this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2024
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If you google this question, “where does fentanyl come from?” You get a results page filled with “China” and “Mexico”. I have a suspicion that the fentanyl “pouring over our southern border” narrative is mostly BS and that it’s coming from inside the house, but can anybody point me towards the facts? Thank you

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[–] Des@hexbear.net 41 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

there are labs in mexico that basically replaced the facilities that used to refine locally grown opium into black tar. fentanyl precursors are extremely easy to acquire by an organization. they were originally coming from gray market chinese labs (the CPC cracked down hard) now likely from india which has a well developed pharm chemical industry

i wouldn't be suprised if some synthesis was happening in the U.S. also there was a period where tons of analogs were being manufactured and sold on the darkweb mostly to research chemical enthusiasts. so there could still be stockpiles of these analogs being fed into the "heroin" supply. i have no doubt these original RCs were being added to low quality heroin which basically started this whole nightmare.

so in a sense it did originally come from inside the house. then capitalism came and did it's thing

[–] RyanGosling@hexbear.net 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

China still makes most of the RCs. I have no idea what these firms look like over in China, but I don’t think they’re like the manufacturers in Latin America hiding in jungled and churning retail barrels. If these factories are big enough to be producing and selling large quantities on the dark web (and clear web! You can find several stores openly selling them on google lol), then there’s major capital behind the operations somewhere. Either that, or someone on the assembly line has very nimble fingers.

[–] Des@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago

oh yeah i know they do some still. i've seen some novel stimulants. but pretty sure they have stopped with the fentalaogs though but i could be mistaken. it's just outside my investigative research on the open wholesale markets. (also fuck RC opioids would never touch them with a 1 billion mile pole)

other opioids though. like the Phenylpiperidines i think they are still cranking out. i just don't see those getting mainstream since they aren't water soluable

[–] dead@hexbear.net 38 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Some drugs actually do come from China and Mexico.

However, you shouldn't accept the reactionary framing of the drug narrative. Availability of drugs is not what makes people do drugs. Americans are doing drugs because the quality of life in America is hellish. People are doing drugs as a form of escapism from the shitty existence of American life.

Reject the premise that stopping the flow of drugs will make less people do drugs. Less people will do drugs when they have a better life, access to healthcare, higher wages, safer workplace, solidarity with other workers, etc.

[–] SkingradGuard@hexbear.net 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Yeah exactly, chuds say China is sending drugs intentionally to destroy America

It's a disgusting fascist lie.

[–] RedDawn@hexbear.net 8 points 5 months ago

Excellent points, and definitely aligns with my own thoughts, I just figured with how much the media hounds on this being a border issue that they’re probably also lying about it in the first place / the stuff is being manufactured here to begin with.

[–] take_five_seconds@hexbear.net 33 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)
[–] GlueBear@hexbear.net 26 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Me, I make it. Localized entirely in my kitchen.

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 20 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] GlueBear@hexbear.net 18 points 5 months ago
[–] Justice@lemmygrad.ml 23 points 5 months ago

I haven't looked into this yet, but I can almost guarantee there is a purposeful blending or blurring of the numbers or lines around legal, legitimate-use medical grade fentanyl that hospitals use for all kinds of shit and the illegal, questionable quality, dubious source stuff. There's also going to be a lot of fear mongering around precursors for the drugs. Say it takes 1g of chemical A in the production of 1kg of good quality fentanyl in a good lab. The DEA or other motivated agencies will absolutely just say every bit of chemical A that enters the country could be used in fentanyl production.

But again, this is all speculation, I haven't looked into it yet, I just know how cop-brains operate

[–] Skeleton_Erisma@hexbear.net 23 points 5 months ago

Sackler Family/Purdue pharmaceuticals corporation.

Literally ruling class ghouls in the healthcare industry caused this. But that doesn't stop reactionaries from blaming "woke" or whatever the 10'o clock news spoon feeds them.

[–] angrytoadnoises@lemmygrad.ml 20 points 5 months ago

the fentanyl fairy, but only if you've been a good boy throughout the year

[–] Elon_Musk@hexbear.net 19 points 5 months ago

Countries with less strict precursor laws. like China and Mexico.

[–] un_mask_me@hexbear.net 19 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

We make the legal versions here and also source it and ingredients from places like China and others. Here it's prescribed by doctors for pain. The political stuff mostly concerns illegal versions and the horrific addiction qualities of the drug. You can look at Actiq, Duragesic, and Sublimaze for the legal versions. Also cops. And some of the drug companies have been accused of selling ingredients illegally. It's pretty fucked all the way around.

[–] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 18 points 5 months ago

Janssen Pharmaceutica, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly-owned by Johnson & Johnson.

[–] someone@hexbear.net 16 points 5 months ago

It comes from a can, it was put there by a man, in a factory downtown.

