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Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic

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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, becoming the first journalist to report from inside an illicit Chinese fentanyls lab and providing startling and original reporting on how China's vast chemical industry operates, and how the Chinese government subsidizes it. 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. Poignantly, Westhoff chronicles the lives of addicted users and dealers, families of victims, law enforcement officers, and underground drug awareness organizers in the U.S. 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.

356 pages, Hardcover

First published September 3, 2019

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About the author

Ben Westhoff

8 books174 followers

Ben Westhoff's new book Little Brother: Love, Tragedy, and My Search For the Truth (May 24, 2022, Hachette Books) is a true crime memoir detailing his investigation into the unsolved killing of Jorell Cleveland, Westhoff's mentee in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program for 11 years. His previous book Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic (Grove Atlantic) is the highly-acclaimed, bombshell first book about fentanyl, which is causing the worst drug crisis in American history. It has received glowing reviews, was included on many year-end best lists, and Westhoff was featured on NPR's Fresh Air and Joe Rogan's podcast. He now speaks around the country about the fentanyl crisis, and has advised top government officials on the problem, including from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and the U.S. State Department.

Westhoff's previous book Original Gangstas: Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and the Birth of West Coast Rap is one of the best-selling hip-hop books of all time and has been translated into multiple languages, receiving top reviews from Rolling Stone, People, Kirkus, and others. S. Leigh Savidge, Academy Award nominee and co-writer of Straight Outta Compton said it "may be the best book ever written about the hip hop world."

Westhoff is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, the Library of Congress, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Rolling Stone, Vice, and others. His 2011 book on southern hip-hop, Dirty South: OutKast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop was a Library Journal best seller.

Subscribe to Westhoff's newsletter at benwesthoff.substack.com

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 363 reviews
Profile Image for Mario the lone bookwolf.
805 reviews4,705 followers
December 6, 2019
Until now at least the border controls and ever better satellite technology to find the growing regions could limit the dimension of the drug trade. I mean, except with meth and chemical drugs and... With this new, emerging production capacities, everyone willing everywhere on the planet will get capable of becoming a tiny version of Pablo Escobar.

Like all good books about organized crime that dig deep and show both the personal tragedies of all affected and integrated and the global dimension and potential for destruction, it leaves the reader speechless after finishing it. It might lead to questions of how to deal with this problem in the future, what might go wrong in crime prevention, substitution programs and probably society too.

But as soon as a topic has taken over the mind, it starts rotating and leads to the wonderful realm of subjective extrapolations and, my absolute favorite, future settings, as following:

Organized crime becomes an early adopter of modern technology and with 3D printing, bioreactors, fermenters and harmless and legal commodities, there is a huge market to operate in.

That is the dark side of personalized medicine, better pharmacy and general technological progress and one of the best ways to minimize harm may be the development of better agents against overdoses or, in farther future, something like an implanted scanning device that prevents that drug user kill themselves.

But at the moment, organized crime has seen it´s chance to produce more and more drugs cheap, in just one place and without hardly any chance of getting caught. The advancements in biotech, AI and microelectronic have made it possible to create huge amounts of pure, extremely potent drugs that will float the markets. I believe that there might already be programs and intelligent software on the dark market, that coordinate large scale production machinery with a few chemists, bioengineers and programmers for finetuning. Just imagine the potential in contrast to conventional drug production that is limited in quantity because of the areas where the plants can grow. This new way of manufacturing has the potential to run 24/7 forever and produce a vast amount of nearly any drug.

Meth is a precursor of this development and in its case, some of the ingredients are still difficult and conspicuous to get in large amounts. The logical final step is and will be to produce the more dangerous ingredients next to the real drug production and this will be a lab too well-conceived and too unobtrusive to be found without traitors. And until then there will be enough corrupt countries and companies that are willing to produce anything needed for enough money.

Probably users may produce both the drugs and the antidote at home, with a special chemistry lab for synthetic drugs and a bioreactor with genetic engineered microorganisms for polydrug use. Yeast has already been genetically engineered to produce opioids and that is just the beginning. No matter if the required machines are sold on the black market, homemade with the help of internet tutorials or modified, legal versions of official products, it will happen. Humans have taken drugs and will keep on taking drugs and there is a positive aspect too.

To produce your own medicine could be a part of a self-sustainable society in which everyone gets the right dose of the right medicine at the right time. And the freedom of choice to use drugs responsibly and without harming others and oneself just moderate is so complex that a state with its laws and bureaucracy shouldn´t be the final instance to decide. Healthy adults should simply have the right to, under the supervisory of a kind of AI or, as mentioned, implanted chip, or, oldfashioned, trip sitters, to experiment if they want to, because it is their body and their free choice. Of course, all this is just right as long as we talk about not deadly, primarily psychoactive, not addictive, already in therapy used drugs and not hard drugs. Someone could probably produce both the drug and anti withdrawal drugs and antipsychotic drugs at the same time to consume it all to avoid addiction and getting too psychotic, but that may not be the right solution just to be able to take meth, heroin and crack cocaine.

Is there any solution to the problem? As seen in the chapter about the Chinese factories producing huge amounts of chemicals, nope. This production line can be built anywhere and thanks to sustainable, free energy, in every no man´s land too. The only solution may be a fairer society so that humans don´t need deadly stuff to flee reality. And not allowing pharma companies because of lobby influence to become the largest heroin dealer in history may be a beginning too. Because in Europe, pain patients seem to be treatable without beeing turned into junkies, just as it was a few years ago in the US because simple common sense tells one that hard drugs should not be legalized.

Other books about the topic:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real-life outside books:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...

In a nutshell made videos about the topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJUXL...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8AHO...
Profile Image for BlackOxford.
1,095 reviews68.9k followers
September 4, 2020
What Marx Never Considered

The war on drugs is a war on global capitalism. Few want to make the connection, largely, I think, because it would make clear the futility of the effort. Westhoff sees how drugs and capitalism are related: “More than anything, this is a story of global capitalism run amok... if global capitalism is hard to control, the new-drugs trade is nearly impossible,” he says. But Westhoff then proceeds as if there were some hope in dealing with drug use as a problem of law and public health policy. Control is not almost but entirely impossible according to his own analysis. Drug use is not a disease; it is a part of the larger ideology of capitalism. Like all ideologies, drugs have their own logic which is impervious to external criticism or internal correction.

Westhoff’s title accurately represents the issue. The remarkable spread of opioid use in the last 20 years - not just opioids but a plethora of recreational highs - has been fuelled not by consumer demand or cultural deterioration but by corporate resources. Synthetic drug development is a component of the worldwide corporate economy as important as computer and communications technology. From basic innovation, through commercial development, to global distribution, the patterns of corporate actions and reactions are identical in the two industries.

Synthetic drugs are not sourced by uneducated and oppressed farmers in Pakistan or Columbia. They originate in corporate laboratories. They are chemical inventions initially requiring advanced knowledge to create. Competition is fierce, both to be the low cost producer, and to eliminate or evade the regulatory restrictions. With patent protection largely unavailable, continuous invention is essential. It takes organisational skill not criminal muscle to participate in this market successfully. Scientific research, legal expertise, and political lobbying as well as an acute feel for the market must be finely coordinated to ensure staying ahead of the commercial curve.

The Sackler family pioneered the mass opioid revolution with the development and marketing of its now notorious OxyContin. But OxyContin is only the pharmaceutical equivalent of the Model T Ford - first off the high volume production line but technologically rather primitive. An international industry has sprouted which now produces an extensive line of high-tech synthetic products. Consumer choice has never been greater. Just as ‘any colour as long as it’s black’ was archaic almost as soon as Henry Ford uttered it, so drug design has become far more sophisticated than even the Sacklers had imagined. They have been left in the corporate dust by smaller, more nimble, more creative producers - just as IBM had been leapfrogged by Microsoft and Apple.

