Feds bust suspected South Florida fentanyl importer as deaths soar

[Disir]

Federal agents have busted a Miramar man who they say was part of an international ring that used the Internet and U.S. mail to import a so-called synthetic heroin called fentanyl that is sweeping Florida and killing hundreds of users.

The arrest of Aldolphe Joseph, 34, comes as law-enforcement agencies are working to stem the pipeline of synthetic drugs from China, which has helped fuel a spike in fentanyl-related deaths. Newly released statistics from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement show that deaths caused by fentanyl overdoses statewide last year jumped a staggering 114 percent.

Read more here: Feds bust suspected South Florida fentanyl importer as deaths soar

I'd worry less about the South China Sea. Just sayin'.

 

[waltky]

Fentanyl is a growing threat...

Fentanyl, Powerful Drug that Killed Prince, Presents Growing Threat
June 02, 2016 — Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids jumped by 80 percent in 2014 over the previous year, according to the CDC

Fentanyl, a powerful painkiller that a medical examiner identified as the drug that killed the superstar Prince six weeks ago, has been responsible for an epidemic of overdose deaths around the United States, according to federal officials. The most potent narcotic known, it is a man-made opioid 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more so than morphine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control website. The agency says illegally manufactured non-pharmaceutical fentanyl, and related overdoses, are a rising problem. Fifty-seven-year-old Prince, one of the most influential musicians of his generation, was found dead in his home in a Minneapolis suburb on April 21. He died of an accidental, self-administered overdose of the drug, the county medical examiner said in a death report Thursday. Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids jumped by 80 percent in 2014 over the previous year, the CDC said, suggesting much of the increase may reflect the greater availability of illegally made fentanyl. In Ohio, fentanyl overdoses jumped to 514 in 2014 from 92 a year earlier, for example.

Federal response

This undated photo shows fentanyl pills. The powerful painkiller has been identified as the drug that killed the superstar Prince.​

The problem has triggered a federal response. U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this year asked Congress for $1.1 billion in new funding over two years to expand treatment for users of heroin and prescription painkillers. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration last year issued a nationwide alert about the dangers of fentanyl, saying even a tiny amount can kill. A pain reliever usually used for terminally ill patients, it is also produced in underground labs for sale as a street drug. While fentanyl was largely a problem in the Midwest and on the East Coast in recent years, in April, a rash of fentanyl overdoses hit northern California, 10 of them fatal. It is not clear whether Prince had a prescription for fentanyl after a reported hip surgery. And if he was prescribed the drug, it is not known by what doctor, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Thursday.

High risk of overdose

Burt Kahn, a lawyer who specializes in medical negligence, said there was a potential for criminal liability if a doctor prescribed fentanyl to Prince, or got him habituated, and then withdrew the drug. "Fentanyl is a drug that would almost never be prescribed to a patient like Prince who doesn't have terminal cancer, because the potential for overdose is extremely high," Kahn said. He said doctors ordinarily would want to closely monitor the vital signs of a patient taking fentanyl, to make sure the drug is not slowing down breathing or heart rate, although it can be administered in patches to control the dosage. Fentanyl threats have come in waves, the DEA said. There were more than 1,000 deaths attributed to fentanyl between 2005 and 2007, mostly in Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia, traced to a single lab in Mexico that was dismantled.

Fentanyl, Powerful Drug that Killed Prince, Presents Growing Threat

 

[waltky]

50 times more potent than heroin...

DEA Warns Officers of Dangers of Fentanyl
June 13, 2016 - The Drug Enforcement Administration has released a new public service announcement aimed at law enforcement to raise awareness of the danger officers face when it comes to fentanyl.

The DEA is warning officers to take extra precautions if they come in contact with the drug, which is considered to be 50 times more powerful than heroin, according to The Washington Times. The video features two New Jersey police officers who accidentally inhaled the powder version of the synthetic opioid while collecting the drug as evidence. A detective describes trying to seal the plastic bag that contained the drug. "A bunch of it poofed up into the air, right in our face, and we ended up inhaling it," Atlantic County Investigator D. Kallen says.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has released a new public service announcement aimed at law enforcement to raise awareness of the danger officers face when they come in contact with the drug fentanyl in the field.​

Atlantic City Detective E. Price adds: "I felt like my body was shutting down." Officials say that coming in contact with the drug can be deadly. "Fentanyl is so dangerous that we have had to instruct our agents that if they touch it or inhale it accidentally, they can die," DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg told a Senate committee last week. "If they are a canine officer and their dog sniffs it, perhaps because it's laced in heroin, that dog can die."

