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  • Fentanyl, Inc.

  • How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic
  • Written by: Ben Westhoff
  • Narrated by: Alex Boyles
  • Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (56 ratings)

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Fentanyl, Inc.

Written by: Ben Westhoff
Narrated by: Alex Boyles
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Publisher's Summary

A deeply human story, Fentanyl, Inc. is the first deep-dive investigation of a hazardous and illicit industry that has created a worldwide epidemic, ravaging communities and overwhelming and confounding government agencies that are challenged to combat it.

“A whole new crop of chemicals is radically changing the recreational drug landscape,” writes Ben Westhoff. “These are known as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and they include replacements for known drugs like heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana. They are synthetic, made in a laboratory, and are much more potent than traditional drugs” - and all-too-often tragically lethal.

Drugs like fentanyl, K2, and Spice - and those with arcane acronyms like 25i-NBOMe - were all originally conceived in legitimate laboratories for proper scientific and medicinal purposes. Their formulas were then hijacked and manufactured by rogue chemists, largely in China, who change their molecular structures to stay ahead of the law, making the drugs’ effects impossible to predict. Westhoff has infiltrated this shadowy world. He tracks down the little-known scientists who invented these drugs and inadvertently killed thousands, as well as a mysterious drug baron who turned the law upside down in his home country of New Zealand.

Westhoff visits the shady factories in China from which these drugs emanate, providing startling and original reporting on how China’s vast chemical industry operates, and how the Chinese government subsidizes it. Poignantly, he chronicles the lives of addicted users and dealers, families of victims, law enforcement officers, and underground drug awareness organizers in the US and Europe. Together they represent the shocking and riveting full anatomy of a calamity we are just beginning to understand. From its depths, as Westhoff relates, are emerging new strategies that may provide essential long-term solutions to the drug crisis that has affected so many.

©2019 Ben Westhoff (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Fentanyl, Inc.

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Very informative

Must read for all those trying to understand the opiod crisis in the western world!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very enlightening

I’m a social worker in mental health and addictions and I found this book really enlightening and helpful. It gives a good overview of how drugs are developed, distributed and regulated, as well as their effects. Well written—a good mix of science, and anecdotes to tell the story.

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Excellent

Loved the information in this book I learned a lot and it was so interesting

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Fentanyl is a huge Issue.

Fentanyl is a criminal drug that is being peddle throughout the United States and Canada by drug pushers from China and elsewhere. The Chinese are looking to make $ They don't care about Ethics, Morals and the safety of our citizens. There has to be more awareness about the seriousness of this drug problem. Very well written and researched by the Author.

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    3 out of 5 stars

The great parts are epic then there is Meh

really liked the beginning quarter and the last quarter, therewasalot of fluff and tangents thrown in the middle to bulk out the book. the narrator was pretty great though, not one of my favorite voices but certainly not irritating like some

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  • 2022-01-02

Informative, a Worthwhile listen

An eye opening look at the ever changing drug landscape and how it’s being produced, viewed and taken on. Found the first bit of the book to be harder to get through as it goes forward than back in time however the second half of the book is revealing and powerful in its breakdown of Fentanyl and its users. Well done.

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Finally an easy historical arch on the designer drug surge hitting the world

The author does an excellent job describing the personal stories of users, traffickers and makers as well as those trying to address the health impacts in a manner that reads like a spy novel even going to China to see the underground labs where NPS are made including Fentanyl analogues. The audio is clear and easy to listen.

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    4 out of 5 stars

A critical aid to understanding a serious problem

If you have any curiosity as to root causes for the opiate problem in America (and Canada) you'll find useful information here. Not a light easy just-before-bed listen, but a well-researched and presented long-form article. Very informative. My only issue is with Mr. Boyles' performance. He e-nun-ci-ates ver-y care-full-y and after a while, I started noticing that more than listening to the information being presented. Could be that's a fault of mine, and I wouldn't want the guy mumbling unduly, but he comes across as a narrator reading a script rather than someone reading a book to us. Annoying, but not a deal breaker.

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