fry their brains? Yes, only homeless addicts use these drugs because normal working people don't want to destroy their lives for a minor bit of fun.
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