Because of this, officers have been trained how to administer naloxone to one another as well as to civilians they may may encounter who are having an overdose. "If you encounter this during your daily duties, don’t field test it in your car, or on the street, or take if back to the office," Acting Deputy Administrator Jack Riley says in the video. "Transport it directly to a laboratory, where it can be safely handled and tested."

DEA Warns Officers of Deadly Dangers of Fentanyl | Officer.com

 

[waltky]

China not the only one guilty of researching fentanyls as weapons...

Governments researched fentanyls as weapons for decades
Oct. 8, 2016 — Before appearing in global narcotics supply chains , fentanyl and substances like it were viewed as potential chemical weapons. Scientists struggled to figure out how to package the chemicals so that they would incapacitate but not kill targets. Some highlights of those efforts:

UNITED STATES

Research into fentanyl as an incapacitating agent began in the 1960s and, by the 1980s, scientists were testing primates with aerosolized carfentanil, according to Neil Davison, author of "'Non-Lethal' Weapons." In 1997, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, working under a Department of Justice contract, reported on a novel system for delivering less-than-lethal doses of fentanyl. They designed and tested guns loaded with small felt pads soaked with a fentanyl-based solution. They also considered developing paintball-type projectiles. In 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency was worried enough about fentanyl and carfentanil being used by terrorists that it published instructions for taking samples of the substances, including from drinking water, following "homeland security events."

CHINA

A People's Liberation Army soldier was photographed in 2011 holding a "narcosis" gun, designed to inject targets with a liquid incapacitating agent, according to Michael Crowley, a chemical weapons expert at the University of Bradford. Two state-backed companies that marketed the guns never specified which chemical agent would be used as ammunition, but Crowley said it "might very well be fentanyl or an analog of fentanyl." One advertisement for the guns praised their "excellent silence" and "easy schlepping." Scientists from a People's Liberation Army school called the Institute of Chemical Defense also have published research on fentanyls. "These compounds are of great importance to criminalistics and countering terrorism," they said in a 2011 paper.

This combination of images from a 1997 report by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shows photos from the testing of fentanyl-based anesthetics delivered via felt projectiles.​

RUSSIA

Russian special forces used carfentanil, along with the less potent remifentanil, to subdue Chechen separatists who took more than 800 people hostage in a Moscow theater in 2002, according to a paper by British government scientists who tested clothing and urine samples from three survivors. The tactic worked, but more than 120 hostages died from the effects of the chemicals. Others suffered lasting health effects. The British paper also cited a book written by a Russian general who directed a military chemical institute, which described fentanyls as delivering "a knock-out blow" to subjects within minutes.

ISRAEL

Doctors pulled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal out of respiratory collapse with the opioid antidote naloxone after Mossad agents sprayed a substance believed to be a form of fentanyl in his ear in a botched 1997 assassination attempt. "Israeli officials have indicated that Mossad has used fentanyl in other operations, which they declined to describe, noting that it had a '100 percent success rate,'" according to a Jane's Intelligence Review report from January 1998.

Governments researched fentanyls as weapons for decades

See also:

Why would anyone use a chemical weapon to make drugs? Money
Oct. 8, 2016 — This summer, carfentanil — one of the most potent opioids on the planet — hit the streets of North America. Many users who thought they were taking heroin actually injected or snorted a substance that has until recently been viewed as a chemical weapon . First responders pumped hundreds of dying, bluish people full of the antidote naloxone to try to make them breathe again.

Legally used as a tranquilizer for large animals like bears and elephants, carfentanil is so potent that an amount smaller than a poppy seed can kill a person. How such a toxic substance made its way into global narcotics supply chains is a matter of economics, and desperation.

Carfentanil is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, a related drug that increasingly has been mixed into narcotics such as heroin. But carfentanil is only slightly more expensive than fentanyl, and it can be cut into much larger volumes, creating stronger, cheaper highs. "There's an advantage to the drug distributor: They make more money," said Russell Baer, a special agent at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington. Addicts, meanwhile, "want the best high at the cheapest price and they're willing to take whatever risks are involved," he said.

A member of the RCMP opens a printer ink bottle containing the opioid carfentanil imported from China, in Vancouver. Drug dealers have been cutting carfentanil and its weaker cousin, fentanyl, into heroin and other illicit drugs to boost profit margins.​

Carfentanil is typically sold as a powder. Mixing it poorly into other drugs can create lethal hotspots of concentrated carfentanil, presenting enormous risks for users. Those concerned include drug users themselves. In online forums, much of the talk is about carfentanil as a threat, not a means to an epic high.

One user was so distressed when he received a package labeled carfentanil — a free sample from his supplier — that he asked for advice on Reddit on how to dispose of it safely. He worried that flushing it down the toilet "carried the risk of harming wildlife down the line." "Honestly," wrote another, "the only use I could think of would be to kill people." "Dealers are just starting to learn how to volumetrically dose these fentanyl POISON bags, but killing us in the process. We are their guinea pigs," wrote a third. None of the posters responded to requests by The Associated Press for further comment.

