There are 1000 mcg in 1 mg.
Intravenous Fentanyl is often dispensed as 100 mcg suspended in 1ml of liquid. 100 mcg is 1/10 of a milligram. a small snowflake weighs approximately 1 mg so 100 mcg of fentanyl weighs 1/10 the weight of a small snowflake.
Most docs don't order 100 mcg though. They usually start out with 25-50 mcg. So a standard starting dose of fentanyl is 50mcg.
There are 1.5 billion mcg of fentanyl in 1.5 kg.
1.5kg of pure fentanyl is, therefore, equivalent to 30 million 50 mcg doses.
Fentanyl, like all narcotics, is potentially lethal. The lethal dose will vary according to the individual's weight and experience with narcotics. It kills by slowing down your respiration rate (called respiratory depression) a normal person needs to breathe about 12 times a minute. Narcotics may reduce that to 6 respirations per minute (or less) which is only compatible with life for a few minutes. You need to take oxygen in and you need to exhale carbon dioxide. If you can't do that, you suffocate and die or suffer irreversible brain and/or cardiac damage. If I had to pick a dose that could be expected to kill a 180 lb person who had zero experience with narcotics (called narcotic naive), I would say that 1,000 mcg (or 1mg which is the weight of a small snowflake) of intravenous fentanyl would be guaranteed to be lethal 75 out of 100 times. There is no doubt that 1,500 mcg of fentanyl administered via a rapid IV push, would be lethal 100 out of 100 times in just about anybody.
So, 1.5 kg of fentanyl is equivalent to 1,000,000 guaranteed lethal doses. It is, in other words, enough fentanyl to kill 1,000,000 people.
1 million people.
Good ‘boots on the ground’ analysis.
“The LD50 (lethal dose) for pure Fentanyl, is estimated at 2 milligrams (mgs) for a typical adult [Reference: RCMP and United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA].”
Memphis ER’s use Di-lauded at the LOWEST DOSE. Doesn’t even work on OA pain. And is the wrong drug for GI spasms from Gastropresis. I had 2 trips in Feb. CT’s diagnosed wrong both times. GASTRO said not Diverticulitis, Not UT, ordered Barium XRay,Turns out it was Swollen Small Intestine. SIBO.
And there is no real diet plan for Diverticulosis, Gastropresis and SIBO. Each require it’s own diet.