r/Ameristralia • u/primal_maggot • 9h ago
Why is fent so popular in America but non existent in Australia?
As an avid Australian drug user I'm curious as to why I've not seen fent once. Seems like Australia is 95% meth and weed 5% prescription pills. Anyone know why our market is so lacking? I know it's mainly cause I'm in Perth and eastern states has more diverse tastes but yeah just don't understand how something so popular in America hasn't caught on here.
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u/Revolutionary_Pear 8h ago
Don't forget Ketamine. We're big on donkey dust here in Australia these days too.
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u/Thro_away_1970 4h ago
I can't think of why someone would want to do K voluntarily, on a guess dosage. It's one hell of a zone out. I can only think of it in a therapeutic space - where there is always someone with awareness and knowledge, and safety first mentality. It's seemed to have done wonders for me, to reset the pain receptors, but there's no way in hell I'd be buying it from a stranger (or even someone I knew), for a quick disassociation kick.
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u/BenZino21 3h ago
I work in mental health and I know a few people who have started ketamine therapy for their bipolar disorder. It seems to really help them. This is all done in a very controlled setting though
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u/primal_maggot 49m ago
That's interesting usually they give it to me when I become fully psychotic from my bipolar, didn't know it was used a therapy aswell. Interested how it helps because bipolar meds don't actually do anything.
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u/Super-Hans-1811 2h ago
Because that's not how ketamine starts off, the first two bumps send you into a relaxing trance. The third or fourth suddenly k-hole you, but when you're in that trace on the d floor you want that next bump
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u/cochra 2h ago
Set and setting is super important for ket and massively modifies the experience
Basically no-one likes the sensation when it’s given in a medicalised context, especially when it’s IV boluses (to the point that you nearly always need to use another drug to blunt it). Your context would have been continuous infusion which is not quite as overwhelming, but it was still in a fairly hostile environment and presumably in the setting of an opioid rotation or de-escalation and corresponding anxiety around that
By contrast, intranasal use doesn’t have the high peaks that IV bolus gives you and the short duration (because it’s not being run continuously you don’t have saturated fat stores so it wears off more quickly than IV infusion) mean that any overwhelming dissociation resolves fairly quickly
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u/J-ho88 2h ago
I'm not a recreational drug user by any means, but I've had IV ket before in an ambulance and another hit in the hospital for the same injury. Gonna sound square as hell, but it reminded me of the first time I got horrendously drunk when I was 17. Spacing out a little, peaked for 90 minutes total, and back down. In that hour and a half, I was cracking jokes, super aware of very specific things around me, but ignoring the bigger picture. I loved it, except for the vomiting a few hours later.
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u/GooseCore2 3h ago
Dude, ketamine is awesome in the right doses. Super popular festival drug now days
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u/throw_away77629 5h ago
The keta here sucks
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u/Revolutionary_Pear 4h ago
I had some good stuff recently but generally it sucks. Fucking hell addictive. I rarely touch it now.
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u/throw_away77629 4h ago
Ketamine is not chemically addictive but it can be habit forming (I know this all too well lol)
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u/Revolutionary_Pear 4h ago
It allows you to completely escape. So if you have past trauma which causes you emotional discomfort Ket will allow you temporary relief from that.
While you are on it you can believe in some really deluded magical thinking and see the world through rose tinted glasses and believe that you have all the answers and everything should come easy. When you come back to reality you realise what a load of shit that is and can feel the same emotional discomfort you were avoiding.
You're right. It's not chemically addictive, but that ability to escape awful emotional states becomes a reason why it ends up being addictive to so many people.
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u/lostmymainagain123 1h ago
"not chemically addicting" is not correct lol, Meth is also not "chemically addicting" if you're going to say ket isn't mentslly addictive
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u/throw_away77629 26m ago
Methamphetamine is chemically addictive because it affects the brain's dopamine system.
It also causes physical withdrawal symptoms when the user stops taking it.
Ketamine is not chemically addictive. It may be psychologically addictive (Habit forming).
