The California Highway Patrol may best be known for freeway chases and the Hollywood glamour of its motorcycle cops in television shows like “ChiPs.” But now the storied agency is patrolling the streets of San Francisco’s Tenderloin as part of a multiagency effort to crack down on rampant drug dealing that’s decimating the 50-square-block area.
On one day recently, CNN watched as task force members arrested a suspected drug dealer accused of selling meth and fentanyl. Inside a plastic bag: 33 grams of fentanyl that CHP officer Andy Barclay estimates, at its worst, could potentially kill thousands of people.
“We’re looking at around 16,500 fatal doses of pure fentanyl in that small bag. Yes, 16,500 people could potentially die,” Barclay said.
I do agree that police tend to lie about quantities of drugs confiscated (weighing including the packaging etc.), but a quick google search for fentanyl doses does line up with the OD potential. It is extremely potent in small quantities which is why you see so much fent ODs when a small amount of it is cut in to bulk up other things like heroin.
800mg is the maximum recommended dose (note: not OD dose), and 16,500 times that is only 13.2g. Therefore 33g probably does technically have the potential to OD 16,500 people who have no tolerance, but it’s a really stupid way of putting it that has no nuance.
And yeah, the drug war is stupid, legalize everything.