The following information was taken from "Fentanyl, The Last Straw" by Linda Logdbergh, PHD, published in "Recovery Solutions 6th Edition"
For full article click here.
The headline from a Detroit, Michigan, newspaper reads, “A Deadly Heroin Mixture is Claiming Dozens of Lives.” [NY Times May 28, 2006] The lives were those of 64 people in Detroit, Michigan; 28 people in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and 30 people in Chicago, Illinois. [ASAM document; http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060610/METRO/606100344/1003] All of these individuals had injected themselves with fentanyl, a drug that is chemically related to morphine and heroin but 50-80 times more powerful than morphine.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opiate analgesic whose chemical structure is similar to that of morphine and heroin. The word “analgesic” means something that causes an “absence of pain”: opiates are prescribed to provide pain relief after surgery or for patients whose pain persists even if they take milder drugs such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Because part of the experience of pain involves feelings of fear and anxiety, opiates also reduce these feelings. This is an important reason opiates that are abused: people want to experience the feelings of happiness, called “euphoria”, that these drugs produce. They seek a kind of “emotional analgesia”, or absence of psychological pain, that accompanies the physical analgesia.
Available in lozenge or powder form and obtainable illegally by extraction from therapeutic pain-relieving patches designed for suffering patients, fentanyl has several street names: Apache, China girl, China white, dance fever, friend, goodfella, jackpot, murder 8, TNT, and Tango and Cash. http://www.drugabuse.gov/drugpages/fentanyl.html. As with all opiates, after injection, fentanyl molecules attach to molecules on the cells of the brain and spinal cord called “neurons”. Opiates have a special affinity for neurons in brain regions that control emotion and pain sensations. This is the chemical basis for the pain relief and euphoria (feeling “high”) that opiates cause. Because these feelings are just chemical events, however, and are not based on anything that has actually happened to the person, the good feelings vanish when the drug wears off, leaving the user craving more drug to produce the “emotional analgesia” that felt so good And so addiction is born.
An overdose of fentanyl (or other opioids) can cause fatal “hypoventilation”, in the words of doctors. In the words of ordinary people, overdosing on these drugs can cause the user to stop breathing. A person who abuses fentanyl is truly just one breath away from the last great experience of his life. Please read the rest of this article by clicking here.New Form Of Meth Being Disguised As Candy And Given To ChildrenBe on the lookout for a new form of crystallized methamphetamine that is being targeted toward children. They are calling this new form of meth "Strawberry Quick" and it looks like the "Pop Rocks" candy that sizzle in your mouth. In its current form, it is dark pink in color and has a strawberry scent to it.
Alert from KY3 News in Springfield, Missouri
Please advise your children and their friends and other students not to accept candy from strangers as this is obviously an attempt to seduce children into drug use. They also need to be cautious in accepting candy from even friends that may have received it from someone else, thinking it is just candy.
Facts About Methamphetamines
Methamphetamines have stimulant properties similar to adrenaline. They stimulate the central nervous system by creating toxic effects on nerve terminals and are extremely addictive.
After the effects of methamphetamine wear off, it can cause severe withdrawal lasting longer than both speed and cocaine. These withdrawal symptoms can include paranoia, aggression and an intense craving for the drug. The person may go into a catatonic like sleep for days, and are almost impossible to wake up when they are in this state.
Longer term methamphetamine can cause rotting teeth, sores all over the body and emaciation, and other adverse effects. Please warn your children about the side effects of drugs. Help clean up our streets so that our children may have a brighter future.
1 comment:
Sometime an intervention is the beginning of recovery.
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