In the designer drug business, just as in any high-tech enterprise, the genius in the garage has the innovative edge over the established producer. This is an implicit principle of capitalism. It is what keeps capitalism alive. And like an Ayn Rand protagonist, if the genius can’t get his bureaucratic colleagues in industry or academia to support him, there is no need to stick around. The entrepreneurial spirit is nowhere better demonstrated than in the start-up of a promising new line of untested compounds. So-called ‘psychonauts,’ the avant-garde of the drug community, abound as volunteers for commercial Beta-testing. Risk of death is considered part of the fun.

Apparently there is plenty of unused garage space in places like China. The chemistry of psychoactive substances is, although few seem to notice, a matter of intellectual capital. It is knowledge that can be located anywhere, and transferred instantaneously anywhere else. Once a compound’s chemical composition and physical effects are known, large scale production is simpler than making bathtub gin during Prohibition or old-fashioned moonshine in the mountains. Formulas, recipes, and manufacturing techniques aren’t subject to customs inspections. Patent infringements are hardly a worry in a world of unrestricted trade under the table. Advertising is unnecessary, and there is no such thing as bad product placement: “If addicts find something that killed somebody, they flock to it,”

The laws directed toward restriction of the designer drug market are either stupid and ill-informed (Ecstasy), often unenforceable or producing paradoxical effects (criminalisation of analogues) or hopelessly naive (banning ‘how-to’ cookbooks). Lab-based drugs, unlike plant-based ones, don’t have a material supply chain that can be interrupted. Distribution can be controlled locally in a sort of guerilla-organisation which is highly mobile. Transactions are handled through the untraceable dark net in crypto-currency.

In short, the synthetic drug industry is unstoppable. Either attempts to control it will consume an unacceptably large amount of resources; or it continues to expand uncontrollably based on good commercial logic. Or both. This is capitalism threatening capitalism in a way Karl Marx never considered. He also never considered that socialism would take the same corporate form as capitalism. No one has yet come up with an alternative to our current ideology of corporate economy. Perhaps that must wait until the drug crisis becomes more pressing. Meanwhile we all tread water in a deepening pool of synthetic happiness.

Postscript: this article appeared in my newsfeed five minutes after posting this review: https://apple.news/A25KW860CQQGu8pIrj...
Profile Image for Diane S ☔.
4,825 reviews14.3k followers
September 17, 2019
A far reaching and impeccably researched book on our current opioid epidemic. I've heard of fentanyl, in fact I've heard of many of the drugs discussed within this book. What I didn't realize was how far reaching the drug problem is, not contained to just the US but so many other countries as well, from Sweden to New Zealand. Just how many designer, synthetic drugs are in existence, how for every drug made illegal, another is waiting to take its place.

This is a comprehensive view of the drug trade, the chemists and manufacturers who make them, to how they are marketed, effect their users and the history of some of these drugs. Some made for good, medical purposes, but a small change in the drugs chemical makeup and it becomes a powerful street drug. It's almost overwhelming, how can this wave of new drugs ever be stopped. I was also surprised that many of these powerful drugs are coming from and produced in China.

The author does provide some solutions to better handling of the drug crisis. Not sure how these would work but better control over the drugs people are taking, treatment rather than just punishment, may be a better way than how it is handled now. Some users actually do not know s drug is tampered with, until it is too late, so a place where they could come and use their drugs under the view of qualified personnel may help. I don't know, but this book is alarming and at this point anything that can be tried, should be. Very eye opening, and frightening both, well worth reading.


ARC from Edelweiss.
Profile Image for Max.
349 reviews404 followers
August 21, 2020
Westhoff goes beyond the fentanyl epidemic exploring the ever expanding array of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) formerly known as designer drugs. These drugs are taking over from traditional illegal drugs. They are easily made in labs that are typically in China but can be anywhere. Westhoff describes a huge operation that was in an abandoned missile silo on the plains of Kansas. Today there are many types of synthetic cannabinoids, fentanyl analogues and precursors, acid that is not LSD, synthetic stimulants such as “bath salts”, and mollies that can be almost anything. These drugs are popular for many reasons. Many won’t show up in drug tests. They are cheaper. They are readily available on the dark web and locally they may be all that is available. Of course many are sold as the drug they imitate. Neither the customer nor the dealer may know what is in them. Increased profit motivates producers and dealers to push NPSs.

Take fentanyl for example, a knowledgeable chemist can alter slightly its chemical composition so that it is no longer a scheduled drug. It may be more or less potent and have different side effects, but in many countries it won’t be illegal. In 1986 the Federal Analogue Act made such modified drugs illegal in the U. S., but prosecutions under this law are difficult since it must be proved the perpetrator knew the modified drug was similar to the original. This law did not blunt the proliferation of NPSs. In many countries each new drug must go through a formal procedure to be classified. By the time it is, the chemist can make another analogue. Westhoff identifies six specific analogues of fentanyl which are frequently sold over the web as fentanyl. The same practice applies to LSD, MDMA and other drugs making the whole problem of drug abuse much more difficult to solve.

There is the human toll. Users are much more likely to OD or suffer injury on NPSs than prescription drugs. There is no quality control. The potency of different batches varies widely and the side effects are unknown. Drug enforcement is greatly complicated. Illicit labs can pop up anywhere, but typically where the producers are safe from being charged with a crime. China like many other countries makes drugs illegal one by one. By the time a drug becomes illegal the chemist has already made millions of batches and passed them on to dealers. The drugs are sold on the internet and shipped or mailed to the buyer. There are so many operations doing this that there is little way to stop them.

Westhoff describes a brief policy experiment in New Zealand with respect to MDMA, aka ecstasy or molly. Street ecstasy could contain anything which resulted in ODs and out of control ravers. In 2013 New Zealand allowed some NPSs to be sold regulating dosage, manufacture, where it could be purchased, and user age. This provided a safer source of drugs for users but so many people were lining up to buy the drugs at the few legal outlets and smoking synthetic cannabis or popping pills while in line that many New Zealanders were aghast and the policy was soon rescinded. The black market once again took over.

Even with the growth of web drug sales Mexican cartels still bring large quantities of drugs into the U. S. and Canada. The favorites are still heroin, meth, cocaine and prescription opioids, but now they are cut with fentanyl or its analogues by the cartels and again by their local dealers. Fentanyl is stronger and cheaper. Just like any business, cartels and dealers try to meet user expectations at the lowest cost. The cartels buy fentanyl precursors from China which they can easily synthesize into fentanyl. The Chinese ingredients are typically 90% plus pure. But the cartels cut the fentanyl with quinine and Benadryl. Many addicts who saw their OxyContin supplies cut off by stricter regulations switched to cheaper heroin and now are taking still cheaper fentanyl sometimes knowingly and sometimes not.

Chinese drug abusers favor heroin, meth and ketamine but not fentanyl. Fentanyl is illegal in China except as a prescription. The companies authorized to make prescription fentanyl in China are not the source of illicit fentanyl. Their products are tightly controlled. Other Chinese companies that make fentanyl run the risk of law enforcement. Thus many companies just make precursors which can be easily assembled into fentanyl by the buyer. Many of these precursors are not illegal in China. If one does become scheduled the producers just move on to a different precursor. The U. S has tried to reach agreements with the Chinese government to control these companies with little success. The Chinese attitude is that it is a problem of demand which the U. S. or other countries need to control. If the Chinese did crack down on illicit drug providers India stands ready to take its place.