Why would anyone use a chemical weapon to make drugs? Money

Related:

Lethal chemical now used as a drug haunts theater hostages
Oct. 8, 2016 — Early one morning in October 2002, a dense white cloud silently filled Moscow's Dubrovka Theater.

It had been three days since Chechen militants took more than 800 people hostage. Russian special forces faced an impossible task: liberating the hostages from a theater laced with booby traps and several dozen suicide bombers. They turned to chemicals Russian scientists had been researching for years, and pumped an aerosol containing potent forms of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the theater before storming it. As the mysterious substance descended, people knelt, covering their faces as best they could, according to eyewitness accounts. No one was choking. People simply dropped into what appeared to be a deep sleep. "I lay down and started praying," said Vladimir Stukanov, the director of the children's troupe at the theater. His friend, Boris Lapin, had given him his coat, which Stukanov pressed to his face. "Boris died, but saved me," he said.
Commandos stormed the theater and killed the attackers, but more than 120 hostages died from the effects of the chemicals. Many survivors suffered lasting health effects. The Russian government acknowledged that the aerosol contained fentanyl-related compounds, but refused to reveal the exact composition. Years later, British government scientists tested clothing and urine samples from three survivors and concluded that the aerosol contained carfentanil, one of the most potent opioids on the planet, as well as the less-powerful remifentanil. Today, carfentanil is readily available from vendors in China, who offer to export the deadly substance around the world, no questions asked, an Associated Press investigation has found. Carfentanil is not a controlled substance in China, the world's largest chemicals exporter, despite U.S. efforts to get Beijing to blacklist it.

In this Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002 file photo, a special forces officer carries a woman out of Moscow's Dubrovka Theater.​

Olga Dolotova, an engineer, remembers seeing the plumes descend in the theater before losing consciousness. Later, she heard someone say, "She is alive." When Dolotova opened her eyes again, she found herself on a bus packed with bodies. "It was such a horror just to look at it," she said. "Nobody was moving. They put the people there like dolls." Dolotova wanted to get up, or shout. She wanted the bus to stop. And she badly needed to vomit. "I was having spasms, but I could not throw up," she said. When she reached the hospital, she gulped down some tea and began retching. "I continued throwing up and throwing up and throwing up," she said.

She said she understands why Russian special forces used the chemicals. "They had to somehow render them immobile," she said of the militants. "What else was there?" But she said medical and rescue personnel were not trained to deal with effects of the mysterious aerosol and made deadly errors — failing, for example, to tilt people's heads so they didn't choke on their own tongues. "More people would have been saved," she said. The aerosol created a kind of sleep without memory, Stukanov said. "It's like this cluster has been erased and dropped out of your head," he said.

Lethal chemical now used as a drug haunts theater hostages

 

[waltky]

Fentanyl bust overcomes sheriff's K-9s...

Florida Sheriff's K-9s Sickened by Fentanyl
November 9, 2016 - Moments after searching for drugs inside a house in Lauderhill, Broward Sheriff's Office K-9 handler Dustin Thompson noticed there was something wrong with one of his dogs.

Primus, a German shorthaired pointer, laid down in the car and stopped moving. He had a blank stare and didn't react to anything around him. "He was in kind of a sedated state. He had a lack of energy," said Detective Andy Weiman, who trained Primus and was assisting his handler that day. "Primus is a pretty high-energy dog. He's very excitable. He would usually be standing or trying to jump out of the car." Primus and two other K-9s who had been searching for hidden cash inside the same house were rushed to Coral Springs Animal Hospital on Oct. 27 after they showed signs of drug exposure and possible overdose, the sheriff's office said.

While the dogs were on the way to the clinic, other law enforcement agents continued searching the house and found a bag of drugs that authorities said tested positive for fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opiate that is up to 50 times more potent than heroin, and up to 100 times stronger than morphine. Fentanyl -- and its even more potent derivative, carfentanil -- pose a particular danger to paramedics and law enforcement, who run the risk of inhaling the drug simply by coming in contact with it while on duty. Even a very small amount can be lethal. That morning, members of the sheriff's office Detection Canine Unit were assisting Lauderhill police, Drug Enforcement Agency and Homeland Security Investigations agents with an investigation into the sale of heroin and heroin laced with fentanyl, the sheriff's office said.

Moments after searching for drugs inside a house in Lauderhill, Broward Sheriff's Office K-9 handler Dustin Thompson noticed there was something wrong with one of his dogs.​

Primus and two other K-9s, a German shorthaired pointer named Finn and a yellow Labrador retriever named Packer, were tasked with searching a house for drugs and money. Merely getting a whiff of the drug was enough to sicken the dogs, the sheriff's office said. "It was believed that the supplier of the fentanyl had been arrested some weeks prior to the execution of the warrant and the presence of fentanyl was unlikely," the sheriff's office said in an email. "Prior to the search, the handlers conducted a walkthrough and did not observe any obvious hazards to the handlers or canines."

At the animal hospital, Primus was given fluids and a dose of naloxone, an antidote used to revive drug users from opiate overdoses. It is often known by its brand name, Narcan. Finn and Packer were given IV fluids to help them "metabolize the drugs," Weiman said. All three dogs recovered quickly and were back on duty the next day, he said. Weiman said he is even more wary of the hazards that handlers and K-9s can encounter with a drug such as fentanyl out on the streets. "It seems as though it can be a danger to everybody," Weiman said. "It's a whole other level of precautions that you have to take [with this drug] so you don't become one of the victims."

Three Florida Sheriff's K-9s Sickened by Fentanyl | Officer.com

 

[waltky]

Carfentanil made a controlled substance in China...

China makes deadly opioid carfentanil a controlled substance
Feb 15,`17 -- China is adding the deadly elephant tranquilizer carfentanil and three related synthetic opioids to its list of controlled substances effective March 1, China's National Narcotics Control Commission said Thursday.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration called the move a potential "game-changer" that is likely to reduce supply of key chemicals driving a surge of overdoses and deaths among unsuspecting drug users in North America. After China controlled 116 synthetic drugs in October 2015, seizures in the United States of compounds on that list plunged. "It's a substantial step in the fight against opioids here in the United States," said Russell Baer, a DEA special agent in Washington. "We're persuaded it will have a definite impact."

Some 5,000 times stronger than heroin, carfentanil is so potent it has been used as a weapon and is considered a potential terrorism threat. Dealers cut fentanyls into heroin and other drugs to boost profit margins. Beijing already regulates fentanyl and 18 related compounds. China said it is also placing carfentanil's less-potent cousins furanyl fentanyl, acryl fentanyl and valeryl fentanyl under control. All are prevalent in the U.S. drug supply, Baer said.

In October, The Associated Press identified 12 Chinese companies that offered to export carfentanil around the world for a few thousand dollars a kilogram (2.2. pounds), no questions asked. That same month China began evaluating whether to add carfentanil and the three other fentanyls to its list of controlled substances. Usually, the process can take nine months. This time, it took just four. Both the DEA and U.S. State Department have pressed China to make carfentanil a controlled substance. Though Beijing has said U.S. assertions that China is the top source of fentanyls lack evidence, the two countries have been deepening cooperation as the U.S. opioid epidemic intensifies.

U.S. opioid demand is driving the proliferation of a new class of deadly synthetic drugs, made by nimble chemists to stay one step ahead of new rules like this one. As soon as one substance is banned, others proliferate. After Beijing tightened its focus on fentanyls late last year, the AP documented how Chinese vendors began to actively market alternative opioids , like U-47700. "We don't think their scheduling actions will end with just these four," Baer said.

News from The Associated Press

 

[waltky]

Even K-9's have to be careful around Fentanyl...

Fentanyl 'Life Changing' for Cops, Lab Techs
March 13, 2017 - Police and drug lab technicians are trying to make sure they aren't accidentally among the victims of fentanyl-type drugs, because merely touching some of drugs with bare hands can be fatal.

Allegheny County Medical Examiner Karl Williams said the arrival of the illegal fentanyl compounds was "life changing" for medical examiners and lab staff. "We are now keeping Narcan in the lab, and they wear protective clothing," he said. The powder often is so fine that particles can be absorbed into humans through the skin pores.

Police and drug lab technicians are trying to make sure they aren't accidentally among the victims of fentanyl-type drugs, because merely touching some of drugs with bare hands can be fatal.​

Officers have "stopped using field tests for heroin stamp bags because we don't know what really is in it," said Upper Burrell police Chief Ken Pate, president of the Westmoreland County Police Chiefs Association. "Fentanyl often looks like heroin." Last summer, the DEA issued a warning to police. State police also added a safety component in police officer annual procedure updates.

Field tests have been an important part of presenting basic evidence at preliminary hearings, where a district judge decides whether there is enough evidence to hold charges for trial court. "Now, officers are testifying about their experience to identify drugs and how the suspected illegal drugs were found," Pate said. "Our officers in the county are not routinely using field tests ... -- the Narcotics Field Test Kits (NIK) tests, where you put the suspected drug in a vial and it turns color -- because of the danger," Pate said.

Fentanyl 'Life Changing' for Cops, Lab Techs | Officer.com