About fentanyl & related synthetic opioids

For years, there has been reporting about about how bad the problem of fentanyl and related synthetic (man-made, not natural) opioids is. Supplies of precursors to make fentanyl in Mexico and the US come from China. The US asked China to crack down on the precursors and it agreed. Then US-China relations went to hell. Despite the agreement, China still supports the fentanyl disaster in the US by supplying precursors. China uses supplies of fentanyl and related synthetic opioids to inflict as much damage on American society and economy as it can. The cost in human life in the US is of no concern to the Chinese government. The WaPo reports (not paywalled):

Despite fentanyl crackdown, Chinese sellers are open for business

A booming online marketplace in shipping small but potent packages of the chemicals used in the production of fentanyl from China to Mexico remains largely unhindered

 

When President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to revive a joint crackdown on illegal drug trafficking in November, it sent a brief shock wave through the vast network of Chinese suppliers fueling the production of fentanyl.

Drug suppliers hit pause on international orders, as local Chinese officials conducted site inspections and began circulating fresh reminders of regulations. Beijing sent a warning notice to its pharmaceutical industry and shut down 25 Chinese companies selling fentanyl precursors — the chemical building blocks of a drug that accounts for the majority of more than 70,000 synthetic opioid overdose deaths a year in the United States.

But seven months later, those same sellers say it’s business as usual.

The three people — two salespeople for Chinese chemical companies and a Chinese reseller based in Mexico — described resuming sales this year after making minor adjustments to avoid scrutiny, including tweaking customs labeling on packages and pivoting to alternative compounds that have virtually identical applications.

“Possibly in the future there is some impact, but it’s not a problem right now,” said one Hubei-based salesperson for a chemical company that produces 1-Boc-4-AP — a fentanyl precursor — and the sedative xylazine. The person claimed the company had resumed sales of both compounds to Mexico in January after a six-week pause that started around the time of the Xi-Biden meeting.

“Like water flowing around rocks … if there is a demand there is a way,” the person said.

Water flowing around rocks

The CDC reported that for 2017, the economic cost of opioid use was about $1 trillion:

In the 39 jurisdictions studied, combined costs of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose varied from $985 million in Wyoming to $72,583 million in Ohio. Per capita combined costs varied from $1,204 in Hawaii to $7,247 in West Virginia. States with high per capita combined costs were located mainly in the Ohio Valley and New England.

A congressional analysis for 2020 indicated that the total cost had increased significantly compared to the 2017 analysis:

Today, in Recognition of National recovery Month, the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC)—led by Chairman Don Beyer (D-VA)—released a new analysis that finds the opioid epidemic cost the United States a record of nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020. This is up 37% from 2017, when the CDC last measured the cost.

After the pandemic disrupted the U.S. health care system, reducing access to substance abuse treatment and exacerbating social and economic stress that can worsen addiction, opioid use increased. Data show the highest numbers of fatal opioid overdoses ever reported in 2020 and 2021—69,061 and 80,926 fatalities, respectively—and opioids are now the main driver of drug overdose deaths.

A 2024 Congressional Research Services report commented:

DEA alleges that PRC-based chemical companies advertise and sell online fentanyl precursor chemicals, including some that are not internationally controlled and are correspondingly legal to export out of China. PRC firms also sell other synthetic drugs of concern, including xylazine and nitazenes. PRC companies ship such items to Mexico or directly to the United States, including via the U.S. Postal Service and express consignment services, “carefully packaged to deceive customs inspectors.” According to DEA, customers, often associated with Mexico-based transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), may pay for the chemicals and drugs in cryptocurrencies, making it harder for DEA “to follow the money.” They also pay using U.S. and PRC payment services or bank transfers. DEA alleges that the TCOs use largely PRC-sourced chemicals to synthesize fentanyl substances in clandestine laboratories, and often mix xylazine and nitazenes into fentanyl-related products, making the substances “even deadlier,” before distributing them across North America.  

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl-related substances) may have resulted in more than 78,000 U.S. overdose deaths between September 2022 and August 2023.

A trillion here and a trillion there, and pretty soon, the US goes bankrupt. The human life cost? Meh, just the cost of inept government? Who is mostly responsible for this disaster? China? Mexico? The US? All three about equally? No one, because the markets should be left free and wild to run butt naked in pursuit of profit and free, wild markets always solve all problems far more effectively than any government ever could? Should fentanyl be legalized and the industry taxed, leaving markets free & wild to run butt naked?

So many good questions, so many bad answers. 

Fentanyl victim

Lethal doses

Note the speck of carfentanil

Blog note: COVID

A couple of days ago I felt crappy. 🤒 I tested twice for COVID. Was positive twice. Still feel crappy. My blogging might be limited for the next couple of days or until the crappiness significantly lifts.

A couple of days ago the fed govt stopped monitoring new cases of COVID. Now we are flying blind in the pandemic. Yes, it is still a pandemic. So far in 2024, ~24,000 people have died of COVID in the US. This isn't over and it won't be for a long time.

Two Fox News stories for your amusement.