The U. S. war on drugs has filled the prisons but failed to stem drug abuse. Stop one source and another soon appears. Westhoff looks into harm reduction approaches to at least stem the tide of ODs. The U. S. had over 67,000 overdose deaths in 2018. It has far more ODs than other countries on a per capita basis. The U. S. has allowed needle exchanges which help stop the spread of HIV and hepatitis, but the U. S. does not have supervised injection sites like Canada and many European countries. Making drug testing kits and services available could warn users of toxic chemicals and strong dosages, letting them know just what drugs they are really consuming. In the U.S. independent organizations that try to offer drug testing are not allowed at the big music festivals where drugs are widely consumed. Organizers don’t want to admit that they know drugs will be present. Organizations that offer drug testing are seen by many as enablers that allow people to take drugs safely.

Many European countries have offered services to users that lower deaths, reduce crime and can help people find a way out of addiction. Switzerland goes the farthest providing long term users who have failed treatment prescription grade heroin to be taken under supervision at clinics. This has significantly cut drug dealing and crime. The Netherlands offers a similar program also with good results. When heroin was outlawed in the U. S. in 1914, doctors could still administer it to addicts. When that was disallowed crime and overdoses increased. Spain has centers where users can get their drugs tested and take them under supervision. At these centers the users are offered counseling and substitution therapies such as methadone and buprenorphine.

The difficulty of enforcement begs the whole question of policy. The U. S. war on drugs has never been effective. Current tightening of access to prescription opiates in the U. S. has pushed more people to heroin which is cheaper and often cut with fentanyl. From there they can go to still cheaper readily available fentanyl which may be an analogue. I support Westhoff’s view that we need innovative solutions which don’t treat addicts as criminals and instead offer ways to help them. The public benefits as well with reduced crime. Some countries are taking the lead with effective programs, unfortunately we in the U. S are still filling prisons with users and playing whack a mole with suppliers and getting nowhere.
Profile Image for Taury.
647 reviews192 followers
December 2, 2021
As an addiction counselor this book was fascinating! Well written, easy to read and understand, but most of all well researched. I have heard of most of the drugs mentioned. Most of my patients have used fentanyl. That is about all you can find in my part of the world. Literally 90% of all drugs on the street (in my area) is laced with Fentanyl. All it takes is 2mg to kill an average person. Now that is a crazy sad stat.
Profile Image for Max.
835 reviews24 followers
July 16, 2019
Very insightful book into the world of synthetic drug abuse. I administer drugs (fentanyl, oxycontin) to my patients at my work so I'm always interested in learning more about them. I never knew there was a whole different world out there with these drugs centered for recreational use instead of pain killing!

This book is pretty heavy on the facts and can be a little confusing with all of the drugs names. It's very interesting if you're interested in drugs and abuse, but don't pick it up if you're just expecting to read user stories. The author tries to find out where the drugs and compounds are made and travels to China to talk to the people selling and producing them, which is very interesting to read. So, great book for those looking to learn about the origin of recreational drugs and how "common" pain killers can also be abused.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. 🌟
Profile Image for Gator.
271 reviews31 followers
September 28, 2019
Fentanyl, Inc. By Ben Westhoff published 2019.

This was exactly the type of book I was searching for. Since I am not in the drug culture I only know what I hear and what I hear often times is very confusing, especially when it comes to all the names of drugs that are in circulation. As most people who are kept busy with the daily grind I knew of the drug basics like weed, coke, H, meth, crack, LSD..... you know the things we’ve all heard about growing up in modern times. While in high school (I’ve been out for almost 20 years now, I am 36) we started to receive information about the dangerous of pills, I especially remember someone from our school dying from
An Oxy overdose, and I remember that teens mom taking the podium at our high school and talking to us about her son and the dangerous of messing around with these pills. Recently just a few months ago my neighbor, who was my lawn guy, overdosed on meth cut with Fentanyl, which is why I am here writing this review. After My neighbor Kevin passed away I felt a strong desire to find out what the hell is going on and so I started reading books about drugs. My first was Dreamland, AMAZING book, my second was Dope Sick, another great book, and this is my third, and this is the winner as far as information goes. The kind of intel I was searching for wasn’t in the first two books, their focus was on different topics, (Both essential and perfect for the lead up to this book.) I was searching for the information on the synthetic stuff that’s making people go nuts and eat people faces off, (as seen on YouTube) the stuff making people pass out over cars and fire hydrants by the dozens outside of head shops (as seen on YouTube) the stuff making people drop like flys by the tens of thousands here in the Addicted States of America. I FOUND IT!!!! It’s almost as if the book was published just for me, it was On pre order when I began my search so I bought it and waited and in the mean time read the first two mentioned above, but this here Fentanyl, Inc. is the one.
The author gets into serious detail about the synthetics from A-Z, this guy did his homework.
Not only did he do his homework but he traveled to China to infiltrate chemical companies that produce Fentanyl among other things and get the real scoop straight from the number one supplier of Fentanyl to the west. I am really impressed with his research and dedication to finding the truth about all this, id like to Personally thank him for a job well done. I’ve learned all I need up-to this point about what I was looking to learn. If you are confused about all these synthetic drugs that have bombarded the news over the past couple of years then this is the book for you, it’s fantastic.
My beef with the book is it ends the way it starts with a story about the first Fentanyl overdose victim, but I feel the end is abrupt, not bad just too quick for me, no finesse. Second the author gives some advice for what he thinks would be a good way to approach fixing the problem however it’s too progressive for me and seems like it’s just more government breathing down our necks and setting up shop in a neighborhood near you (safe injection sites, Methadone clinics...) I don’t have the answers and truthfully I don’t like any of the solutions, it’s all quite repulsive to me and I’d prefer it didn’t exist, the drugs the junkies the deaths, however I am not naïve and I realize these issues aren’t going away any time soon. As a matter of fact from what I can gather its gonna get a lot worse before (if) it gets better. I don’t have any answers or solutions because this is one big colossal mess we as a culture are in. Having said all
Of this I feel good about the knowledge I’ve extracted from this particular book(s) so I’m just gonna buckle up and look out the window and go for a ride, Let’s see where time takes us. Oh yeah, JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS !!!!!!!!!!!!
Profile Image for Malia.
Author 8 books615 followers
October 8, 2020
A little too technical and long-winded at times, but overall, a thorough and very informative read. I would probably recommend Travis Rieder's "In Pain" and "Dopesick" by Beth Macy before I recommended this, because they were a little less clinical, and more compassionate and thoughtful. That being said, Fentanyl, Inc. is still worth reading, and certainly provides an in-depth look at the opioid epidemic. In the midst of the turmoil 2020 has brought, this crisis has gone under a bit, but it's important to remember this is still real, people are still suffering and something can still be done to turn things around.

Find my book reviews and more at http://www.princessandpen.com
Profile Image for Morgan Blackledge.
680 reviews2,246 followers
September 4, 2021
Highly engaging investigative journalism on the BOOMING synthetic drug trade.

As one would reasonably expect, the book is very focused on Fentanyl.

But not exclusively.

The broad focus of the book is synthetic (chemical) drugs including: salts, spice, K2 and yes, of course, fentanyl.

Their DEVASTATING impact.

Their industrial scale, government sanctioned and subsidized production in China.

And.

Their distribution via the dark web.

If you’re interested in these subjects.

This is a FUCKING great book.

I couldn’t put it down.

5/5
Profile Image for Rama Rao.
769 reviews120 followers
May 19, 2020
The Fentanyl Crisis

On April 15, 2016, on his way home after performing in Atlanta, pop entertainer Prince's plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois. He was found unresponsive and taken to a local hospital. Six days later, he passed away. Toxicology reports revealed that an overdose of opioid Fentanyl caused his demise. In January 2015, Bailey Henke, an 18-year-old kid from Grand Forks. North Dakota overdosed himself to death causing deep sorrow and dolor for his parents.