[–] Tunnelvision@hexbear.net 14 points 5 months ago

It absolutely comes from Mexico and the precursors do come from China/ maybe India, but it’s hard to think Mexico or China are doing it to harm the United States and not the United States using it as a reason to continue the militarization of the police force, which leaves only one conclusion. America is the one either producing or overseeing the production of fentanyl. Considering the connection between American law enforcement and cartels is pretty open it’s hard to dispute.

[–] oscardejarjayes@hexbear.net 13 points 5 months ago

It comes from precursor-loose countries (or it's made here with precursors from said countries). That used to be China, but I see a lot more Indian rc's nowadays.

[–] RyanGosling@hexbear.net 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

China makes most of the fentanyl and/or precursors. I read somewhere that Germany also produces a ton.

Basically, fentanyl is an actual drug used in healthcare, and its precursors are used in other applications as well. Some companies work directly with cartels and others have inside men. But other companies refuse to do so because it attracts too many eyes. But that doesn’t stop the flow. Criminal syndicates also have corporate front entities that pose as legitimate pharmaceutical firms. They’ll put in orders, and some companies/customs/regulators may either turn a blind eye to the end user, others completely ignorant of the end user because the criminals are good at hiding.

Now, even if the entire supply chain is legitimate, there’s still the fact that drug cartels have guys with machine guns. If they can’t do the corporate route, they’ll just rob the shipment.

[–] Beetle_O_Rourke@hexbear.net 5 points 5 months ago
[–] pumpchilienthusiast@hexbear.net 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

well, you see, when mama fentanyl and papa fentanyl love each other very much...

[–] RedDawn@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago

I’m actually surprised it took so long for somebody to give this response lol

[–] 2Password2Remember@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago

fentanyl is stored in the balls

Death to America

[–] Mickmacduffin@hexbear.net 2 points 5 months ago

We milk it from the Beast

[–] Finger@hexbear.net 2 points 5 months ago

That's information you can't have.

seems like it'd be hard to get reliable data on this. anybody here in the fentanyl business? im not a cop :)

[–] Rx_Hawk@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Not everything is a conspiracy. China has every reason to want it's primary adversary's populace addicted and dying of overdoses.

[–] SaniFlush@hexbear.net 31 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Dude, the CPC literally offered to directly assist the USA in stopping the fentanyl trade, but the imperialists couldn't play nice long enough to get anything done before pissing them off.

[–] Rx_Hawk@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

They can say that, but why would they want to actually stop it? It is good for them and bad for the empire, I'm surprised people aren't cheering it on.

[–] SkingradGuard@hexbear.net 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Because it's wrong and bad, regardless of who would be target by this? Lmao wtf is this take?

[–] RyanGosling@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It’s the same take as any other intelligence agency or military strategist would have. I don’t believe the Chinese intelligence is trafficking drugs like the CIA. In fact, western media have reported that China’s rich businessmen have been feeling threatened by China’s crackdown on businesses and wealth, so they work with cartels to move their money around to evade Chinese laws.

I just think China is in no rush to crack down on drug manufacturers as long as the bulk of it isn’t affecting chinese society. But they will come after you if your wealth empowers China’s enemies.

[–] RedDawn@hexbear.net 20 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Not everything is a conspiracy

China is conspiring to get the USA’s population addicted to drugs

You’re aware that you’re the one pushing a conspiracy theory over the simpler explanation of the media operating along its normal and well known biases?

[–] QueerCommie@hexbear.net 16 points 5 months ago

“Da joos are doing white genocide and I support that/j”

Idk, China seems pretty open to being nice to ideological enemies, mostly hurting the US through the obvious consequences of the empire’s own actions.

[–] RyanGosling@hexbear.net 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I don’t think they care, which is different from actively wanting Americans to overdose on the streets. It provides them with a ton of propaganda (internally and abroad), and it demoralizes the enemy. They’ve offered to cooperate to combat the drugs, but the US either refuses or demands that China jump through a bunch of hoops while the US does nothing (like how they demand Mexico combat cartels, reduce poverty and migration, while also taking in other migrants and producing food for the US, while the US just needs to shoot people at the border), or they simply demonize the Chinese instead of working together. Even the DEA has praised China

"It was all coming through the mail, aircraft, not in large quantities because it was so pure the fentanyl that they were making over in China ... but once they classified entire analogs of fentanyl, it made a huge difference," said Matt Donahue, the DEA deputy chief of operations who oversees the agency's work abroad.

While stricter regulation has not wiped out the fentanyl-related industry in China, it has made it more difficult for illicit vendors to operate.

If your neighbor is crazy, it’s best to just leave him alone than try to fix the problem on your own or mend relations with him.

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/17/916890880/we-are-shipping-to-the-u-s-china-s-fentanyl-sellers-find-new-routes-to-drug-user

Pretty much all western media report that it’s companies that are skirting chinese laws and inspections rather than the laws and inspections being lax - and of course local corruption. The only people who believe that the government and party are actively trafficking drugs as part of their agenda are cranks

[–] SkingradGuard@hexbear.net 4 points 5 months ago

This is ridiculous lmao