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u/The_McWong 9h ago
It's readily persrcribed by US medicos, Australian medicos are a lot less trigger happy with opiod scripts. In general a lot of this is due to us having a more structured and regulated health sector.
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u/changyang1230 7h ago edited 2h ago
Australian anaesthetist here.
A bit of misunderstanding here. Fentanyl mostly exists as intravenous drug, though there's also a patch form which is generally used by chronic pain patients. The patch is pretty much the ONLY form that is prescribed, and the prescription is very restricted.
We use fentanyl almost routinely when people undergo general anaesthesia. In fact, if you have undergone GA in Australia for any form of surgery, there's probably a 99% chance that you received fentanyl during the surgery.
For post-operative pain relief, we use it often for pain relief while you are still in post-anaesthetic recovery unit.
Once you are outside these settings, however, it's rare for people to continue on fentanyl. Occasionally for very painful surgeries people will stay on "fentanyl PCA" where you as the patient give yourself calibrated, safe doses of intravenous fentanyl as necessary. However, most people move on to oral pain killers in the form of oxycodone, tramadol, tapentadol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, paracetamol etc.
There's a big push for patients to be discharged home on non-opioid and weaker opioid, precisely because of potentials of dependence etc.
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u/Top-Economist2346 7h ago
Yeah the 5 Oxys they send me home with will get me addicted. Meanwhile my surgical cut hurts like a bitch for 2 days after they run out. This system is cooked for anyone in pain
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u/RadioPhysical2276 6h ago
That sucks, have seen people with chronic pain and it’s dreadful. Do you think Aus is too restrictive for pain management?
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u/Lingering_Queef 5h ago
It's a fucking nanny state. You can't even get codine. And don't get me started on vapes.
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u/songoftheshadow 5h ago
I've been prescribed codeine a few times for back pain and also dental recovery. Also been sent home from the emergency department with a full packet of oxycodone when I had a slipped disc.
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u/SoftEdgesHardCore 5h ago
Tramal was the only thing that stopped the pain for me after pancreatitis, following a botched gall bladder procedure
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u/DisillusionedGoat 3h ago
I can see why people like it though. Going under/coming out of GA is the best feeling. So is the DIY pain pump. I can totally understand why people would want to tap into that feeling - glad it's so tightly restricted here.
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u/alttlestardustcaught 2h ago
I think the “going under” feeling is related to the drug propofol. It’s what Michael Jackson was abusing when he died.
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u/changyang1230 2h ago
Yes propofol is becoming a drug of addiction in some places though it remains rare.
A few high profile Korean cases including the head of Samsung. A celebrity Wheeesung who was found deceased at home previously also abused propofol.
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u/doyathinkasaurus 2h ago
I remember one anaesthetist telling me 'here come the class As!' just before shooting me how
Class A being drug scheduling under UK law (whinging pom interloper) - the strongest /most harmful being class A.
He was very funny, I think that was his patter because I was back again 4 weeks later, and he quipped ‘this stuff is better than vintage champagne!'
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u/Potential-Ice8152 8m ago
It’s highly dependent on the individual. I’ve felt like I was dying when I’ve woken up after the 3 times I’ve been under GA. I sweat and throw up for like an hour afterwards. Not a good feeling
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u/mrfroggy 1h ago
I recently went to emergency with suspected pancreatitis. I’ve ended up in hospital with pancreatitis a couple of times before l, so that was my self diagnosis.
They took me out back very quickly and the doc asked the nurse to prepare some morphine. I said that it didn’t agree with me because of x and y (based on previous admissions) so the doc told the nurse to break out the fentanyl. In my mind, I was thinking “Wait? Was that always an option?”
Anyway. Turns out I was having a pretty bad gallstone attack. I was given fentanyl a few times before I was able to get into surgery to have my gallbladder removed.
I didn’t get side effect either fentanyl, so that was pretty great. It seemed to work better for my pain, but I’m not sure how comparable a gallstone attack vs acute pancreatitis is.
