Record US fentanyl bust 'enough to kill 26 million people'
Nearly 120lbs (54kg) of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic painkiller, has been seized by police in Nebraska - one of the largest busts in US history.
The drugs, seized last month, could kill over 26 million people, according to estimates by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Police found the fentanyl in a fake compartment of a lorry. The driver and a passenger were arrested.
[...] It was the largest seizure of fentanyl in state history, Nebraska State Patrol said in a Twitter post on Thursday.
[...] Just 2mg of fentanyl - or a few grains of table salt - is a lethal dosage for most people, and even exposure can cause a fatal reaction, according to the DEA.
Another estimate: they could make 260 million people pain-free for a day.
Bonus story:
Mussels test positive for opioids in Seattle's Puget Sound
Scientists at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife have found that mussels in Seattle's waters are testing positive for opioids. The finding suggests "a lot of people" are taking oxycodone in the Puget Sound, researchers say.
Also at the Puget Sound Institute.
Related: Opioid Addiction is Big Business
Heroin, Fentanyl? Meh: Carfentanil is the Latest Killer Opioid
Cop Brushes Fentanyl Off Uniform, Overdoses
Opioid Crisis Official; Insys Therapeutics Billionaire Founder Charged; Walgreens Stocks Narcan
U.S. Life Expectancy Continues to Decline Due to Opioid Crisis
Senate Investigators Google Their Way to $766 Million of Fentanyl
"Synthetic Opioids" Now Kill More People than Prescription Opioids in the U.S.
British Medical Journal Calls for Legalizing All Drugs
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 25 2018, @08:13PM (5 children)
Indeed. Can somebody convert to libraries of congress?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday May 25 2018, @08:32PM (1 child)
The amount of fentanyl is equivalent to the Library of Congress's hentai manga collection (located in a secret compartment in the Serial and Government Publications Division).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 25 2018, @09:08PM
It's in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'.
(Score: 4, Informative) by EvilSS on Friday May 25 2018, @08:54PM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday May 25 2018, @09:01PM
Wow, LOC has a measly hentai manga collection. I guess that's all that could fit under the floorboards.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday May 25 2018, @11:18PM
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-book [guinnessworldrecords.com]
3.6% of the world's largest book.
Or, approximately the same weight as the last print version of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.networkworld.com/article/2221907/software/encyclopaedia-britannica-will-no-longer-weigh-129-pounds.htm [networkworld.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex