- cross-posted to:
- thepoliceproblem
- cross-posted to:
- thepoliceproblem
The California Highway Patrol may best be known for freeway chases and the Hollywood glamour of its motorcycle cops in television shows like “ChiPs.” But now the storied agency is patrolling the streets of San Francisco’s Tenderloin as part of a multiagency effort to crack down on rampant drug dealing that’s decimating the 50-square-block area.
On one day recently, CNN watched as task force members arrested a suspected drug dealer accused of selling meth and fentanyl. Inside a plastic bag: 33 grams of fentanyl that CHP officer Andy Barclay estimates, at its worst, could potentially kill thousands of people.
“We’re looking at around 16,500 fatal doses of pure fentanyl in that small bag. Yes, 16,500 people could potentially die,” Barclay said.
Police are always liars. Especially about drugs. I am no expert, but I sincerely doubt a single street drug dealer had 16,500 fatal doses of fentanyl on him. What is he doing, mass murdering every drug addict in the Tenderloin?
You know what would go a long way to solving this problem? Legalizing and regulating drugs and getting free addiction help for those who want it.
*walks into a grocery chain’s distribution center
“there’s enough alcohol right there to kill 450 people”
They just took 33 grams and divided by 2 mg which is the typical cited lethal dose of fentanyl to get 16,500. When dosed correctly it would kill zero people. But when you’re dealing with such tiny amounts in the microgram range that drug users/dealers can’t reliably weigh and make errors, unknown potency, differences in people’s tolerance, yes it’s quite dangerous and deadly. 100 times more potent than morphine. Would that batch have killed 16,500 people in reality? No likely not. But they did say “at worst” in fairness. So yeah assuming that’s the weight and one hundred percent potent divided into exactly lethal doses given to opiate niave people and perfectly doled out all at once that’s about how many it could kill. Cops also could be lying about weight, or it may be cut with something and not pure. I’m certainly not trying to argue for the war on drugs which I very much disagree with or against your other points, but that’s where that number came from. And it is a very dangerous drug because of its high potency with dosing in microgram ranges and often unknown purity.
No street dealer is carrying around 33g of pure fentanyl, and no one is selling pure fentanyl to junkies. It’s probably been cut/diluted to 1:1000.
Imagine the amount of money saved on “fighting this war” and also made on taxing people making adult decisions on their own consumption that could then be put back into helping people with the real problems and educating people to make the smart choices based on actual facts and not lies spun to support their hate filled narrative.
Most fentanyl users I’ve met could go through a gram in a day, this is not great journalism lol
The only way anyone could possibly take a gram of “fentanyl” in a day is if it’s extremely dilute, which it would be if it’s being sold on the street. The police’s estimate of 33g being equal to 16,000+ fatal doses is most likely assuming it’s pure fentanyl, and there’s no way the police honestly belive its pure.
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The police believe if they breathe it in or touch it they need the emergency room.
I do agree that police tend to lie about quantities of drugs confiscated (weighing including the packaging etc.), but a quick google search for fentanyl doses does line up with the OD potential. It is extremely potent in small quantities which is why you see so much fent ODs when a small amount of it is cut in to bulk up other things like heroin.
800mg is the maximum recommended dose (note: not OD dose), and 16,500 times that is only 13.2g. Therefore 33g probably does technically have the potential to OD 16,500 people who have no tolerance, but it’s a really stupid way of putting it that has no nuance.
And yeah, the drug war is stupid, legalize everything.