The Paradigm Shift

Fentanyl, Synthetic Morphine, is 100-10,000X more potent than its plant-based predecessor. That potency, combined with a faster effectiveness, makes it a great medicine when made by a Pharmaceutical company and administered in a hospital. When made by an illicit Drug Cartel and sold through street drug dealers, however, it is so dangerous that it created a Paradigm Shift in the way illicit drugs kill.

The decision by Cartels to press their illicit Fentanyl into all manner of recreationally used pills such as Oxy, Percocet, Xanax and Adderall, combined with the New Paradigm of Drug Death, expands geometrically—from hard SUD chronic users (~2.5M) to all recreational users (~25-30M).

Make no mistake, the Paradigm Shift means Fentanyl threatens YOUR family; wherever you are, however you live, no family is safe.

Fentanyl Changes Everything

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1979 - 2012

The situation of Drug Death was linear & stable.

2013

China suddenly exports mass volumes of Fentanyl to replace DCM (“Heroin”); this is a Paradigm Shift.

2015-2019

Mexican Cartel expand manufacturing; major move beyond DCM replacement such as pill pressing and lacing Cocaine/ Meth.

2016

The death toll starts to increase exponentially and has yet to slow down in 2022.

2022

The death toll continues to break records year after year with no slow-down insight.

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Our Mission

The Fentanyl Awareness Coalition (The-FAC, FAC) was founded by bereaved families who have lost loved ones to the Fentanyl Epidemic. Our energies are directed toward raising awareness about the new and unique risks – to all segments of our society – resulting from the sudden influx of illicit Synthetic drugs into the United States and their ability to vector Opioid deaths to new places and populations; we call this the New Paradigm of a drug-related death. We will accomplish this through our affiliation with member organizations throughout the United States.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is FAC?

The Fentanyl Awareness Coalition was founded by Michael Gray and Ed Kobilis in 2018, the year both their young adult children were killed by the deception of an illicit Fentanyl poisoning. That description of their deaths formed the idea of a new way of thinking, a New Paradigm as we came to coin it. If a victim's family can answer the following question positively, then they should join our Coalition if they are interested in saving other families from the brutality of their suffering: “If my loved one did exactly what he/she did, in an exact manner he/she did it, before 2013 (i.e., The Paradigm Shift), they would be alive today.” Alas, here we are a decade later and the same statement could end with the phrase, “…in the exact manner he/she did it before 2013, he/she would die just the same.” It is our mission to change this sad reality.

Why should you "join" The FAC?

The FAC is the “Town Hall” of the Fentanyl Crisis in America. If an advocate wants to get involved, they can find like-minded people to align with at The FAC. We welcome all in this fight against fentanyl.

Why is this topic so important to talk, warn, educate & bring awareness about Fentanyl?

Do you know what the number 1 cause of death is right now? Suicide is 2nd and 1st is FENTANYL! But no one is talking about the epidemic within the pandemic. More people are dying from Fentanyl than COVID, gun violence, car accidents, cancer, and more. This is why we have to get this out there because right now 2 out of 5 people will die from Fentanyl and the numbers are just growing.

What is the difference between Overdoses and Poisonings?

Overdose is when you have taken an excessive and dangerous dose of a drug and Fentanyl Poisoning occurs when a person intends to take an illicit OxyContin, Percocet, Xanax, or other drugs, but is sold Fentanyl under the disguise of the requested drugs. ONE PILL CAN KILL! If you are taking illicit pills, you are likely taking Fentanyl. It's not a matter of whether it will kill you, it is a matter of when. These Are NOT Overdoses, These Are Poisonings! The drug epidemic is different from the Fentanyl Poisoning. These are not accidental overdoses! The drug epidemic is different than fentanyl poisoning. They currently call fentanyl poisoning drug overdoses and label them as a drug user. These are not accidental overdoses! Fentanyl deaths are where the victim was poisoned by something they many times didn't know it was even in there. It is Murder. We need to bring this clarity to what is going on and to what they are doing. We need to get the Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness campaign in the ears of all those that we love. We need to explain to our kids, coworkers, and community what Fentanyl Poisoning is and do so through all of the channels in the things they are involved in. We need to come in through the windows, doors, roof, cracks; wherever we can to make them understand that One Pill or any drug will kill them dead. Many are being deceived by fake counterfeit pills out there including gummy bears with Fentanyl in them. So, talk to your children and communities about Fentanyl Poisonings, as young as 6 years old, and let’s STOP the overdose stigma! We must come together during epidemics.

You talk about the “New Paradigm” as primarily the non-addicted, does this mean you don’t want me or my child’s story since they suffered Substance Use Disorder (SUD)?

