4 ms·

Sure, but the "public face" of this is stories about fentanyl in kids' candy and cops having seizures after someone tells them they were within ten meters of so

Sure, but the "public face" of this is stories about fentanyl in kids' candy and cops having seizures after someone tells them they were within ten meters of some fentanyl. That aspect (i.e. the bullshit) is textbook moral-panic stuff.

starkd 4y ago
The hyperbole might be intentional, because it might be the only way to get the word out to the marginalised elements of society that are at greatest risk. I agree is not ideal, because it might lead people to ignore it. But the danger is very real.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  The target of those stories isn't marginalized elements, it's boring straight-laced suburban America. That's how you build enthusiasm for cracking down on illicit drug imports—which crackdown apparently mostly results in stopping prescription drugs that aren't fent, which may explain why this is being pushed so hard.
  - starkd 4y ago
    The target is mothers and fathers who have a child that might be susceptible to using recreational drugs. So, that they are aware and take extra notice. And maybe even have some narcan on hand just in case.
zdragnar 4y ago
Sorry for the fox news link (the WaPo source is paywalled) but there's a lawsuit being filed against airbnb and renters because someone's baby died of a fentanyl overdose after being laid down for a nap in a rental: https://www.foxnews.com/media/baby-dies-florida-airbnb-fentanyl-exposure-family-suspects-previous-renters-threw-drug-fueled-party?intcmp=tw_fnc https://www.foxnews.com/media/baby-dies-florida-airbnb-fenta... It's not bullshit when it is really happening. Lots of people on the internet want to pretend it's not real, but there's actual video footage of it: https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/video-florida-cop-treated-for-overdose-after-possible-fentanyl-exposure-police-say/ https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/video-florida-cop-treated-... Does that mean you're likely to die of exposure to fentanyl tomorrow? Almost certainly not (unless you're doing drugs cut with it, like a friend of mine did). Does that mean we should sit back and let it happen? No, not at all.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  What's "really happening" is not in line with how it's being reported. It's being reported like the Tide Pod thing, which was (surprise, surprise) 99% made-up with a nugget of truth (which was not enough material to drive months of coverage, certainly) at the core, while news organizations pointedly failed to look into it (the actual news, to the extent there is any, isn't that teenagers were doing it—which barely happened—but that toddlers and old people with dementia eat them at many times the rate of what was happening in that not-actually-a-fad—but "people without full mental faculties sometimes consume cleaning products" isn't a story, it's just normal life). Yes, of course fent is dangerous. Yes, if a kid finds a little in an AirBnB and ingests it, that could kill them. The angle the news is taking is largely bullshit, though, and it's bullshit very much on purpose, like all the other times this happens. They're not doing it to inform. [EDIT] The most important aspect of how the media are covering this is probably that their focus is on stories (real or otherwise) that will tend to get the broad, dull middle class to support more import enforcement—not on coverage that might, say, tend to build support for proven harm-reduction like safe use sites w/ drug purity testing and distributing narcan more widely. Evidently, that stepped-up import enforcement largely stops other drugs—like asthma medicine. Which raises the very real possibility that this panic and the tone & shape it's taken—which, again, isn't promoting actual safety for the people most-affected by this—is driven, at least in part, by trade interest groups & their PR firms/departments.
- shagie 4y ago
  Gift link for WaPo article (no paywall) Their toddler took a nap in an Airbnb — and fentanyl killed her https://wapo.st/3mvOXmi https://wapo.st/3mvOXmi

starkd 4y ago

The hyperbole might be intentional, because it might be the only way to get the word out to the marginalised elements of society that are at greatest risk. I agree is not ideal, because it might lead people to ignore it. But the danger is very real.

yamtaddle 4y ago
The target of those stories isn't marginalized elements, it's boring straight-laced suburban America. That's how you build enthusiasm for cracking down on illicit drug imports—which crackdown apparently mostly results in stopping prescription drugs that aren't fent, which may explain why this is being pushed so hard.
- starkd 4y ago
  The target is mothers and fathers who have a child that might be susceptible to using recreational drugs. So, that they are aware and take extra notice. And maybe even have some narcan on hand just in case.

zdragnar 4y ago

Sorry for the fox news link (the WaPo source is paywalled) but there's a lawsuit being filed against airbnb and renters because someone's baby died of a fentanyl overdose after being laid down for a nap in a rental: https://www.foxnews.com/media/baby-dies-florida-airbnb-fentanyl-exposure-family-suspects-previous-renters-threw-drug-fueled-party?intcmp=tw_fnc https://www.foxnews.com/media/baby-dies-florida-airbnb-fenta... It's not bullshit when it is really happening. Lots of people on the internet want to pretend it's not real, but there's actual video footage of it: https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/video-florida-cop-treated-for-overdose-after-possible-fentanyl-exposure-police-say/ https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/video-florida-cop-treated-... Does that mean you're likely to die of exposure to fentanyl tomorrow? Almost certainly not (unless you're doing drugs cut with it, like a friend of mine did). Does that mean we should sit back and let it happen? No, not at all.

yamtaddle 4y ago
What's "really happening" is not in line with how it's being reported. It's being reported like the Tide Pod thing, which was (surprise, surprise) 99% made-up with a nugget of truth (which was not enough material to drive months of coverage, certainly) at the core, while news organizations pointedly failed to look into it (the actual news, to the extent there is any, isn't that teenagers were doing it—which barely happened—but that toddlers and old people with dementia eat them at many times the rate of what was happening in that not-actually-a-fad—but "people without full mental faculties sometimes consume cleaning products" isn't a story, it's just normal life). Yes, of course fent is dangerous. Yes, if a kid finds a little in an AirBnB and ingests it, that could kill them. The angle the news is taking is largely bullshit, though, and it's bullshit very much on purpose, like all the other times this happens. They're not doing it to inform. [EDIT] The most important aspect of how the media are covering this is probably that their focus is on stories (real or otherwise) that will tend to get the broad, dull middle class to support more import enforcement—not on coverage that might, say, tend to build support for proven harm-reduction like safe use sites w/ drug purity testing and distributing narcan more widely. Evidently, that stepped-up import enforcement largely stops other drugs—like asthma medicine. Which raises the very real possibility that this panic and the tone & shape it's taken—which, again, isn't promoting actual safety for the people most-affected by this—is driven, at least in part, by trade interest groups & their PR firms/departments.
shagie 4y ago
Gift link for WaPo article (no paywall) Their toddler took a nap in an Airbnb — and fentanyl killed her https://wapo.st/3mvOXmi https://wapo.st/3mvOXmi