# 60

Article states the obvious, substance users have absolutely no idea regarding the qualitative or quantitative analysis of the substances they purchase and self-administer.  While the article suggests that the unanticipated presence of high-potency fentanyl is a surprise which frequently leads to death, the readers know that substances claiming to be heroin or cocaine also kill when the true potency is analyzed by toxicology units following death.

The media in North America have done their jobs, so have Medical Examiners, Toxicologists and Law Enforcement...even Television Cop shows...everyone knows that - in the world of illegal purchase/possession of substances- the mantra is buyer beware!  For more than 30 years, newspaper readers and television watchers have learned how substance users are taking large risks when they purchase unknown substances, usually from strangers.  So, ironically, in a world where all substance purchasers/users/possessors have known that the actual ingredients could produce a fatal outcome, the substance community is acting surprised when the risk is validated/confirmed.  The illicit purchasers/users/possessors and their loved ones are telling reporters that truth in packaging expectations are not being met.

The very act of entering such a world of risk illustrates that any notion of an expectation of truth in packaging has been set aside.

The surrealistic absurdity of these expectations, given a market-place where false claims are the norm, illustrate how confused persons continue to expect that someone will regulate merchants who purvey illegal substances as they go about their unlicensed, anti-social, activities.  Where is the FDA when we need them?  Trying to oversee a legal industry and protect lawful consumers...is one answer.

Someone will say that the deaths are all the result of criminalized substances and criminalizing substances (presuming that the substances are what they are marketed as and that qualitative and quantitative controls exist), all the while knowing that a substance user can self-administer a prescribed pharmaceutical opioid, issued to his grandmother, and still have the respiration center in his brain perform a shutdown of its system.

The risks in the user's world are many but he is undeterred.  When the case finally becomes strong enough, perhaps someday, persons having substance use disorder will be surrounded by their loved ones who will confess to a judge that the user is helpless and in need of formal guardianship.  Until then, adults will be permitted to enter high-risk worlds which are increasingly becoming fatal worlds.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-silent-killer-overdose-victims-often-dont-even-know-theyve-consumed-fentanyl