 YES.......................... Amusement.  

Trump Loses It At Fox News, Says No One Can Trust It

The former president is once again lashing out at the network for letting a guest speak critically of him.

“Nobody can ever trust Fox News, and I am one of them, with the weak and ineffective RINO, Paul Ryan, on its Board of Directors,” the presumed GOP nominee for president wrote, using the acronym for “Republican in name only.”

“He’s a total lightweight, a failed and pathetic Speaker of the House, and a very disloyal person,” the former president continued.

A representative for Fox News didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the former president’s remarks. (No, what a surprise!!)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-fox-news-paul-ryan_n_66733658e4b0a1f905bb17c9

Fox News poll finds Biden ahead of Trump by two points

President Biden leads former President Trump by two points in a national poll of the presidential election published by Fox News on Wednesday, taking a lead for the first time since last October.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4730684-fox-news-poll-finds-biden-ahead-trump/

WOW, two whole points, break out the champagne!!

Jewish senators are getting nervous

The Hill reports:

Jewish senators alarmed by Alito’s pro-Christian agenda

Jewish Democratic senators are alarmed by conservative Justice Samuel Alito’s sympathy for basing government on Christian principles — something he expressed at a Supreme Court gala when he endorsed the idea of returning the nation to a place of “godliness.”

Democratic senators, including several Jewish lawmakers, fear Alito’s majority opinions in several high-profile cases, such as the Dobbs decision, which overturned the right to abortion, were driven by his religious views.

And they are not buying Alito’s claim that he had nothing to do with and couldn’t prevent the flying of an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a symbol of the Christian nationalist movement, at his New Jersey beach house.

Senate Democrats say members of the Supreme Court have a right to religious freedom but warn that when they try to impose their religious views on others, it crosses a line.

A Jewish Democratic senator who requested anonymity to comment on Alito said he is pushing a sectarian religious agenda on the court.

“I don’t think there’s really any doubt. I don’t think Alito and [conservative Justice Clarence] Thomas are being shy. They have a view of the world, and they’re trying to establish an official religion, and a specific denomination,” the lawmaker said.

One has to wonder if Christian Democratic senators are alarmed about radical authoritarian Christian nationalism (CN), if they are part of the CN movement, or if they don't care about anything other than re-election. If they are alarmed, they are not vocal about it as far as I can tell. The Democratic Party is pathetic. 

Improvement in diagnosing depression; Global cooling biomolecule discovery

Researchers at Stanford have published a study that has (1) uncovered six different types of depression, and (2) found that some of the different types respond to standard anti-depression treatments better than others:

A Stanford Medicine study reveals six subtypes of depression, identified through brain imaging and machine learning. These subtypes exhibit unique brain activity patterns, helping predict which patients will benefit from specific antidepressants or behavioral therapies. This approach aims to personalize and improve depression treatment efficacy.

Better methods for matching patients with treatments are desperately needed, said the study’s senior author, Leanne Williams, PhD, the Vincent V.C. Woo Professor, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and the director of Stanford Medicine’s Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness.

Brain imaging combined with a type of AI called machine learning can reveal subtypes of depression and anxiety. The study, to be published today (June 17) in the journal Nature Medicine, sorts depression into six biological subtypes, or “biotypes,” and identifies treatments that are more likely or less likely to work for three of these subtypes.

Around 30% of people with depression have what’s known as treatment-resistant depression, meaning multiple kinds of medication or therapy have failed to improve their symptoms. And for up to two-thirds of people with depression, treatment fails to fully reverse their symptoms to healthy levels.

That’s in part because there’s no good way to know which antidepressant or type of therapy could help a given patient. Medications are prescribed through a trial-and-error method, so it can take months or years to land on a drug that works — if it ever happens. And spending so long trying treatment after treatment, only to experience no relief, can worsen depression symptoms.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time we’ve been able to demonstrate that depression can be explained by different disruptions to the functioning of the brain,” Williams said. “In essence, it’s a demonstration of a personalized medicine approach for mental health based on objective measures of brain function.”

Given how primitive and ineffective depression treatments generally are, this seems like an important and promising avenue of research to pursue further. For new patients who present with depression, an initial brain scan could point to treatments that have a better chance of offering some relief sooner. This research starts to debunk the idea of one size fits all, trial and error for treating depression. I hope this pans out and turns out to be the start of a major advance in treating depression.  

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STD reports about ocean a climate-cooling compound that some ocean algae make:

Global Cooling Breakthrough: Scientists Discover 

Ocean Algae’s Crucial Climate Impact

Researchers have identified Pelagophyceae algae as significant producers of DMSP, a compound crucial for climate regulation. This discovery suggests higher than expected levels of DMSP and its byproduct DMS, impacting global climate cooling.

The researchers identified the bloom-forming Pelagophyceae algae as potentially abundant and important producers of a compound called dimethylsulfoniopropionate, or DMSP.

Co-lead author Professor Jonathan Todd, of UEA’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “The Pelagophyceae are amongst the most abundant algae on Earth, yet they were not previously known as important producers of DMSP.