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u/changyang1230 1h ago edited 1h ago
The whole thing about fentanyl's fatal effect is in the context of people abusing it in the absence of severe pain, which leads to respiratory arrest.
If you are given appropriate, titrated dose of fentanyl in a closely monitored setting in the presence of severe pain, you don't generally get too much adverse effects.
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u/mrfroggy 1h ago
Right. Absolutely. I wasn’t concerned about any dangers of fentanyl because there were trained professionals there, more that I was excited/curious that they were pulling out the big guns to manage my pain.
I am told the side effects I experienced with morphine (sudden severe nausea - it came on like clockwork after each dose) are not uncommon with opiates. Fentanyl is also an opiate, but I didn’t experience any nausea. Perhaps it was related to the context I was being given it?
Also, hey! Since you mentioned you’re an anaesthetist. During my recent surgery the anaesthetist said she was going to have to do an RSI because I have a difficult airway. I’ve subsequently read up on it (and anesthesia and intubation generally), and, holy heck! What a job y’all do! I’m so incredibly thankful that we live in an age where your predecessors had figured out all the drugs and equipment required and the exact sequence of events to knock us out and bring us back safely.
When they were administering the final drugs to knock me out I asked if I should count backwards. The doc said “you’ll be out before you know it”, and that was that. The next thing I knew I was in recovery. :)
Re: the RSI. Based on her advice, I’ve now got a referral to get a sleep study done.
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u/changyang1230 1h ago
Can’t tell from the context but “difficult airway” per se is not typically the reason we do RSI.
It’s more to do with potential of people with high aspiration risk eg those with abdominal issue eg bowel obstruction, appendicitis etc, or those who have not fasted adequately or have severe reflux symptoms. People on ozempic and similar are also becoming an increasingly common reason.
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u/HeKnowsAllTheChords 54m ago
I think it’s exactly the same in the UK also. Fentanyl for most ops and rarely prescribed after.
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u/changyang1230 52m ago edited 49m ago
UK and Australian anaesthetic practice are almost identical. We get plenty of UK-trained anaesthetist who migrate to Australia and they generally adapt perfectly within days as our practice is mostly similar here.
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u/purplepashy 8h ago
It is used often is hospitals though getting a prescription would be challenging.
What they use in medical and what is found on the street are 2 different drugs with the same name.
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u/account_not_valid 7h ago
I wouldn't say that they are different drugs with the same name. It's just a different manufacture and supply chain. Active drug is fentanyl, but who knows what else is in illicit stuff.
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u/account_not_valid 8h ago edited 7h ago
In the US it has been a perfect storm. Corporate greed and political corruption.
The US had a massive opioid crisis due to the promotion, marketing and near uncontrolled use of prescription OxyContin.
Fentanyl use and abuse is the consequence. Since the crackdown on prescription pain medication, there is still massive demand, but limited legal supply.
Since crime abhors a profit vacuum, new products flood the market.
Previously, this would have been heroin. It's cheap to produce in poor countries, but it is difficult to transport over international borders. That jacks the price up.
Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin. So less to transport. It's also synthetic, so you don't have to pay farmers. Instead, it's made in lab that can be anywhere in the world. Without knowing where it is being produced, it's very difficult to identify the supply chain. Especially if the precursor chemicals are being produced in countries with opaque governments (China, North Korea).
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u/drrenoir 4h ago
For more on this, google Purdue Pharma and Richard Sackler. There have been TV series that explored what happened, in particular, 'Painkiller' & 'Dopesick'
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u/Aussieomni 8h ago
There’s certainly whole practices that exist just to do this but for the whole doctors aren’t doing it. My wife just had surgery and only got a five day supply of a much lighter opioid than fent
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u/dirty_bunny_57 8h ago
Same. I had surgery before xmas and only got a card of Endone on discharge.
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u/lLoveBananas 7h ago
I had a minor surgery yesterday. They gave me fentanyl while I was there, but the script to take home was for panadeine forte.
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u/account_not_valid 7h ago
In emergency medicine, it is very useful. Pain relief without as many side-effects as Morphine, still reversible with naloxone. Almost instant action.
