Fentanyl, Inc.

July 1, 2019
Investigative journalist 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. Westhoff narrates the dangerous rise of fentanyl alongside the emergence of a wide variety of other synthetic drugs, including cannabinoids and novel-psychoactive substances (NPS), that are fast becoming readily accessible. Interviewing over 160 people, including the chemists who create the drugs and the dealers who distribute them, as well as users and law enforcement, Westhoff 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. Agent: Ethan Bassoff, Massie & McQuilkin.

August 1, 2019

Exacerbating and complicating the epidemic of opioid misuse, addiction, and overdose is the careening growth in Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS), an ever-expanding array of synthetic drugs designed to mimic the effects of traditional recreational and pharmaceutical chemicals--but typically with much higher potency, and trafficked in disguise, so that users simply do not know what they are taking. As soon as one NPS is identified and banned, another is developed, produced, and distributed to take its place. Journalist Westhoff (Original Gangstas) traces fentanyl and other NPS from academic labs to Chinese firms, Mexican cartels, and Dark Web entrepreneurs. He meets with users, survivors, and dealers, and travels to China to visit suppliers in the guise of a customer. Critiquing prohibition-oriented drug policy, Westhoff explores more pragmatic responses including grassroots harm-reduction activism and supervised injection facilities, needle exchanges, and treatment programs that could lower public-health costs and reduce fatalities. VERDICT Following after Sam Quinones's Dreamland, which surveyed the ravages of prescription pills and black tar heroin, this book will assist policymakers, activists, and general readers in understanding better how to respond to the drug crisis that is only more intractable now.--Janet Ingraham Dwyer, State Lib. of Ohio, Columbus

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2019
How a lethal synthetic opioid and its manufacturer is creating a global drug addiction crisis. In 2013, investigative journalist Westhoff (Original Gangstas: Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and the Birth of West Coast Rap, 2016) began researching potently addictive street drugs, and he learned about Fentanyl and other "novel psychoactive substances" while writing about "why so many people were dying at raves." The author describes Fentanyl and synthetic drugs (including K2 and Spice) as formerly medically sound panaceas whose formulas were hijacked and re-created with unpredictable potencies and physical effects. The staggering statistics he presents tell a much darker tale, as he shows how Fentanyl-laced cocaine and other new psychoactive substances are killing thousands of people. In order to uncover the origin of the epidemic and the epic race to develop effective deterrent systems, the author seamlessly blends past and present in his profiles of Belgian chemist Paul Janssen, who was responsible for Fentanyl's initial development in 1959; police officers; politicians; LSD drug kingpins, and St. Louis street dealers. While promising, 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. Perhaps most compelling is Westhoff's undercover infiltration of several rogue Chinese drug operations. Some operate covertly, while others are blatantly transparent since China offers subsidies to companies manufacturing and distributing Fentanyl components. Also fascinating is the author's charting of Fentanyl's circulation from darknet marketplaces to overseas postal stops to regional distribution. While international interceptive efforts like "Operation Denial" have helped in the apprehension of the upper echelon of major distributors, they have failed to collar Fentanyl trafficking network kingpin Jian Zhang, who is believed to be largely responsible for the steady flow of the drug into the global market. 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.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.