I’ve written blogs before about America’s love of opioid medications for pain control and 
the resulting opioid epidemic in this country. Inevitably, effective pain medications tend to be abused and then become more difficult to obtain legally by prescription, and they eventually make their way to “street drug” status.
Americans statistically are the largest consumers of the world’s natural and synthetic opioids, and it’s estimated that between 100 to 150 Americans are dying from overdoses of these powerful pain killers every day. Many of these drugs are obtained on the black market and the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis was instituted last year to address this crisis, which has been labeled a national emergency.
The synthetic opioid medication fentanyl is one of those prescription medications highly
abused as a black market, street drug. It’s very potent—approximately 100 times more potent than morphine—and the prescribed dose to be an effective pain killer is small. In recent years, the availability of fentanyl on the streets as a black market drug has left a trail of death in its path. Just a few grains—a mere two (2) milligrams—can be fatal to a human.
Now, there is an even more potent synthetic opioid called carfentanil that has legitimate medical uses but has evolved into the latest black market, synthetic opioid readily available on the Internet for purchase.
Carfentanil was first synthesized in 1974 by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, but it was never approved for use in humans due to its super potency as a pain killer and sedative. It’s approximately 100 times more potent than fentanyl (and about 10,000 times more potent than morphine). A mere speck of the drug is enough to kill a person.
The United States government allows for the legal use of carfentanil under its Schedule II prescription status ONLY for veterinary use to sedate large 
animals—such as elephants. A simple Google search, however, of “synthetic opioid and Chinese pharmacies” results in the ability to purchase 100 grams of this highly potent drug without a prescription for about $750, to be shipped “by discreet courier” overnight. That 100-gram amount of carfentanil would translate to be enough drug to cause a staggering five million overdoses.
Some have labeled carfentanil as a weapon of mass destruction because of its
easy availability and its lethal potential in small doses. My first novel, Lethal Medicine, addressed the flow of illegal drugs from China in its primary plot, and to this day that book still imparts a relevant message. However, the drugs of today seem to continue their flow from China, but now with enhanced ease and even greater national harm.
Thoughts? Comments? I’d love to hear them!
control epileptic seizures as well as to help control nerve pain due to nerve damage. It is an ideal drug for nerve pain, first as a primary drug and also as an additive drug to enhance the pain-relieving effects of opiates for chronic nerve pain. It has low abuse potential on its own, although it does produce withdrawal symptoms if dosing is suddenly discontinued.
More recently, gabapentin has become a common street drug to enhance the high of illicit opiates, and is often used to cut heroin to increase its euphoric effects.
designation by the DEA for prescribing standards. This fact, and the need for the large dosing to control nerve pain such as back pain, makes this drug more available for diversion to be sold on the black market. I suspect that at some point in the future gabapentin will be a more highly controlled drug; and, if current abuse trends continue to escalate, this drug could likely become the next opiate-crisis type of drug.
fascinating, yet horrifying, incident occurred recently in Salisbury, England that intrigued me.
The United Kingdom contends that this assassination attempt was a deliberate act of Russian aggression to continue to silence defected Russian spies. At the very least, UK officials alternately state that Russia has lost control of its supply of Novichok.
However, some of these botanical compounds have a very narrow dosage range between a therapeutic effect and toxicity. This tight range of beneficial action is alternately referred to as the Therapeutic Index or the Therapeutic Window.
parsley or horseradish. There are 350 species of aconite that exist around the world, 170 in China alone. Many are found throughout Asia, Africa and Europe. More than 100 species are found in the temperate climates of both the United States and Canada.
weakness and to stimulate poor circulation. People with numbness in the extremities or poor circulation (as in cold hands and feet) use aconite preparations to stimulate circulation, hence its colloquial reference name of “blue rocket” to the variety that produces beautiful deep blue flowers. In the same way, aconite preparations are used to alleviate joint pain, inflammation and certain skin diseases by stimulating blood circulation throughout the body.
slight contact with the flowers can cause the fingers of one’s hand to become numb—a typical example of the therapeutic effect of aconite progressing to a toxic side effect with excessive exposure.
Symptoms of 
I thought I’d share this information, especially for writers who rely on any form of computer hacking in their storylines. You can be sure that I will tuck this information safely away (alas, maybe not on my computer) for use in a future thriller plot.
makes computer applications more susceptible to the Spectre flaw. It’s said that, although the Spectre flaw is harder to exploit than Meltdown, it is also more difficult to mitigate without specific software patches.
It’s time to focus on what you want and need to accomplish going forward. Forget about calling them New Year’s Resolutions. Instead, call them New Life Goals.
more active, you must get your body used to whatever you want it to do by actually doing that action. If it’s a new thing you want to accomplish in life (like maybe writing a book), you need to practice doing that until it becomes a habit. Start with setting aside a couple of hours a day to write.
If you’ve identified multiple goals for 2018, you’ve created an extra challenge for yourself. You can achieve all of your goals, but you simply have to work on one before starting another. Prioritize each goal and tackle them one at a time.
To You and Yours!!
Prescription For Murder 