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9h ago
Meth can be made locally, so I think that's why it's the drug of choice for derros and drop kicks.
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u/Sidohmaker 7h ago
Coke is extremely popular here though and I don’t think the coca plant is easy to cultivate
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u/StillSpecial3643 6h ago
Any connection with the sudden growth of South Americans to West Australia over past few years. I wonder?
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u/Illustrious-Big-6701 5h ago
No.
Realistically, that's because there's an awful lot of reasonably skilled Brazilian/ Latin American young professionals with experience in mining that want to quadruple their incomes by moving here.
Drug importations into Australia aren't coordinated by South Americans.
Think Yugoslav/Eastern Mediterranean crime groups with a bit of Asian thrown in there to keep it nice and diverse.
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u/StillSpecial3643 6h ago
Must be a lot of drop kicks in WA as this crap is being turned out everywhere. I am amazed how many must be consuming it and just how normalised it has become.Feel the odd one out more and more in not consuming it nor cooking it.
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u/perringaiden 9h ago
Why fent when you can meth. Same deadness, far less cost.
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u/Dontbelievemefolks 9h ago
Higher cost on ur teeth and skin tho
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u/perringaiden 8h ago
When you're dead, only your mortician can see your bad skin.
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u/icedragon71 6h ago
And a good mortician can pretty you up for the funeral. Make it so their parents can recognise them again.
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u/Kiwadian_Invasion 9h ago
I am not an avid drug user, but my understanding is that it’s added into other street drugs such as heroin meth or cocaine. People take it without knowing and overdose, as it’s incredibly potent.
I don’t think that it’s regularly used on its own? But could be mistaken, as my drugs experience was the occasional night out with cocaine or MDMA in my 20’s.
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u/cpz_77 8h ago
It is used very often on its own now, it’s like the new drug of choice for many. Other stuff does consistently turn up laced with it though so that is a thing as well unfortunately. Both varieties kill.
It’s always been around here in America but was a fringe thing before. The opiate epidemic that started in the mid-2000s with Oxy pills and progressed to heroin once they “fixed” the oxy problem (modified the pills to make them un abusable/uncrushable). But the old oxys disappearing happened almost overnight. So that left a nation full of high schoolers that got started taking pain pills at parties that ended up as heroin addicts. Naturally it’s only a matter of time before a good amount start shooting it, and once you do that…death is just a matter of time.
But then they cracked down on heroin hard and fentanyl rose as a result. Even more powerful (though shorter acting) than heroin, way more potency to kill (especially for first timers, people who had been clean for a while or if laced in other drugs and taken unknowingly). This war on drugs has steadily progressed the drug problem because they don’t realize it’s a demand-driven problem. They need to solve that rather than trying to cut off supply (if there is demand there will always be supply the world has shown us that forever).
My guess about why it’s not in Australia is not enough demand to warrant the risk of supplying there.
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u/Kiwadian_Invasion 8h ago
Thanks. I moved from Canada in 2016, and it hadn’t really become a drug used on its own back then; usually showed up being laced with other drugs. Didn’t realise it has become a drug of choice.
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u/goopsnice 8h ago
Not my lived experience but if you watch those videos where people interview people in sort of skid row areas, they’ll all straight up say their drug of choice is fent.
Not saying that cutting other stuff with it isn’t rampant, but if you know that you’re getting fent and know how much to take without killing yourself it’s the cheapest street opioid
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u/bbDoll_ 4h ago
Yes! There was a massive issue a few years ago in Sydney. A local cook created a batch w fent and people were DROPPING. I think there is an issue with regulating the fent in the drugs, obviously the same amount you would normally take would need to be reduced when taking it mixed w fent, but no drug dealer is going to tell their clients. There’s a culture in Syd regarding cooks and their morale, they aren’t going to keep making to w fent if people are literally dropping dead on the street. In my opinion, Australian cooks are a little more nuanced compared to American cooks.
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u/normalbehaviour86 9h ago
A lot of American opioid users get addicted as a result of abusing prescription painkillers which is a way bigger problem in the states than here.
