# 125

Even a Church Parking lot in a Wealthy County in Virginia is not

immune from white, powdery, substances.

My wife and I arrived at Church Sunday morning (July 30, 2017) to make coffee and snacks.  As we crossed the parking lot, I spotted the blue bag and it contained a dose or two of a white powder.

If you've followed this blog, you know that I was not about to touch this bag- for fear that it may contain a potent opioid.  But I had concerns for others, especially the young children who will be arriving Monday morning for Nursery school.  So I kicked the baggy to the edge of a parking bumper and returned later in the day to find it where I had left it.

I took a photo and drove to the nearby Police Station.  I arranged for a police officer to return and collect the baggy.  He used surgical gloves as he handled the baggy.

He informed me that it will not be tested because there are no suspects, instead, it will be destroyed.

The police reported that they will note that the substance may have been left there late at night by people not affiliated with the Church, but who use our parking lot.

I informed our Pastor and others on the Security Committee.

# 124

LD50; the scientifically determined volume of a substance determined to kill half of a test population of laboratory animals, as determined by Pharmaceutical Companies and the FDA.

Alcohol has an LD50
Cocaine has an LD50
Caffeine has an LD50
Heroin has an LD50
Nicotine has an LD50
Opioids have an LD50

Delta-9 THC has no known lethal dosage
LSD has no known lethal dosage
Nitrous Oxide has no known lethal dosage

Any questions?  Please write.

# 123

Narcan immediately revives 6 year-old child in New Hampshire.

The below article reports on the continuing risks to younger people who have opioids entering their bodies and references other young persons.  This report comes on the heels of the opioid death of a 10 year-old boy in Miami earlier in July, 2017.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/20/health/narcan-revives-new-hampshire-boy-trnd/index.html

# 122

As Communities debate the financial burden of cost increases for the opioid antidote (Narcan), how many doses should an individual receive and whether there should be a budgetary cap/limit for abusers; no one has raised the Macro question as to the percentage of allocated funds which should be devoted to persons who have climbed-onto the opioid conveyer belt and younger folks who are not addicted to opioids.

The below quote comes from the Washington Post article linked, below.

Medical Ethics present valid concerns for a variety of positions.  For example, famed Baseball Great, Mickey Mantle, went to the head of the list of persons needing a liver transplant some years ago.  Mantle received a healthy liver and critics questioned the morality saying that Mantle destroyed his God-given liver, therefore, a more worthy recipient should not have been displaced by Mantle.  Others believed that money and fame should not be a determiner for prioritizing organ transplants.

Around the world, snake-bite antidotes are precious treasures due to the costs related to harvesting venom and producing the serum/antidote.  Indeed, costs are a major part of the ethical debate and some stake-out a position that all costs should be borne by society despite the upward cost-creep.

Another facet of the ethical debate could be termed "contributory" since opioid substance users repeatedly purchase and self-administer the fatal opioids; their cycle of abuse-near-death-revival-repeat cycle is seen, by some taxpayers as societal license to re-load.  Conscious re-loading carries large budget increases for municipalities and the Post's article demonstrates some responses from law makers and law enforcement.

At some point, in the U.S., society will need to apportion resources for those not yet addicted to anything (those not on the conveyer belt) and those who climbed onto the conveyor belt.  50% would be a good starting point in a just society!

[With 96 fatal overdoses in just the first four months of this year, Mannix said the opioid epidemic ravaging western Ohio and scores of other communities along the Appalachian Mountains and the rivers that flow from it continues to worsen. Hospitals are overwhelmed with overdoses, small-town morgues are running out space for the bodies, and local officials from Kentucky to Maine are struggling to pay for attempting to revive, rehabilitate or bury the victims.]


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as-opioid-overdoses-exact-a-higher-price-communities-ponder-who-should-be-saved/2017/07/15/1ea91890-67f3-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html?utm_term=.48b3ab01960b

# 121

Narcan (Naloxone) dose price jumps from $575 per dose to $4,500 per dose.

Recall the greedy Mylan (Pharmaceutical Company) Epi-Pen price-jack?  Big Pharma is using the tactic again, this time for the opioid antidote which regularly saves lives which are at near-death distress.

Capitalizing on near extortion of helpless and dying substance use disorder humanity.

https://www.wired.com/2017/02/575-life-saving-drug-jump-4500-blame-perverse-system/

# 120

Prior news reports cast Grandparents as victims of opioid epidemic because they fulfill substitute roles when their children become addicted.  In today's report, a baby who was left with her grandmother died from an overdose of Fentanyl and Carfentanil (Elephant tranquilizer).

In an earlier post, a photograph of a viral car stop showing a grandchild in a child seat inside a mini-van with grand-mom passed-out from opioid OD in the front passenger seat, gives this blog's readers an early glimpse that all grand parents are not appropriate custodians of young children.  Other posts, including recent ones, elevate grandparents for their substitutionary roles as care-givers when the actual parents make near-fatal or fatal choices as they chase opioids.

In this article, the selfish and careless actions of the grand mother resulted in the accidental OD from opioids of her grand-daughter followed by her own death three days later.  Toxicology results have not returned for grand-mom.

http://fox45now.com/news/local/coroner-13-month-old-died-from-carfentanil-and-fentanyl-overdose

# 119

Excellent report regarding parasitic industry, centered in West Palm Beach/Delray Beach, Florida, that preys upon generous insurance plans under ACA while purporting to treat children aged 18-26 under parent's plans.

Below report confirms statement from ER Nurse, made to blogger 5 years ago, that 80% of ER visits are out-of-state addicts scamming for opioid pain-killers.  The nurse reported that the scammers were originally in Florida for Residential Treatment and were clogging ER rooms and blocking patients with legitimate needs.

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/megyn-kelly/florida-s-billion-dollar-drug-treatment-industry-plagued-overdoses-fraud-n773376

# 118

Cascading down to addicted babies, decisions made by adults are now impacting grandparents and a raft of societal institutions.

In this article, substance free grandparents are reporting how they've placed their lives on hold while babies live with them through methadone weaning from opioids and are now toddlers, substance-free, but growing through important years without substance use disorder parents.

One quote from the article:  

Foster-care experts say that as the drug epidemic has intensified during the past two years, another rush of children has entered the system. State budgets are stretched, social workers are overloaded, and not enough families are willing to provide children with temporary homes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-opioid-crisis-is-straining-the-nations-foster-care-systems/2017/06/30/97759fb2-52a1-11e7-91eb-9611861a988f_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_fostercare-936am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.c6ea79d30bce