These new drugs aren't grown in a field; they are made in a laboratory. Plants that yield marijuana and heroin were grown in Mexico and Latin America, but Fentanyl is manufactured in laboratories in China. The author dares to infiltrate Chinese drug operations, a sophisticated laboratory operation distilling outsize quantities of the world's most dangerous chemicals in industrial-size glassware. The Chinese drug industry is not run by cartels and criminal organizations, but by university-educated chemists who often play by their government's rules.

Many health-care workers who help treat substance abusers believe the American traditional focus on “supply-side” law enforcement, which emphasizes the prosecution over treatment is futile. This approach fails to address the root of the problem: demand, and under-funded addiction treatment programs. Other alternative harm-reduction program is taking center stage in combating opioid addiction. Experts agree that it would be easy to establish supervised-injection facilities for opioid-ravaged communities in the United States to create one-stop shops where people could test their heroin and fentanyl exchange needle and shoot up safely. These facilities are showing a track record of success, but federal and many state authorities are not enthusiastic. The tension is encapsulated in an October 2018 exchange when former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell announced that he had incorporated a nonprofit seeking private funding to open a supervised injection facility in Philadelphia. The US deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein angrily said that if one opened it would be immediately shut down by federal authorities. "I've got a message for Mr. Rosenstein," Rendell said, "They can come and arrest me first."

How is that lethal synthetic opioid is creating a global drug addiction crisis? The author presents a grim picture of the origin of the epidemic. He observes that the harm-reduction initiatives remain diluted beneath the shifting weight and influence of political red tape, global capitalism, and the biological and psychological bondage of drug dependency. He visits the shady factories in China from which these drugs emanate, providing startling and original reporting on how China's vast chemical industry operates. He chronicles the lives of addicts and dealers, families of victims, law enforcement officers, and underground drug-awareness organizers in the U.S. and Europe. This is a fascinating book that reads flawlessly and touches your consciousness when you read the stories of families affected by this tragedy.
284 reviews8 followers
November 17, 2019
The West is not engaged in a Third Opium War with China. Unlike cigarette smokers drug abusers are wonderful people they are not morally deficient they are better than everybody else they are psychonauts. Harsh criminal drug laws only work in the third world countries. How many Americans flock to Indonesia or Russia to deal drugs? Other people's money should be used to make durg abuse safer and more comfortable and the drugs should be free. You have to go to college to be wrong about so many things.
Profile Image for Alex Givant.
283 reviews36 followers
July 8, 2020
Holy shit, what a ride! Drug users, China chemical producer making precursors for fentanyl (which is legal to produce in China and even government subsidy provided in form of tax cuts), Mexican cartels (main supplier to USA), Chinese gangs in Vancouver (main supplier to Canada), people who try to save kids on rave parties by supplying test kits and get kicked out and threaten to be sued.

According to this book fentanyl is more powerful and dangerous then cocaine, heroine and meth. I've never heard about it before this book, it's like an eye-opener.
Profile Image for Kirsti.
2,654 reviews117 followers
November 6, 2022
Fentanyl is the drug nobody wants. Users prefer heroin, MDMA, other lab-made drugs, or sometimes meth. But fentanyl is so easy to smuggle and so profitable that dealers sell it under many other names. Unlike most other drugs (flakka, meow meow, and so on), it doesn't even have a street name.

This is a fascinating combination of economics, science, politics, and individual human stories. The author goes to different countries to find out how drugs are made and what can be done to reduce the overdose rate.
Profile Image for M.N. Cox.
Author 1 book53 followers
March 14, 2022
This is a fascinating book though it's heavy - with its message, it’s story and on information - so I read it bit by bit over a month. Though it’s called Fentanyl, Inc. the book covers more than just that. Fentanyl is a great focus because it has been described by the DEA as “the serial killer of the drug world”. No kidding. It’s potent - deadly in microscopic amounts - and it is turning up everywhere: In heroin, cocaine and even in pills made to look like prescription medications. The biggest problem is that if a person doesn’t know a product contains Fentanyl, then overdose likelihood is greatly increased.

What the book is really focused on, beyond fentanyl, is synthetic drugs. The landscape has transformed since I was young and people smoked pot and occasionally died from heroin overdoses. When I say that I’m not trying to gloss over it or minimise it. Just make the point that shit got worse. Much worse. Now the market is flooding with synthetic drugs that have no basis in nature, where as soon as one drug becomes illegal the manufacturers make a small chemical change to create a new, untested, drug that hasn’t come to the attention of authorities and is, therefore, still legal. As David Nichols put it “make one drug illegal, and a more dangerous one will take its place,” It’s really confusing - and it’s a game that can’t be won. Now that this is happening its pretty much impossible to ‘catch up’. That’s where we’re at.

Westhoff tells us that most traditional drugs now have synthetic versions. Cannabis has cannabinoids and yes, they’ve caused considerable health problems. What became clear from reading Fentanyl, Inc. was that when the traditional drugs such as heroin and cannabis are unavailable, the new synthetic drugs take their place whether buyers want them, or not. There seems to be some opiate abusers who like fentanyl because it’s a stronger drug but the message I got from the book overall was that most people prefer the traditional version for which the dose is longer lasting and does not come with the same risks.

My one complaint

My one big gripe is this: On page 49 Westhoff links fentanyl with the novichok Skripal poisoning. This is still bothering me because when I googled fentanyl + skripal the only sites linking them are “alternative” news sites. The kind of sites I would not go to looking for facts (and I wish that no one did). I had a crisis of faith when I read that, but I did push on and found that Westhoff drew from many sources including drug users, families of those who have died from overdose, drug dealers, manufacturers, those involved in the war on drugs and those who work in harm reduction. He visited laboratories and even went undercover. The book overall was thorough and was well written. I appreciated it, but I would still like to hear how fentanyl became linked to the Skripal event!

Fentanyl, Inc. was hard to follow sometimes but that is the nature of this story. The whole synthetic drug thing (including fentanyl) is a cluster f***. And it's scary. I was looking forward to hearing about solutions and the ones given were those on which I was already pretty much sold. I have fears and concerns about some harm reduction policies BUT I don’t see a better way. I already believe it’s the way forward and I believe that more so with my new found understanding of how out of control things are now that synthetic drugs are flooding the market.


I read this book thanks to a giveaway. Thank you Scribe Publications!
Profile Image for Siobhan.
496 reviews9 followers
July 14, 2022
Very important book! If you are researching this subject I suggest you read This Is Your Mind On Plans by Michael Pollan & I think everyone should read Chasing The Scream by Johann Hari.
Profile Image for Sarah.
Author 26 books483 followers
August 7, 2020
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2020/08/...

I have a deep and abiding interest in the drug industry and how it is changing. Part of this is because, due to cancer, I cannot survive without a daily dose of artificial hormones anymore, and that means I have a very real dependence on an industry that is always changing. Part of this is also because globalization and scientific advancements have made the chemistry field a bit more accessible for individuals who enjoy playing the entrepreneur, and know how to tap into certain marketplaces that exist now in our more modern, digitized world.

The opioid problem in America is not news. It is spoken about all the time, and if you want to research opioid addiction, drug industry corruption and the like, there is likely an entire wing of your local library dedicated to the issue, and to its immediate resulting catastrophes. There is, however, precious little about Fentanyl. I mean, there is, but not a whole lot. Fentanyl is still kind of new, kind of unexplored, known, but not widely enough to have a billion books dedicated to its topic yet (though I think it’s just a matter of time). People in the know understand what a big deal it is, but with the focus on Percocet, drugs like Fentanyl get a mention, but almost never their own story.