“This discovery is exciting because DMSP is an abundant antistress compound, food source for other microorganisms, and major source of climate-cooling gases.”

Every year, billions of tonnes of DMSP are produced in the Earth’s oceans by marine microorganisms, helping them to survive by protecting against various stresses like changes in salinity, cold, high pressure, and oxidative stress.

Importantly, DMSP is the main source of a climate active gas called dimethylsulfide (DMS), which is known as the smell of the seaside.

When DMS is released into the atmosphere, DMS oxidation products help form clouds that reflect sunlight away from the Earth, effectively cooling the planet.

This natural process is essential for regulating the Earth’s climate and is also hugely important for the global sulfur cycle, representing the main route by which sulfur from the oceans is returned to land.

Interesting. The smell of the ocean comes from DMS. 

If more DMSP and DMS can be coaxed out of the oceans, this might turn out to be an important bit of knowledge for dealing with global warming.

News: Christians against CN make a noise; FA resource page on CN; A MSM criticism

Newsweek reports that some real Christians are starting to get vexed with faux Christian theocrats (Christian nationalists) stinking up the church and giving their religion a bad name:

Thousands Sign Christian Petition Demanding 

Samuel Alito Resign: 'Unfit'

A petition created by Faithful America is nearing its goal of signatures on Sunday as they demand Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to resign amid his recent controversies.

In its petition from Wednesday, with a goal of 15,000 signatures, Faithful America, an organization of Christians supporting social justice causes while opposing "Christian nationalism," is demanding the conservative justice resign after he was heard in a secret recording agreeing that the United States should return "to a place of godliness" as well as for two flags that were previously flown outside the justice's home.

"You are unfit to serve on our nation's highest court, and we demand that you immediately resign...This man is far from impartial and cannot remain a justice on our nation's highest court. As a grassroots movement of Christians, let's join together to demand that Justice Alito immediately resign," the petition states.

You can sign the petition here. They are going to need a heck of a lot more than 15,000 signatures.

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The Faithful America website has a really great page devoted to describing and fighting against CN (Christian nationalism). Here are two snippets of info:

What is Christian nationalism, and why is it a threat?

As defined by multiple sociologists and academic researchers, Christian nationalism is a political ideology and cultural framework that claims America was founded to be a "Christian nation" where Christians should receive special legal treatment not available to non-Christians. This merges the previously separate Christian and American identities, proclaiming that the only true Americans are the country's Christians (and a specific subset of conservative Christians, at that). This means that Christian nationalism is antisemitic and Islamophobic, and poses a threat to the religious freedom of America's Jews, Muslims, Indigenous peoples, mainline Protestant Christians, and more.

Is Christian nationalism Christian?

No, Christian nationalism is a political ideology and a form of nationalism, not a religion or a form of Christianity. It directly contradicts the Gospel in multiple ways, and is therefore considered by many Christian leaders to be a heresy. While Jesus taught love, peace, and truth, Christian nationalism leads to hatred, political violence, and QAnon misinformation. While Jesus resisted the devil's temptations of authority in the wilderness, Christian nationalism seeks to seize power for its followers at all costs. And while Christianity is a 2,000-year-old global tradition that transcends all borders, Christian nationalism seeks to merge faith with a single, 247-year-old, pluralistic nation.

Woof! Those Christians are getting to be a feisty lot!

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From the Milquetoast MSM Files: 

A retired federal judge says Judge Cannon 

appears to show 'favoritism' toward Trump

Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, continues to make decisions that puzzle many legal observers.

Last month, Cannon delayed the start of the trial indefinitely. She's taken months to make routine procedural decisions.

Retired judge Shira Scheindlin: The main thing that stood out to me is how she has constantly caused delay in the case instead of moving it forward. She's done that in, I would say, two ways. One is her inability to rule in an efficient manner. She holds onto motions. She keeps them pending. She can't seem to decide things. Most experienced judges, which of course I considered myself after 27 years, try to know which motions really require further consideration and argument and which, you know, instinctively you could say frankly, one word: denied. And you can rule from the bench.

The second thing that stands out to me is what appears to me to be her dislike of the government and her favoritism toward the defense. I'm not saying that that's going to, in the end, determine how she rules on everything, but she seems to have a visceral dislike of Jack Smith and his team. She's constantly criticizing them. She's constantly being sharp and sarcastic with them, and she almost never treats the defense that way.

Appears to show favoritism? Legal observers are puzzled? For real? Geez, what planet are we on here?

If something walks, talks, looks, smells and acts like a judge showing blatant favoritism to a party in a trial in their courtroom, it is the judge showing blatant favoritism. What planet do the elites in the MSM live on? It sure isn't Earth.

Q1: What the hell is wrong with the MSM, e.g., is it corrupted, co-opted, inept, biased, clueless, and/or something else? (this dreary news reporting is from NPR) 

Q2: Do you believe the following sentiment is mostly true, false or ambiguous?

(FWIW, I believe it is usually mostly true 

and in the case of DJT, completely true)