Nothing could be further from the truth! The New Paradigm is a distinction between “classical” Overdose and the deceptive poisoning happening today. That deceptive poisoning is happening no to the addicted as well as the non-addicted. In the Old Paradigm, SUD sufferers had 10 years of chances to get clean and save their lives, in the New Paradigm, all that time is taken away from them when they are suddenly killed by a milligram of Fentanyl which would not have harmed them had it been DCM (a.k.a “Heroin”). While a majority of our members are families of kids who were not suffering SUD, we have many who were. In the sense that they were unjustly killed for a momentary bad decision, all these victims are the same. Whether their moment of lapsed judgment was taking one pill to party or using a “street drug” to satisfy their addiction, neither victim did something that should have killed them – or would have killed them – before the Paradigm Shift.

You talk about China as the cause of this Crisis, doesn’t this create animosity against the Chinese, and particularly our Chinese American Citizens?

Of course not! China is a wonderful country, and its culture is ancient and highly admirable. That ancient culture has been co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) however and is now used in their modern “asymmetrical warfare”. The Paradigm Shift wrought by Fentanyl is a perfect example of what a Chinese political/ military strategy would call Shāshǒujiàn (Assassin’s Mace). The CCP sees America as a nemesis, and this Paradigm Shift fits with their ancient strategy of dealing with such a nemesis perfectly. We hold no animosity toward the Chinese people, most of whom are utterly unaware of what their government is doing and have no democratic powers to affect the decision anyway. Moreover, most Chinese-Americans are clearly dismayed by this and other actions of their government but are reasonably concerned about racial prejudice when anything negative about their native country is reported.

Even so, why speak of China relating to this Crisis? I thought they stopped making Fentanyl when the Trump Administration requested them to in 2018?

China did indeed stop producing illicit Fentanyl for the US market in 2019. In fact, they even went so far as to make such production a felony with capital punishment. This was a bold move away from the 13% tax rebate they had been given before that year. Yet, it was just a ruse; a ruse in perfect keeping with the overall strategy of Fentanyl as Shāshǒujiàn (Assassin’s Mace). As they shifted the 13% rebate to Precursors, however, including 4-ANPP, which has no known use but to be rendered into Fentanyl, they simply enabled a partner to manufacture this anti-American weapon for them. This is yet another hallmark of Chinese political/military strategy – enlist others to do dirty work so that the enemy does not see you as the aggressor. It is beyond doubt that the ability of Mexican Cartels to produce and expand Fentanyl at tragic levels was an action by the CCP to get others to do their dirty work.

I see all these busts for Fentanyl all over the country, why aren’t we keeping it out?

Fentanyl is anywhere from 1/50th to 1/10,000th the amount DCM is for the same market service. This means that smuggling is far more efficient and much less expensive to develop. So much so, that it lends itself to overbuying. That overbuying has been to an extreme, leaving us with centuries worth of Fentanyl Drugs for this market. Interdiction is important and a moral imperative, but it is not the sole answer. Moreover, DEA claims interdiction rates of near 10%, which one can argue is at least a 10X exaggeration. Even with those rather bold claims, however, the math on a substance which is dosed in micrograms coming in at even 10X those seizure levels, which is massive.

All these news releases say “enough Fentanyl to kill X-million people. If we interdict 10% or less, how are there any living people left in America?

These releases are intended to shock the public and, while technically true (someone always does the bit of arithmetic to make sure), they are really absurd and, in our view, not helpful. In defense of these security-related press releases, they are trying to get the public to understand that one dimension of the New Paradigm of Fentanyl is its status being expended in the Congress at this moment (117th Congress) to codify this agency policy into US Law. We support this movement and are proud to identify one of our friends and Coalition partners – Jim Rauh and Families Against Fentanyl – as a key player in making this happen. as a Chemical Warfare Agent like Anthrax or Sarin. No recreational drug has ever before had this capacity. Almost every agency of the federal government (DOD most specifically), has recognized Fentanyl is a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD).

What can I do – other than joining the coalition - to help? What should I ask of friends or family who have not had this experience?

Alas, here we are a decade later and the same statement could end with the phrase, “… in the exact manner he/she did it before 2013, he/she would die just the same.” It is our mission to change this sad reality.

Is The FAC’s platform free?

Yes, although we are planning a members-only private page which will require a small membership fee it is coming soon!

Are there other associated costs with joining FAC or using the platform?

There are no fees associated other than the small membership fee for the private site, which is in the planning.

Drug Overdose Deaths are Surging

Year-over-year change in reported drug overdose deaths by state in 2020, by state (in %).

1 MG

Fatal Dose

4 MIL

Pounds of fentanyl seized in US in 2020

109 K

Fentanyl & Opioid deaths in US in 2020

900 K

Fentanyl & Opioid deaths in US since 2013

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