According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 150 new illicit drugs were bought and sold between 1997 and 2010. Another 150 appeared in just the next three years, and since then, in some years as many as 100 new chemicals have appeared, with synthetic cannabinoids especially common.

Fentanyl, Inc. is a different sort of book than I was expecting. First, I thought it would be only about Fentanyl, but it’s really is about a lot more than that. Fentanyl is really the point from which the rest of the book breaks off. This is the throbbing heart around which the rest of the reporting circles.

A lot of this book is about, for lack of a better term, designer drugs. Homebrewed chemists sit in their labs and think up new ways to make better highs. It’s become nearly impossible to prosecute, and there are so many new and fancy drugs appearing on the marketplace that I’d imagine it is extremely difficult to track all of them down to the source, the chemists, the kingpins, the salesmen and women.

In addition to fentanyl, a whole new generation of chemicals is radically changing the recreational drug landscape. These are known as novel psychoactive substances (NPS), and they include replacements for known drugs like ecstasy, LSD, and marijuana, as well as heroin. These new drugs aren’t grown in a field—or grown at all. They are synthetic, made in a laboratory. There’s nothing natural about them, and they are much more potent than traditional drugs.

Fentanyl is a potent drug. It delivers more of a high than heroin, and other opioids like Oxy or Percocet. This makes it incredibly desirable for people who are looking for a high. Just pop a pill, and there you go. That being said, it’s incredibly easy to overdose. The drug overwhelms your system in miniscule amounts, which means that there’s been an absolutely surreal wave of Fentanyl-related deaths swamping the United States in recent years.

Driven by fentanyl, overdose drug deaths are, by the time of this book’s publication, for the first time killing more Americans under fifty-five than anything else—more than gun homicides and more than even AIDS during the peak years of the crisis. As of 2017, Americans were statistically more likely to die from an opioid overdose than a car accident.

However, it really goes further than that, and this is perhaps where the book interested me the most. Instead of a real in-depth discussion about Fentanyl, the author uses Fentanyl as a jumping-off point for other illicit drugs that are entering the marketplace, such as K2, Spice, an offshoot of some Ecstasy that someone in New Zealand created, and so much more. Then, Westhoff not only discusses the evolution of these drugs and how they came to be, but also shows the social impact, as well as personal ones.

Westhoff manages to get an inside view on a lot of the issues that surround this wave of NPS drugs hitting the world marketplace right now, from laboratories in the United States, to the Dark Web where a lot of this stuff is sold, and even into chemical labs in China, which are absolutely booming and are busily churning out new NPS drugs at a shockingly rapid pace. Not only have the drugs that are available changed, but the ability to prosecute them has been made far more difficult as well.

“In recent years, some of the biggest new drug kingpins can’t be successfully prosecuted. The Pablo Escobars of today are coming out of China, and they don’t have to worry about being imprisoned by their government. They can operate free and in the clear, within the boundaries of their country’s own laws. Whenever a deadly new drug is made illegal in China, manufacturers simply tweak its chemical structure and start producing a new drug that is still legal. Many fentanyl analogues and cannabinoids have been made this way.”

That’s not even touching on the issue that so many of these drugs aren’t regulated, so you have people cutting Fentanyl with heroin, or rat poison, or baking powder, or whatever else. They make pills, but you don’t know what you’re actually getting in each pill, and it’s so terribly easy to overdose. Someone’s ratio of this-and-that might change from one batch to the next. People are, very truthfully, taking their own lives in their hands, and it’s absolutely terrifying to think of just how risky and dangerous this all is. The added remove from it, via the internet and what have you, allows a lot of people to operate on a less personal level, feel less responsibility and remorse for the lives they impact so dramatically. It mixes together to create a rather toxic stew.

"That dealers would kill off their own clients may seem counterintuitive. “It brings more business,” said Detective Ricardo Franklin, of the St. Louis County Police Department’s Bureau of Drug Enforcement. “Sure, it kills more people, but from a user standpoint, they’re not thinking about the death. When they hear someone OD’d, they think it must be an amazing high."

And while this is illuminating in the extreme, Westhoff balances all of this out with very human stories. Accidental overdoses, addicts, stories from those who have directly been touched by this new wave of drugs hitting the world marketplace. The people who are trying to fight all of this, from investigators to family members and larger communities. The human element seemed to balance everything else out for me.

Westhoff went all out with his journalism and research, attempting, among other things, to infiltrate the primary Fentanyl supplier to the United States, while in China. It’s this kind of gung-ho reporting that often had me thinking, “this guy is out of his mind” mixed with “wow, the world really needs more journalists willing to go to bat for their stories like this guy.” It also made this book stand out. The author’s desire to uncover everything he’s learned, and distill it for his audience is palpable. Not only is the topic convoluted and interesting, but Westhoff’s reporting made it exciting, and he had a true knack for making difficult topics come to life in an understandable way for his readers.

This book is heavy on facts, which I tend to enjoy. Some of the chemical jargon went a bit over my head, but I’m not a chemist, so I expected that. It also didn’t take up most of the book and it was pretty easy to overlook. I did, however, find this book to be one of the more interesting ones on the changing, and globalized new drug market. The scientific information, mixed with personal and political background and heavy-hitting interest stories that pepper the narrative make Fentanyl, Inc., in my opinion, one of the best on the topic I’ve read.

Reality truly is stranger than fiction.

Profile Image for Christina Dudley.
Author 21 books176 followers
October 20, 2019
Yikes. Here's a fairly fast, informative, alarming read about the latest wave in addictive, possibly-deadly drugs. The most powerful mind-altering drugs on offer today are also the cheapest. Synthetic cannabinoids (who even knows how to spell that), synthetic opioids, fake ecstasy. Chemists around the world putting their minds to work and coming up with ways to enslave people. While the synthetics may have been originally pioneered in academic settings for the purposes of science and medicine, they've now gone rogue and fallen into the hands of industry (mostly in China, Mexico, and India) for moneymaking purposes. And, as with all addictive substances, there's plenty of money to be made.

Basically, don't put unknown substances in your mouths. Not if you're at a rave or a music festival or a high-school party. (All the new drugs are unregulated and always one step ahead of being banned, so there's no quality control and you never know what you're getting or how much.) Of course, this practical advice is impossible to follow when you're addicted and dopesick, but if it's early days and you have the choice between a beer or some powdered something-or-other, go for the beer. Trust me.

Westhoff makes a convincing argument for how safe-drug places actually help bring down crime rates and costs, but ugh. It's hard not to go all NIMBY about it, especially since they have no impact on addiction rates, so you're basically between a rock and a hard place and supporting safe drug addiction, rather then being mugged and tripping over used needles.
Profile Image for Silvia Núñez Gómez.
22 reviews1 follower
June 6, 2022
I found this a mind-blowing and eye-opening book regarding the most critical public health problem in the USA Today. I think that the author’s main argument is that the opioid crisis is a story of global capitalism, where new drug value chains have been established responding to different reasons: the opening and rise of China’s capitalism (with all its government policies), the chronic poverty and lack of opportunities in Mexico, and the endless US demand for drugs (coupled with unethical and massive health prescription’s).

Moreover, it is well written and meticulously documented, with an extensive worldwide investigation to understand the production, distribution, and usage of fentanyl and its analogs, and concluded with an exposition of alternative ways to approach drug usage.

The opioid crisis is a real global tragedy that has created a death toll: in the US and Canada, people are overdosing; in Mexico, people are dying by trafficking these substances, and the violence has reached unpreceded levels.
Profile Image for Cynthia D.
89 reviews1 follower
Currently reading
July 27, 2019
*** I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review ***

You like drugs? Public health? Policy? Politics? Interested in the current opioid epidemic? This is a good fit to itch those likes.