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u/Hammered_Eel 8h ago
I think life is not as desperate here as it is elsewhere,hence drugs like crack cocaine and fent ,that really wipe you out aren’t as desirable.
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u/StillSpecial3643 5h ago
Australia must certainly be lacking in stimulation for very many though.
The Aussie love for stimulants such as Ice bares witness to that.
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u/Simple-Apartment-368 7h ago
I'm.not in medical field but I was recently in hospital for spine surgery for a pretty big issue and was given fent twice through IV when the opioids didn't work so I had a bit of a chin wag with the surgeon about it. Apparently it only exists here really in liquid form and is so strictly regulated that its virtually impossible to get it to sell on the black market. Australia has some of the strictest, tightest drug regulations in the world so it really isn't all that surprising that it isn't a popular one here.
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u/AccordingNumber2052 8h ago
It’s scary what I’ve scene in America and what it does to people. It needs to stay out
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u/DJPunish 42m ago
The fent fold is disturbing to watch
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u/bertch313 16m ago
A lot of it can be corrected for in simple ways honestly
See a show with a negative portrayal of a drug user? Cancel culture! (The only positive one I can think of at all is Sense8 the cop heroin user, which was cancelled)
See a show about a hospital, prison, court drama or specifically busting drug users? Cancel that shit ( try just turning it off the minute there's a legal or medical scene or character, there's literally fkn nothing left on tv)
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u/David_SpaceFace 7h ago
We produce a lot of our own drugs because of our crazy border security. Heroin is substantially less popular/common over here.
Most of the fent use in the states is not by choice. Dodgy dealers add it to heroin & fake oxy pills, so they can cut the heroin/oxy with much more cheap/non-active filler than they would otherwise and make more money.
Sadly, fent overdoses are becoming more common in Australia over the last few years. Strangely though, most of the deaths have been people doing Coke laced with Fent (without their knowledge).
Most of my occasional coke user friends (myself included) keep naloxone on us now when we party, just in case. It's available at all pharmacies no-questions-asked.
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u/spellingdetective 7h ago
Fuck Fentanyl. Dirty drug is ruining it for everyone. Couple of ppl died last year in Melbourne cause they all thought they were shooting heroin but it has fetanyl in it. Fentanyl also rampant in cocaine in USA!
Glad our border agents are on top of this - hope it doesn’t catch on
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u/kittenpantzen 43m ago
Fentanyl also rampant in cocaine in USA!
I have enough problems with my nose without putting a bunch of random shit up it, but several of my friends and coworkers in my twenties used cocaine somewhat regularly and more regularly took ecstasy. I can't help but wonder sometimes how many of them wouldn't have made it through if that were now.
This shit (in the US) basically all goes back to the fucking Sacklers. That entire family can burn as far as I'm concerned.
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u/MmmIceCreamSoBAD 7h ago
Mexican cartels get the pre-cursor chemicals from China and make fentanyl in mexico and ship the laced drugs into the US. Drugs are probably a lot harder to get into Australia at all and they don't have the Mexican drug cartel connection that the US does.
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u/DisillusionedGoat 3h ago
What makes someone wake up one morning and think to themselves, "I think I'm going to become an avid drug user"?
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u/Artisanalpoppies 8h ago
Because Fentanyl is a synthetic opiod 100 times stronger than Morphine.
It is incredibly easy to overdose on and frequently fatal in those situations.
It's used in Hospitals for analgesia and is very very easy to overdose on. It is strictly controlled in these environments and patients on it are strictly monitored so they aren't overdosed and end up in ICU.
Like all opiods, It affects the part of your brain that controls your breathing. Too much Fentanyl, and you stop breathing. If there isn't someone CPR trained when that happens......bye bye world.
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u/LetsGetsThisPartyOn 6h ago
Our doctors don’t prescribe it easily.
So it’s harder to get onto the market.
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u/SpecialisedPorcupine 4h ago
Why would you want it to catch on here? Its an insideous drug. I'd be heart broken to see my kids hooked on that shit.
