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The Mafia may be keeping fentanyl out of Italy

204 points · 269 comments · runeks

  1. qoez · · focus · HN ↗
    I always assumed this was an america-only drug that no one actually does or at least not to the excess that it's claimed by the publications using it for the normal fear journalism purposes.
    1. criley2 · · focus · HN ↗
      No one "does" fentanyl, it's a highly addictive additive that is secretly added to other things. Even so, 50,000 - 70,000 Americans per year die to it (more than suicide and gun violence many other things).

      This is an "American" thing because fent primarily comes from Mexican cartels (Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation).

      They buy precursors from China, they produce it in labs in Mexico, and then smuggle it into America where they kill 50,000 to 70,000 Americans per year.

      Not getting political here -- but what would you think if organized crime in a neighboring country was murdering 50,000 to 70,000 of your countrymen per year?

      1. master-lincoln · · focus · HN ↗
        It's not murder. People are not forced to take fentanyl... Wouldn't these people get into a different drug if it wasn't fentanyl?
        1. criley2 · · focus · HN ↗
          So if you bought a bottle of water, and inside of that water was a poison that kills you, intentionally added by a criminal because it makes them more profit, that's not murder?

          Those people were doing a line of coke, they had no idea they were about to overdose on an opioid.

          1. criddell · · focus · HN ↗
            > that's not murder?

            Well, that depends on the legal definition of murder where you live.

            In lots of places, intent matters. You said the pill was added with the intent to make more money. If there was no intent to kill, then in lots of places that isn't murder but might be some other kind of criminal homicide.

            For example, people at Ford made the decision to sell the Pinto with a dangerous defect to make more money and people died as a direct consequence of that product decision. The people who made that decision were not charged with murder (or anything as far as I recall).

            1. carlosjobim · · focus · HN ↗
              Why do we assume as a fact that the kind of person who becomes a fentanyl dealer wouldn't also take great pleasure in killing their clients?
              1. criddell · · focus · HN ↗
                You'd have the accused prove their innocence rather than the state prove their guilt?
                1. carlosjobim · · focus · HN ↗
                  No. But I find it strange that people categorically say that a drug dealer never would intentionally kill a buyer. They are violent criminals dealing in poison. They are not perfectly rational businessmen who would never do a thing which could hurt future profits.
                  1. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

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                  2. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

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