I was expecting a book more focused on personal stories of drug users and fentanyl, but what I got instead was an interesting telling of the drug situation not only in the United States but around the world as well. The history around designer drugs is told in length.

The international politics, especially between the US and China, is discussed and made me think about whether there were some historical reasons around China’s current lax attitude about the drug labs.

I found this to be very educational, especially as I start taking classes on population health and societal health issues. Would recommend. It’s not a dry read like some other drug books I’ve picked up recently.
Profile Image for Holly.
476 reviews32 followers
August 10, 2019
My copy was an ARC from ALA Annual 2019 (June, so 3 months before publication). Because of this, the book wasn't 100% finished. That being said, I thought it was an awesome book. I have read many, many others on the opioid epidemic and this is just about the only one that focuses on fentanyl and the role that other countries play. This is not a person with substance abuse disorder or their family members bio. I would recommend to everyone.
Profile Image for Melissa.
2,473 reviews166 followers
August 29, 2019
A comprehensive look at the rise of fentanyl, fentanyl derivatives, and the myriad designer drugs/novel psychoactive substances that have come in their wake. This is the next step in the opioid crisis, since the street heroin addicts have turned to is often cut with varying and dangerous amounts of fentanyls, often with tragic results. Westhoff met with manufacturers in China, makers of safe-testing kits in Europe, and researched the Dark Web.
Profile Image for Allie.
20 reviews
October 12, 2019
This book blew me away. It is so current with what is going on in the world. What I am seeing in the news daily about fentanyl laced cocaine overdoses, hits home with this book. Also, made me understand Trump’s trade war with China had to do with their illegal drug trade. Mind. Blown.
837 reviews20 followers
October 5, 2019
Decent, if you haven't read much about the opioid crisis in the US. The author does get repetitive, especially about China and the chemicals/drugs that come from there.
Profile Image for Dan.
311 reviews7 followers
November 4, 2019
Very informative. Learned a ton of things in this book.
Profile Image for Scribe Publications.
561 reviews95 followers
Read
August 7, 2020
This is an exceptionally useful and well-timed book. I hope anyone concerned about this era’s new addiction epidemic will read it and put its messages to use. Ben Westhoff very skilfully combines pharmacology, politics, law enforcement, and gripping international intrigue in his account of America’s number-one public health problem. I hope Fentanyl, Inc is widely read and influential.
James Fallows, award-winning journalist and author of China Airborne

A necessary and sobering look at the opioid crisis and how it is not as simple as it appears on the surface. Well-researched and user-friendly for all readers. An important book.
Debra Ginsberg, Bay Books

Through his courageous reporting Ben Westhoff takes us to the heart of the problem. In Fentanyl, Inc. he shines a light on the human wreckage and damage caused by the most powerful and dangerous of the opioids, fentanyl, and its derivatives. He shows us how addiction, mislabeling, purposefully or mistakenly mixed drugs lead to tragic ends. The drug is often created out of factories operating with the permission of the Chinese government. To solve this epidemic, we must understand it. Make no mistake; the fentanyl problem is a global issue. Fentanyl, Inc is a must-read, pulling the curtain back and showing us how this human tragedy occurs and how insidious and addictive a drug can be.
Katherine Tobin, Ph.D., Former Member of the U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission

Drawing material from official reports, drug databases, scores of interviews, and years of personal research, Westhoff presents an unflinching, illuminating portrait of a festering crisis involving a drug industry that thrives as effectively as it kills. Highly sobering, exemplary reportage delivered through richly detailed scenarios and diversified perspectives. STARRED REVIEW
Kirkus Reviews


In Fentanyl, Inc., Ben Westhoff lays bare the twisted history that led to opioids wreaking havoc on twenty-first century America. If you want to understand the bloody cycle of addiction and death gripping the nation, you need to read this book.
Ioan Grillo, author of El Narco and Gangster Warlords

An information-packed work of reporting that traces the rise of designer drugs, including synthetic and/or more dangerous versions of weed, acid, and heroin, the last of which gives the book its title. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that’s chemically similar to morphine and heroin, is the top cause of fatal drug overdoses in the United States. The most illuminating parts of the book are those that reveal the business practices of Chinese labs that supply illicit fentanyl to U.S. dealers. These labs are a source of death and destabilisation for our country, American officials say, while Chinese leaders contend that it’s on us to deal with Americans’ appetite for the stuff.
Francie Diep, Pacific Standard

Westhoff explores the many-tentacled world of illicit opioids, from the streets of East St. Louis to Chinese pharmaceutical companies, from music festivals deep in the Michigan woods to sanctioned ‘shooting up rooms’ in Barcelona, in this frank, insightful, and occasionally searing exposé ... Offers a truly multifaceted view of the landscape of fentanyl use and abuse. The disparate narrative strands he weaves together — including tragic stories of drug users, straightforward analysis of the history of opioid use, tension-filled episodes of drug runs and supplier meet-ups, and the humane and hopeful work of the ‘harm reduction’ movement—all come together to provide a more complex understanding of the rise of, and response to, the opioid epidemic. Westhoff’s well-reported and researched work will likely open eyes, slow knee-jerk responses, and start much needed conversations.
Publishers Weekly

Will assist policymakers, activists, and general readers in understanding better how to respond to the drug crisis that is only more intractable now.
Library Journal

So many substance abuse books are a mix of hysterical in tone and a disappointing ‘paint by numbers’ in their execution, but [Fentanyl, Inc.] really stands out for its research, journalism, and overall analysis ... It is also a great book on China, and how China and the Chinese chemicals industry works, backed up by extensive original investigation ... Definitely recommended.
Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution

Timely and agonising … [Westhoff’s] book is the product of a four-year deep-dive into the world of designer drugs, and it’s an impressive work of investigative journalism. He interviewed 160 people and visited laboratories all over the world; he even infiltrated a pair of Chinese drug operations.
USA Today

A history lesson on American drug use and drug laws, a crash course in chemistry and neuroscience, a multifaceted portrait of addiction, and a look at how harm reduction programs can atone for the failures of the War on Drugs … A finely woven and accessible analysis of the connection between university chemistry professors, dark web sales, drug cartels, law enforcement, and the dealers and addicts dependent on it … Westhoff is a skilled and empathetic biographer, and this gift serves the composite of the dealers, users, and bereaved of Fentanyl, Inc. … It’s in this focus on the human cost of the crisis, of empathy over criminalisation, that this accomplished book feels most urgently important.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The most frightening book of the year, and it’s mandatory reading … Epic … This is a story about people, and Fentanyl, Inc. features a roster of villains and victims who stray far from movie archetypes.
Dig Boston

Setting Fentanyl, Inc. apart from most other books that focus on the supply-side of illegal drugs, Westhoff smartly avoids pro-drug-war narratives that push for an intensified law-and-order response to the proliferation of more potent synthetic drugs … The War on Drugs and misguided law enforcement efforts have not stemmed the spread of fentanyl, but instead have contributed to its takeover, Westhoff carefully explains.
Filter

Extensively reported and vividly written … Westhoff elevates his impressive examination of the opioid epidemic by reporting on the US government’s failed war on drugs and the promise of innovative ‘harm reduction’ policies that recognise that ‘Just Say No��� is a losing proposition.
National Book Review

Westhoff looks at the new wave of synthetic drugs that are taking the opioid epidemic to a whole new deadly level. He managed to go undercover into one of the many labs in China where these drugs are being manufactured, and the results of his research there and elsewhere are terrifying … Anyone who is interested in learning more about the opioid crisis, or has read Dopesick, is going to want to check this out.
Omnivoracious, the Amazon Book Review

