Criminal Mischief: The Art and Science of Crime Fiction: Episode #12: Fentanyl—A Most Dangerous Game

Criminal Mischief: The Art and Science of Crime Fiction Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/authorsontheair/fentanyl-a-most-dangerous-game

PAST SHOWS: http://www.dplylemd.com/criminal-mischief.html

SHOW NOTES:

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is as much as 300 times more powerful than morphine sulfate. It can be injected, ingested, inhaled, and will even penetrate the skin.

It is used in medical situations frequently for pain management, sedation, and for twilight-anesthesia for things such as colonoscopies.

Fentanyl is the number one cause of drug ODs.

Americans have a slightly higher than 1% chance of ultimately dying of an opioid overdose. That's better than one in 100 people. In fact, 60 people die every day from opioid ODs. That translates to over 22,000 per year. In fact, US life expectancy dropped slightly between 2016 and 2017 due to opioid overdoses.

Thirteen people suffered a mass OD at a party in Chico, Ca in January 2019.

It is often added to other drugs such as heroin to "boost" the heroine effect. Unfortunately, Fentanyl is much more powerful than heroin and when the two are mixed it becomes a deadly combination. It's also often added to meth and cocaine.

How powerful is fentanyl? A single tablespoon of it could kill as many as 500 people; 120 pounds as many as 25 million people. A recent bust, the largest in US history, recovered over 250 pounds of Fentanyl secreted in a truck crossing the US-Mexico border--enough to kill 50 million people.

When cops arrest people who possess or are transporting fentanyl they must take precautions not to touch or inhale the product as it could prove fatal. The opioid crises is the reason many cops carry Narcan (Naloxone) with them as either an injection or a nasal spray. It reverses the effects of narcotics very quickly.

The "Dark Web" is a source for many things that can't be purchased or the open market. Weapons, hitmen, and drugs. But even many of these dealers won't deal Fentanyl.

Could fentanyl be used as a weapon of terror? Absolutely. A fentanyl aerosol sprayed into a room of people could easily kill everyone present in a matter of minutes. It is a powerful narcotic that acts very quickly and depresses respiration so that people die from asphyxia.

In 2002 a group of around 50 Chechen terrorists who took 850 people hostage in a Moscow theater. Many of the attackers were strapped with explosive vests. The standoff lasted 4 days until the Russians pumped Fentanyl-maybe carfentanil or remifentanil-through the vents and took everyone down. All the terrorists were killed but unfortunately, over 200 of the hostages died before medical help could reach them.

Carfentanil--Been around since 1974 but just now entering the world of drug abuse. Used in darts as a large animal tranquilizer. AN analog of fentanyl but is 100X stronger.

The famous Kristin Rossum "American Beauty" case involved fentanyl.