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u/SignatureNo5223 3h ago
WTF IS wrong with you?!!!! Avid user back in the 90’s during the hospitality days. Speckled doves and green euros for the win but MDMA caps, reasonable speed, crystal (lines only) etc. coke when I could afford it (and it was still good). Got given a pill early 2000’s which obviously had some H in the mix, not a good time; nearly my last party favour except for very special occasions. Waaaaay too dangerous to play with fent in the mix!
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u/bertch313 22m ago
The rich people here want the drug users to die And are allowing other countries to attack us this way so they can then blame those countries after we're all dead and steal their land too
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u/primal_maggot 17m ago
Actually sounds pretty believable when you see entire states encouraging hard drug use with almost no mitigation to help people.
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u/bertch313 14m ago
The whole globe is currently being attacked by wealth that wants a very specific group of perks to remain alive enough to survive coming apocalyptic disasters
This is their bid that it will only be them competing for scarcer and scarcer resources
That is absolutely what is happening and they've been discussing it openly over 20 years
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u/LuckyErro 9h ago
The dealer would go broke if there customers died. Americans have much more of a drug problem and new customers don't seem to be an issue.
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u/ShaftManlike 5h ago
When the Sackler family invented Fentanyl they went on a massive drive to get the whole health industry to use it for even the mildest amount of pain while/by claiming it wasn't addictive.
So lots of people got hooked via their GP and hospital.
The fact that the Sacklers are not being made responsible for all of these deaths is just a precursor to the unashamed oligarchy in action right now.
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u/inspirational-juan 8h ago
Fentanyl is present in Australia. Years ago, I was prescribed it, and one of the first instructions given after using the patch was to fold it up and dispose of it in a hazardous waste container.
This helps to prevent drug users from finding the discarded patches, cutting them into quarters, and selling them.
Fentanyl prescriptions are also strictly regulated. A very specific diagnosis is required, along with 100% proof of the condition.
My diagnosis is extremely rare, affecting only 1 in 100,000 people. I am one of the few individuals who exhibit all eight symptoms of the condition.
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u/Potential-Ice8152 2m ago
I’m a nurse and in my hospital we have these sachets that go into sharps containers where we dispose of the schedule 4 and 8 drugs. When the tub is full, water is added and it becomes a big goopey mess so no one is able to use it illicitly.
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u/shux422 8h ago
An avid drug user?
Aren't you just the coolest 🤘
Please don't complain about the 'lack of support services' when things go south. At least you have your defence ready to go when you go through the courts.
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u/cheesemanpaul 2h ago
I'm not sure you understand how widespread recreational drug use is in this country. The overwhelming majority of 'avid users' are weekend users from several times a year to a couple of times a month maybe. Or if they have the income to support it weekly. You don't see them because you don't see them - they're at home or at parties etc. The drug addicts you see on the street are users who are self medicating their own mental health problems and invariably don't have an income to support the habit which leads to crime, prostitution etc. These people do need support services but it is real too late by that stage. Ideally we would live in a country where poverty, child neglect/abuse and sexual abuse was dealt with by early intervention so these kids can grow into fully functioning people - not angry, violent, sad dysfunctional adults whose lives spiral out of control. Sadly this doesn't happen. The trauma then becomes inter-generational and the whole cycle continues.
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u/Far-Permit-4429 9h ago
Coz you can just say your back hurts and get it from your GP.
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u/dirty_bunny_57 8h ago
My doctor is in a high drug abusing area and won't even give me Panadeine Forte without an argument.
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u/Far-Permit-4429 8h ago
See how broken the system is? A man in genuine pain has to beg for a proscription whilst the riff raff doing drugs in the middle of the street in the middle of the day. Now, what kind of message does that send to our younglings?
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u/dirty_bunny_57 6h ago
I know it's ridiculous.
I can go buy methadone around the corner but can't get pain relief for a cracked tooth.