A detailed and far-ranging investigation into the production, marketing, and usage of fentanyl reveals an intertwined business network that spans continents and kills thousands.
Shelf Awareness

In this gripping investigation, Westhoff recounts the deadly consequences of synthetically made drugs and how this phenomenon is beginning spread internationally.
Happy Mag

The way [Fentanyl, Inc.] looked at every aspect of the novel psychoactive substance trade was unique. From chemists manipulating chemical structures of precursors to fentanyl before countries can ban them, to the dealers, end users and those who want to change the way addiction is treated, Westhoff details it all ... this book is an eyeopener to anyone who reads it of just how coordinated and advanced the illicit drug trade is in aiming to get new highs to market at any cost.
Sam Still Reading

Fentanyl, Inc. is a wake-up call to us all. Shocking and unnerving.
Judith Baragwanath, Noted

The information uncovered by Westhoff, an investigative reporter, will no doubt prove useful to lawmakers, addiction counselors, and anyone else who is dealing with opioid addiction ... But where the book really shines is in Westhoff’s ability to get inside the lives of his characters, from addicts like Henke and Schwandt, to the scientists who initially developed opioids, to the Chinese chemists who are manufacturing fentanyl knockoffs—and profiting hugely off the global rise of opioid addiction ... a feat of reporting, to be sure. And while the many details Westhoff uncovered are likely to leave some readers enraged, Fentanyl, Inc. is an important book that arrives at a key juncture in the opioid crisis.
Arlene Weintraub, The New York Journal of Books

... epic ... like Breaking Bad, sure — meets Night of the Living Dead meets and Gremlins, with a cast from a lot of the places on President Donald Trump’s ‘shithole’ list ... Westhoff includes ample relevant history.
Chris Faraone, Little Village

A really fascinating book on a terrifying subject.
Joe Rogan

Excellent … Readable and alternately engaging and chilling in its account of the development, deployment, and devastating consequences of NPS … Politicians, police, and the public continue to debate how to handle the use of psychoactive substances in our culture and legal system. Westhoff’s Fentanyl, Inc. should be required reading for anyone who wishes to contribute to a knowledgeable discussion.
Winnipeg Free Press

A fascinating look into how China is playing a major role in the spread of fentanyl across the US. The book connects the dots between the pharmaceutical companies and their role in the opioid crisis with the Chinese labs manufacturing the illicit fentanyl and manoeuvring it through Mexico to get it into the US. Highly recommend it!
Yahoo Finance
Profile Image for Jesse Field.
778 reviews42 followers
July 7, 2022
Westhoff would appear to have written the book on fentanyl and the larger category of “novel psychoactive substances,” or NPS. And I haven’t seen much to question any of his findings, so based on the tremendous amount of careful citation of materials, I do feel this is an accurate accounting. The range and depth of Westhoff’s interviews is also astounding. (I was just talking to a journalist friend who wants to write these types of books, and it’s interesting to consider from their perspective that the number of such interviews, which often involve big trips, depends a lot on the advance a book wins.)

One way of oversimplifying the story would be to say that it’s the situation of the Opium Wars, in reverse. Way back when, British and other global companies sold opium to Chinese customers, further weakening a society already in crisis. Today, fentanyl and its precursors, as well as many other NPS precursors all come out of China, supplied to cartels in Mexico, Canada, and the United States, and with most of the consumption in the United States. Of course, no Chinese official had a candid conversation with the author about this situation, but the implication could be that the government doesn’t care if its tech companies continue to develop ways to make money off American drug users.

Another pattern of narration teaches us that NPS are primarily a social menace in the United States, where NPS supplies the demand that would otherwise be for heroin, MDMA, LSD, and other old-fashioned drugs. NPS are more dangerous than these older drugs both because they are stronger, and because they come in widely varying, impossible-to-track concentrations, making it very easy to overdose. And people do — fentanyl is by far the deadliest drug to reach the American republic. It seems hard to exaggerate:
In 2017 American life expectancy declined for the third consecutive year, something that hadn't happened since the 1940s. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed the drop in part to fentanyl, which also appears to be driving down life expectancy in regions of Canada.

"In part to fentanyl" -- the author here refers to the larger category, "deaths of despair." A great account of these is Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, which traces the social-economic factors, and underlying mental health factors, behind the recent declines in American health outcomes. Westhoff mostly only hints at these here, though his portraits of addicts and dealers are vivid enough documents.

The book is perhaps too large and unwieldy when all is said and done. Part I begins by telling the story of fentanyl, with a portrait of its inventor, the Belgian chemist Paul Jansen, but drags a bit as it examines the rise and fall of MDMA and NPS substitutes for same. It then pivots to examine “fake marijuana,” from another line of NPS development. Finally, synthetic copies of drugs called NBOMs make an appearance. The point is solid: the war against these drugs did not succeed, but only created markets for an infinite variety of fakes and substitutes. But you have to make it up to Part IV to get that, and to realize that this is largely a USA problem, because in other countries, recreational use of marijuana, MDMA, LSD, and sometimes even heroin is more tolerated.

In fact, it’s worth skipping down to Part IV to see this argument in action. I found it to be good motivation to go back to Part I and make it through the slog of drug names and somewhat repetitive anecdotes. “Harm reduction” activists have had positive effects where drugs are used and abused in Europe, often at major club and dance party sites. The author was admittedly part of "generation ecstasy," which has grown in size and scope, but event organizers find themselves hounded by NPS even as profits are up. There are civil society groups, some of them clandestine, like “The Bunk Police,” who advocate for a more tolerant and harm-reducing attitude toward drug-use in the USA, but they face challenges from both federal laws and public opinion — our Puritan hypocrisy rears its head again. Still, this is surprisingly hopeful perspective, especially given the success of harm reduction policies in European countries like Spain, Portugal, and Slovenia.

Part III, on the sources of NPS, takes us on a surprising trip to China. Huge numbers of chemical manufacturers there sell straight-up fentanyl and its precursors to the Mexican cartels and other distributors, and often with more than tacit government approval — these companies often get VAT rebates on the horrible drugs they are producing! Westhoff’s interviews in China will bring a smile to anyone lucky enough to have lived over there: the white-collar young women who meet the new clients, the eccentric middle-managers who ask lots of questions and drive you around in their cars, the laboratories and the awkward but cagey researchers and engineers who run them. There’s even a rich drug magnate, a 60-year-old man who was snapping up old government industries back in the days when foreign investment was pouring into China for new types of firms. One almost wonders if a stronger focus on the fentanyl story alone, and further investigation of the case of China suppliers, might have been enough for a more impactful book.

Looking back over the book, to me it feels like the weakest section is Part II, with its account of the Mexican cartels, the old Magic Chef factory in St. Louis, and German drug dealers using the Dark Web. These are like Atlantic dispatches, not well-integrated into the Part IV thesis.

