I WISH IT WAS FICTION –

Nov. 2, 2021 – In the 12 months ending in September 2020, that number hit an all-time high of 87,000 deaths by overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl can be so deadly that it almost makes heroin look mild. Micrograms can kill. A dart full of fentanyl can quite literally “stop an elephant,” according to the Belgian chemist who invented it in 1959. Meth, though less deadly, is now being churned out in mass quantities through a manufacturing process that frequently includes toxic chemicals. “Meth users dragged themselves through the nighttime streets, howling, hysterical, starving,” Quinones writes. While the opiate crisis raged, giving way to a surging demand for fentanyl, meth crept in and took hold in communities where it had never been seen before.

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