1. Just want to bring up Florida House Bill 231/Senate Bill 718: Exposure of First Responders to Fentanyl and Fentanyl Analogs.

If passed in 2024, this bill would punish those that expose first responders to drugs that lead to injury with a 15-year minimum sentence.

🧵🪡 2. This bill is based on the myth that touching fentanyl will lead to overdose via skin absorption.

This myth has been dangerously perpetuated by law enforcement and media since the mid-2010s, due to multiple first responder incidents that have never been proven as overdoses.

All #fentanyl analogs in the black market are a product of drug regulation/prohibition.

Imagine making choc chip pancakes and finding that your spouse refused to buy choc chips so you find something that looks like choc chips and use those instead. Well, those were laxatives 🧵

https://twitter.com/drdavid_idem/status/1630340008686104581

2. I’m sure that analogy isn’t the greatest, but let’s talk about “true” fentanyl. The ingredients to make true fentanyl are no longer easy to access or buy because govt regulation restricted who can purchase those ingredients… and now cartel labs can’t find those ingredients.

https://twitter.com/drdavid_idem/status/1590374170474315777

There is a #mentalhealth epidemic amongst us. The pressures of life are already tough and the science/grad school environment can exacerbate untreated problems. It’s tragic to see young, bright lives like my fellow UCF Chemistry alum Samantha cut short. RIP 😪#SuicideAwareness

https://twitter.com/blackinchem/status/1630217474011430914

2. The sciences is a very cut throat field in academia. As a chemistry PhD student, I was responsible for 40+ hours/week of research, teaching/grading 15+ hours/week, on a < $1900/month stipend… all to eventually graduate into a field with low demand job market. Optimism was low

🧵THREAD: Florida Drug Data from the raw data the Medical Examiners Commission used for the "Drugs in Deceased Persons Annual Report for 2021".

Of 8565 total drug deaths in FL:
- 69% of death cases involved fentanyl
- 38% cocaine
- 31% fentanyl analogs
- 27% meth
- 5% heroin 2. To clarify why the sum of percentages add up to over 100%, it's because each death case could have involved more than one substance (polysubstance abuse). In Florida, 86% of drug deaths involved the use of multiple substances. Polysubstance use data adds context to this issue.

Cops cant "confirm" fentanyl is in a drug w/o a crime lab confirming it - our state's Attorney General should be familiar with how FDLE crime labs may take weeks-months for confirmation due to case backlog. This is PREMATURE reporting with no data to support the "fentanyl" claim.

https://twitter.com/AGAshleyMoody/status/1603866188924198912

2. To elaborate, this situation happened like a week ago. The sample would have had to be sent to a FDLE crime lab (closest one is in Orlando) and requested by Tavares PD to be a top priority sample, prioritized over ALL other drug case samples that have been in queue for months.

In order to 100% know fentanyl was in the drugs, a crime lab would have to run confirmatory tests on the sample.

Because FDLE crime labs have a huge case backlog, it is VERY unlikely for Tavares PD to get confirmatory results back in a few days and know for sure it was fentanyl

https://twitter.com/fox35orlando/status/1603548115885346817

2. For those that say “but cops have roadside drug test kits!!!”

Those (presumptive) test kits are so unreliable. They’ve been reported to yield false positives for chocolate, Benadryl, tea leaves, nutmeg, many more.

“Fentanyl” is THE buzzword when talking about the drug epidemic today. Most of the media and politicians have no clue about “fentanyl” when they discuss it. It’s vital to understand: There is “pharmaceutical-grade fentanyl” and there’s “illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF)”. 🧵 2. True fentanyl has a specific chemical structure (see image) that is approved for medicinal use. Any small changes to this structure would no longer make it true fentanyl, but an analog of fentanyl, which some media/politicians confusingly still refer to as “fentanyl”.

This is an ignored epidemic caused by our govt vilifying prescription opioids. When we restrict Rx opioids from ppl that need them to treat their debilitating pain, it doesn’t reduce drug deaths, it causes pain patients to commit suicide rather than live in pain. RIP @Dano1330 🧵

https://twitter.com/GojacketsJim/status/1589964295001235457

2. We can’t keep looking at the drug problem and assume that EVERYONE using Rx opioids is addicted. We can’t assume the only solution is treat addiction… pain patients are NOT addicted to opioids but they get treated like it and it’s been nothing but harmful to them.

It’s primary/midterm election season and I haven’t seen candidates, R or D, discussing an issue that killed 100,000+ Americans last year (incl. 8,500 in Florida) - the drug epidemic. Even on the bottom of their platforms - NOTHING 😕.

🧵🧵🧵 2. In my experience listening to politicians and elected officials talk about the drug epidemic, most of them are not educated on the topic enough and do not know how serious of an issue it is and what is causing it. So heres a crash course for all those in or running for office.

Let’s take a look at Orange County (Orlando) #Florida drug data. 2020 was a record year - 447 drug overdose deaths and another 2614 nonfatal ODs. Rx opioid dispensing trend has 📉 while ODs keep 📈, due to illicit drugs like street #fentanyl. Check the thread for my analysis 🧵🪡 2/ The drug poisoning/overdose death rate per 100k people graph shows the rates for All Drug ODs and Opioid-involved ODs both trending up. Most large metro areas in America experienced an increase from 2019-2020, as experts claimed the COVID pandemic exacerbated drug ODs.