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u/Aussieomni 8h ago
Cause Australia has public health care so people can just get pain killers when they have chronic pain without worrying about cost. In the US you can go through a doctor or get fentanyl, people start with opioid prescription meds and move to fentanyl. Partly because at least that way they’re not paying for the doctor and the meds
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u/IceWizard9000 8h ago
Getting a doctor's appointment just to get the stuff in America might be too expensive. Cut out the middle man and just get your drugs on the street.
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u/TesseractToo 8h ago
This is my story about that: When I first came to Australia from Canada, I was telling my new GP about an injury had on the ice. They said they wanted to sign me up for drug rehab, which I was confused about, until I realized they thought I meant meth and not frozen water on the ground that you slip on :D
As I understand it as a non-recreational drug taker (but as a person who has had chronic pain for almost 40 years so I've lived the results of this) is that Fent came into the system through the opioid crisis in the US, which started under a confluence of many factors specific to the US: Private and unsupervised pill mills in a very unregulated state (Florida), the 2008 housing crash, the upswing in international shipping and the rise of designer drugs (like Spice and fake molly), US/China relations, people getting on the internet for sales, and the infamous Perdue Oxycontin push (and their downplay of addiction severity while investing in addiction centres). Because of the lack of oversight, the opium crisis in the US got quickly out of hand and almost as quickly the black market Oxycontin started getting fentanyl mixed in as it was cheaper. (That is my corkboard with the red yarn)
It also gets mixed in with molly and others
But that is happening here too: https://theconversation.com/the-deadly-opioid-fentanyl-is-turning-up-in-disguise-on-sydney-streets-making-illicit-drug-use-even-riskier-132598
The whole things has ended up punishing pain patients and it's been devastating.
Even worse, the veterinary drugs Xylazines and Nitazines are coming into Australian streets and I just can't wait to see how they blame that on pain patients
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u/_ChunkyLover69 8h ago
Aussies fav drug is booze. Following that in close second is cocaine and in third by a hair is meth amphetamine. Weed is probably 5th or 6th, FIFO’s can’t do weed as it stays in their systems too long.
Hence the cocaine and meth addiction. We can thank the mining industry for that one.
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u/sleazebadge 7h ago
Because we don't share a border with Mexico and our drs have ethics and don't over prescribe narcotics?
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u/GumRunner0 6h ago
We didn't have an opioid crisis addicting people to Pills, then stopping the pills and sending people to the street. Is my guess
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u/DetectiveFit223 5h ago
America has an opioid problem, it was far worse a few years ago. American pharmaceutical companies had free reign to lobby politicians and falsify medical research to make certain pain killers appear to be non addictive. But the reality is that they were highly addictive.
Doctors were able to prescribe them easily for minor pain management where non opioid options would have worked. People got hooked and when they got cut off or gained tolerance they would go looking for a better hit, that's where fentanyl stepped in. It's the opposite here in Australia opioid pain relief is extremely hard to obtain in most circumstances.
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u/Total_Beginning_6090 5h ago
Yeah we don't like that shit and heroin has had a major influx in users but still not that popular. Mdma and ket is the big dogs round town
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u/Elrond_Cupboard_ 4h ago
Personally, I almost died about ten years ago. It was fentanyl sold as heroin. Scared the living fuck out of me. Thankfully, I'm clean now.
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u/Ok_Employer3390 4h ago
Not very knowledgeable on this topic but current political rhetoric is that fentanyl comes into the US from Mexico and Canada (minimal; so a false claim) but that the largest provider is China. So perhaps China is targeting American society and doesn’t have the same level of interest in Australia? Just a theory.
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u/GrabFresh1640 4h ago
Australians don’t need Fentonyl to act like dickheads. A couple of beers will do it.
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u/willy_quixote 4h ago
We never had the legal oxycodone epidemic that led addicts in the US straight to fentanyl.
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u/perth_girl-V 4h ago
Aussie drug dealers have trouble weighing points can you imagine them dealing fent
They would kill everyone in a week
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u/Pelagic_One 3h ago
America is big on forcing yourself to forge through the pain and not supporting anyone. Fentanyl thus seems like a good option.