Westhoff writes for the Atlantic, which I once subscribed to and still enjoy for my one free article a month. This book is like 25 articles, all slammed together. Readers of non-fiction like me are starting to get a little more savvy, and won’t rate such books highly without greater degree of cohesion. Westhoff should take note that his thesis won't punch home when it is dragged down by side-quests, whether or not the side-quests are worthy in and of themselves. As some evidence of this, I refer him to a maddening review I found in an academic journal, linked in the website of the National Institutes of Health:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

While acknowledging that Westhoff finds hope in community-based care, the author here goes on to ask: "Why is there no consensus about what ought to be done, nor true clarity in the form of policy recommendations?" It is perhaps an unfair question, and the deduction Westhoff wanted us to make is that harm-reduction over use-prevention is the main policy recommendation, but it goes to show, I think, that he did not make the argument for this strongly enough. We may also refer to the book's subtitle, "how rogue chemists are creating the deadliest wave of the opioid epidemic." This seems an effort on the part of the publisher to find the heart of the drama in "rogue chemists," which is yet another misreading of the text.
Profile Image for Ben Rogers.
2,571 reviews189 followers
June 22, 2023
TIL: Over 90% Of Illicit Fentanyl Comes From China

WOW! This is an eye-opening and emotionally charged book that exposes the grim reality of the opioid crisis. Prepare to be both angered and deeply saddened as you navigate the pages of this powerful narrative, which delves into the destructive force of illicit fentanyl that has ravaged countless lives.

Westhoff's meticulous research and investigative journalism shed light on the devastating consequences of the fentanyl epidemic. From heart-wrenching personal stories to shocking statistics, this book paints a vivid and harrowing picture of the human toll inflicted by this deadly drug.

While acknowledging the legitimate uses of fentanyl, Westhoff pulls back the curtain on the illicit production and distribution that fuels the crisis. Notably, he highlights the alarming fact that over 90% of illicit fentanyl originates from China, prompting critical reflections on drug enforcement and foreign policy.

Fentanyl, Inc. serves as a profound wake-up call, compelling readers to confront the urgent need for effective solutions and policy changes. The book's timeliness cannot be overstated, as the death toll continues to rise amidst this ongoing epidemic. Westhoff's ability to weave together personal narratives, scientific insights, and geopolitical analysis makes for a captivating and impactful read.

I wholeheartedly recommend Fentanyl, Inc. to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the opioid crisis and its far-reaching consequences. Ben Westhoff's expertise as a journalist and writer shines through in his captivating storytelling, making it nearly impossible to put this book down. Brace yourself for a rollercoaster of emotions, as you navigate the pages and gain a profound appreciation for the complexities and urgency surrounding this issue.

In conclusion, I rate Fentanyl, Inc. with a very high score, recognizing its exceptional power and the importance of its message. Prepare to be educated, moved, and motivated to take action as you immerse yourself in this gripping narrative. Let us stand together in the fight against the deadly tide of illicit fentanyl, armed with knowledge and compassion.

4.8/5
Profile Image for Tom Schulte.
3,071 reviews64 followers
January 17, 2022
This is a fascinating and insightful look into the impact of synthetic opiates on America. I happened to recently watch the excellent Dopesick Hulu series exploring America's struggle with opioid addiction from the boardrooms of Purdue Pharma to a distressed Virginia mining community and to the hallways of the DEA. This is an excellent paired resource. It touches on Purdue and the impact on users, although this puts a lens over St. Louis Magic Chef factory abandoned and housing a community of addicts, touched on as part of this presentation by the author. That deep investigative journalism role is also applied to interacting with Chinese producers as a would-be purchaser of precursors to the point of touring a manufacturing facility. This paints a picture of explicit Chinese government support including tax rebates as the wave of Hydra-like proliferating highly potent new psychoactive substances (NPS) class of opioids replacing heroin. The book also points out the failures of American emphasis on punishment and the successes had in other countries that give energy to harm reduction, such as monitored usage sights and allowing potential users to have their drugs analyzed for purity.
3,901 reviews81 followers
November 26, 2019
Fentanyl, Inc: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opiod Epidemic by Ben Westhoff (Atlantic Monthly Press 2019) (362.293) (3401).

What a timely book! Some definitions are in order. Morphine and heroin are plant-based narcotics which are derived from a common flower. All plant-based narcotics are referred to as “opiates.” On the other hand, fentanyl is an incredibly powerful synthetic narcotic chemical compound which can only be created and produced in a chemistry laboratory. All synthetic narcotics are referred to as “opiods.”

Fentanyl is widely used during surgery in the medical community without harm or danger. But fentanyl has escaped into the real world with deadly consequences, and author Ben Westoff in Fentanyl, Inc: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opiod Epidemic has sounded the alarm.

Here's the problem: fentanyl is described as “fifty to one-hundred times stronger than heroin.” To users, that means that the amount they must use to achieve the same effect is fifty to one-hundred-times less than a comparable dose of heroin. Westoff reports that this means that a non-fatal dose of fentanyl may be only as large as a couple of grains of table salt. Ingesting any more than that can cause cardiac arrest, so there is very little margin for error by the user.

Since such a miniscule volume of fentanyl amounts to a full dose, this means that a big batch of the drug has a very small volume and is thus easy for smugglers to move across international borders. (The author's research makes clear that almost all of the street fentanyl smuggled into the US comes from factories in China or India.) Thus international smugglers adore fentanyl for the ease with which it can be secreted among legitimate goods and products in trans-continental shipping containers.

And this leads to the two reasons why fentanyl represents such a huge danger. First, the actual end purchasers and users of almost every type of synthetic street drug are being unwittingly killed in outbreaks numbering in the hundreds because the drug wholesalers and lower-level street dealers are cutting fentanyl into other drugs to “boost the effect and the high” without the users' knowledge and in non-standardized amounts. In fact more and more opiates or opiods (heroin, oxycontin) as well synthetic recreational drugs (MDMA (Ecstasy), LSD, and synthetic analogues far too numerous to name) are being adulterated by the dealers, both to boost the high and because fentanyl is cheaper than the pure substances which the purchasers believe they are buying. People – addicts as well as occasional recreational psychonauts – are dying by the scores from accidental overdoses of a drug they didn't know they had used or purchased, for passing few of the users have any idea that their dose contains fentanyl.

The second reason that fentanyl poses such a huge danger lies in its chemical structure. When a government declares a drug illegal, the statute banning that substance must specify precisely the exact chemical structure of the compound. This is called “scheduling” a drug. The problem is that when the government bans a newly-created synthetic opioid (also known as a “Novel Psychoactive Substance” or NPS) by scheduling it, only a substance made of that exact identical chemical structure and atomic makeup is covered by the ban.

And this is where the “rogue chemists” referenced by Ben Westoff in this book's title are at their most dangerous. For knowledgeable chemists, it is child's play to tweak a scheduled substance by adding a single atom or atomic group onto a complex molecule of known formula. This results in a NEW "Novel Psychoactive Substance" with a completely different chemical compound and formula than the outlawed “scheduled” drug. The critical difference is that, since the new compound has a completely different chemcal formula, it is therefore NOT scheduled and is thus completely legal to synthesize, import and market.

This is the point at which the Chinese chemical factories fit into this saga. From a Western point of view, the Chinese government often declines to rein in factories which create, produce, sell, and distribute these new substances which the Western governments have scheduled / banned. However, from the perspective of the Chinese government, just because the West bans a product which is produced in China does not necessarily make that product harmful or dangerous to China or to Chinese citizens. China thus deems it unnecessary to make such chemical compounds illegal under Chinese law. Therefore, Novel Psychoactive Substances which are banned in the US often remain completely legal in China. This means that Chinese producers are free to manufacture and market these drugs like any other legal product. The Chinese authorities believe that the Western drug problem arises not from the availability of the chemicals but from the failure of Western governments to control and crack down on their citizen-users, according to Westoff.

It has been proven many times in US history that prohibition does not work. Generally speaking, attempts by authorities to eradicate a drug - ANY drug – has shown that users will search until they find a substitute with comparable effects. History has demonstrated time and again that these newly-substituted formulations are as a rule far more harmful to both users and to society than the originally banned substance.

Nice work, Ben Westoff, for presenting cutting-edge information on a level which can be understood by knowledgeable readers.

My rating: 7.5/10, finished 10/22/19 (3401).

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