Many illegal drug-dealing operations are highly sophisticated business enterprises. National and even global in scope, they employ many employees and generate millions, if not billions of dollars.
That healthy bottom line is evidenced in the “free samples” they now provide in the name of research. Similar to mainstream consumer products, drug dealers are now starting to conduct testing to ensure that their narcotics are at what they consider “safe levels.”
Many dealers receive Fentanyl manufactured in China. To increase both volume and street value, they use baby formula and other powdered “additives.” However, they must continue to make it strong enough to keep their customer base, yet not so strong that it kills off the people they count on for their bottom line.
Because Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin with two milligrams being lethal, finding that so-called “happy medium” requires testing. Without access to high-tech laboratories, they use less sophisticated methods of measurement in the hopes of getting it right.
The slightest error could prove fatal.
For dealers, an overdose is not about death. It is about the loss of market share. Those fearing that Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids could kill their customers/revenue generators are recruiting human guinea pigs.
Most if not all are drug addicts so desperate for a “fix” that they will take anything they can get from dealers. The perks of being a “tester” are having constant access to opioids without the fear of not having a steady supply.
However, addicts being exploited have no idea what or how much of the opioid they are taking. Some are dying from drug overdoses.
All at the expense of a very sinister form of market research.