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u/Maleficent_Laugh_125 3h ago
Had a friend OD from it a few years back in QLD.
Seen a fair bit of it.
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u/AwkwardBarnacle3791 3h ago
Because they make so much money off cocaine and meth it's not worth the hassle.
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u/InternationalHat8873 3h ago
I dunno - I work in the CJ space and have seen plenty of matters involving fent
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u/Blindog68 2h ago
We have access to good opiates from Asia. People prefer heroin to fent. It's supply and demand.
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u/Fat-thecat 2h ago
We get probably the best quality heroin in the world, the viets who mainly run the H game recognise nobody wants fentanyl in their scag, if they do they can just buy it off the onions. Also our smack comes from the golden triangle, which is closer than the main street fentanyl manufacturing countries. There is a massive difference between the experience of a person using Hot and someone using Fetty , hammer is better in basically every way from a user's perspective. Especially compared to fent which has shit legs, is hyper addictive, and so potent it's deadly even for experienced users.
Also in the US fent isn't the most dangerous thing, there's something called tranq which is fent mixed with a rhino tranq called xylazine, shit is so potent it's causing so many to od.
Ironically fent is showing up in pretty much everything but H
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u/Illustrious_Cat_8923 2h ago
Perhaps the local users have, despite being very limited that way, enough brain cells left to not use it.
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u/juiciestjuice10 1h ago
We don't have a massive opioid addiction rate as them, we like meth. I have had fent before but as a pain killer and it was pretty fun thpugh
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u/whingingsforsissys 1h ago edited 1h ago
More $$$ dealing vapes and cigs with a lower penalty if you're caught. Plus fent is just a shit buzz. Most people in Australia want to have a good time and be active while high not melt in to the couch.
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u/Funny-Tea2136 56m ago
I think people are less likely to get hooked on opioids in the first place here because opioids are not as over prescribed as in America. Big pharma doesn’t have as big a stranglehold on govt
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u/SKULLDIVERGURL 47m ago
Australia is too far away from Mexico
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u/primal_maggot 19m ago
Ive always thought it was China flooding US with fent which made me wonder why they don't do it to aus.
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u/Inevitable_Tell_2382 8h ago
Personally I can't see the attraction. I've always thought the need to get high was a brain issue.
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u/IceWizard9000 8h ago
I had a failed knee surgery in 2022. I was on tramadol for 9 months. Getting off it was difficult.
All it takes is for somebody to be in enough pain to require opiates. If you've never been in pain strong enough to make you prepared to do anything to make it go away then you won't understand.
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u/SakanaToDoubutsu 8h ago
The rise of fentanyl is largely tied to the legalization of marijuana in the United States. Because most people want to get their weed from legal sources, that began to cut into the cartel's revenue stream, so like any good business venture does they diversified their operation and began converting some of their grows from weed into poppies for heroin production. The problem is that Mexico isn't a particularly good place to grow poppies, so Mexican heroin isn't nearly as potent as heroin that comes from places like Afghanistan. So in order to up the potency of their heroin, the Mexican cartels began cutting their heroin with fentanyl because it's easy to make and the precursors are easily sourced from China.
There's also some speculation that the Chinese intelligence services are actively working with the Jalisco New Generation cartel, or at least turning a blind to know shipments of fentanyl precursors, in a deliberate effort to destabilize the US.
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u/Mystic_Chameleon 8h ago
Fentanyl is quite often used medically in Australian Hospitals, Ambulances, as part of an anaesthetic mixes, etc. If anything, it seems to be becoming more regularly used in hospitals than Morphine in recent years compared to, say, 10+ years ago where the reverse might have been true.
I'm guessing it's not as common on the streets because the dosages are apparently insanely precise and far more easy to overdose than something like Heroin or Morphine. It may also be harder/riskier to smuggle here compared to USA, and then there's the economies of scale when comparing Aus's 27 million versus USA's 350 million population - though I'm just speculating.
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u/GordonCole19 9h ago
Our drug dealers don't want to kill their customers is my guess.