Hillsborough County (Tampa) #Florida drug data show drug overdose deaths from 2019 to 2020 jumped from 277 to 485 deaths and Nonfatal ODs 📈 by 731. Opioid-involved (includes illicit #fentanyl) and heroin-involved nonfatal ODs are both trending up. Read the 🧵🪡 for my analysis. 2/ Hillsborough County (Tampa) usually has relatively decent (for a large metro) drug OD death rate numbers, with under 20 deaths per 100k ppl. Graph 1 shows the county jumped from 18.5 deaths per 100k ppl in 2019 to 32.1 in 2020, which is a jump you’d expect with 208 more deaths

Let’s take a look at Orange County (Orlando) #Florida drug data. 2020 was a record year - 447 drug overdose deaths and another 2614 nonfatal ODs. Rx opioid dispensing trend has 📉 while ODs keep 📈, due to illicit drugs like street #fentanyl. Check the thread for my analysis 🧵🪡 2/ The drug poisoning/overdose death rate per 100k people graph shows the rates for All Drug ODs and Opioid-involved ODs both trending up. Most large metro areas in America experienced an increase from 2019-2020, as experts claimed the COVID pandemic exacerbated drug ODs.

The trend for drug #overdose/poisoning deaths keep going ⬆️⬆️⬆️ as they count the data. For the 12 months ending in April 2021, the US had a record 100,000+ overdose deaths. *Thread/RANT* 🧵😡😤🗣

google.com/amp/s/www.nyti… Not to take attention away from people with addiction, but the media should also be using these opportunities to spread awareness about other at-risk groups, such as pain patients and ppl buying counterfeit pills for recreational use. They contribute to the death toll too.

Here is drug-related #data for the counties in the Philadelphia PA region from 2006-2018. I'd have to dive into the math later, but it looks like counties with the largest decreases in Rx #opioids dispensing had the largest increases in drug overdose death rates. *THREAD* Similar to my earlier tweet, in these visualizations you will generally see the counties on the left get darker (overdose death rate increasing) as the right gets lighter (Rx opioid dispensing rate decrease). This is apparent for Philadelphia, Delaware, and Bucks counties.

*THREAD 🧵* Here is a visualization of drug-related data from a regional perspective. I'll start with Central Florida counties that surround Orange County (Orlando). The left is drug overdose death rate, right is Rx opioid dispensing rate for each colored county from 2006-2018. As the rate changes from year to year, the colors either get darker (increase) or lighter (decrease). It's fairly straight forward. Seeing multiple counties from a regional view is pretty eye-opening 👀.

Here are data for Rx opioid dispensing and drug overdose deaths in #America. The notable feature is the 📉 of Rx opioid disp rate having no impact in reducing overdose deaths, then the rise of illicit fentanyl contributing to a sharp 📈 in the mid-2010s.

*thread* 🧵

https://twitter.com/jeppdx/status/1447723288147283969

The U.S. drug overdose/poisoning death rate has increased almost every year since 1999 (2018 had a 📈), but in the mid-2010s, there was a larger than normal increase in that rate. The rise of illicit fentanyl in the black market has been a big contributor to this mid-2010s spike.

I’ll cap #OverdoseAwarenessDay with this. Data show there was no correlation between Rx opioid dispensing and the drug overdose death rate in 38 states & D.C (represented by the dots) in 2018. The closer R-squared (R^2) is to 1, the stronger the correlation. Here R^2 is 0.00002. 0.00002 is VERY VERY far from 1, indicating that the Rx opioid dispensing rate from state to state had no effect on drug overdose numbers.

To compare the 3 south Florida counties’ drug #overdose data, each of them had an 83%+ increase of OD deaths from 2015 to 2016 📈. Then in 2018, all 3 saw a drop in their drug OD death count 📉.

#InternationalOverdoseAwarenessDay My educated guess: the positive overdose death spikes in 2015 may be attributed to the rise of illicit fentanyl in the US. I’m not too sure about the negative spike in 2018. Keep in mind that 2018 was the ONLY year of nationwide #overdose death decline since 1999.

Effective early drug education is necessary to curb drug #overdose deaths. And no, I don’t mean DARE. I taught a univ. freshman seminar class and they go through a lesson on “substance abuse” and those 18 yr olds didn’t know sh*t about drugs. #InternationalOverdoseAwarenessDay If that’s the representation of our teenage and young adults in the US, then we need to do more in middle school & high school to educate them about drugs, responsible medical use, and the risks of irresponsible or recreational drug use. Educate them rather than scare them str8.

My next few posts will be about South #Florida, the most populated region in my state. Miami-Dade Co. also had a large surge in drug #overdose deaths in 2016 and has remained above 200 per year ever since.

#InternationalOverdoseAwarenessDay This 135 drug #overdose death surge is within the same timing as the 248 death surge in the Jacksonville Florida area (shown in my last tweet) from 2015 to 2016. This surge also correlates to the rise of illicit fentanyl overdose spikes in the US.

It’s #InternationalOverdoseAwarenessDay. In America, the drug epidemic does not get enough attention from the media and our many public officials. Many ppl aren’t even aware of the fact that ~100k ppl died last year due to drug overdoses. Even before #COVID19 came along and numbed us from every day death tolls, 200 ppl were dying each day from drug use in the US. Now that number is 250 ppl dying per day from drug overdoses. The first step to a solution is to recognize that there is a problem.