Posted by viridis on October 30, 2002, at 3:54:27
In reply to Fentanyl, posted by Squiggles on October 29, 2002, at 15:30:51
Fentanyl became notorious in the 1980s. There was a mysterious rash of heroin users (some casual) who suddenly came down with Parkinson's disease as early as their teens or twenties. It turned out that some underground chemists had started synthesizing Fentanyl (and related synthetic opiates) and selling them on the street as a sort of "super heroin". Aside from some overdoses, one of the unfortunate side effects was that certain batches were contaminated with an impurity (due to incorrect/sloppy synthesis) that destroyed key brain cells, causing instant and irreversible Parkinsonism.
I believe that at the time Fentanyl (or at least some related compounds, some unknown and actually created by illegal drug manufacturers) weren't yet covered by drug laws, but the DEA etc. soon moved to close this loophole. Another reason to be wary of street drugs.
poster:viridis
thread:125689
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021025/msgs/125765.html