If compound 368 had been available four years ago, fentanyl abuser George Floyd might still be alive -- and former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin would probably not be in prison.

Chauvin was charged -- and convicted -- of killing Floyd, which triggered the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020. But the fact is that fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid, has killed more people (black and white) than white (or black) cops have, ever. 

Most of whom never actually killed anyone, either. Including, more than likely, Derek Chauvin -- who insisted he was trying to help Floyd, an addict with heart trouble who was also a criminal.

Probably because he was an addict.   

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 73,838 people died as a result of fentanyl abuse in 2022 alone. That's more than all of the soldiers who died during 12 years of war in Vietnam.

Plus all of the soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

And that’s nothing compared with the deaths that might be coming; as many as 1.2 million by 2029, according to an estimate by The Lancet, a well-respected public health journal.

Yet no one is "peacefully protesting" these needless deaths -- nor the effectively open border that has enabled Mexican drug cartels to flood the United States with this lethally dangerous but highly profitable narcotic that many experts consider to be even more addictive than heroin or crack cocaine.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), "synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine are responsible for nearly all of the fatal drug poisonings in our nation. The Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels are at the heart of this crisis. These two cartels are global criminal enterprises that have developed global supply chain networks." 

Italics added to emphasize the point -- about the consequences of open borders. 

It is politically correct to be upset about the death of one man (and the ruined life of another man). But why is there so little upset about all of these other deaths? 

Perhaps because they don't serve a political purpose. Just as the open border does -- and to the benefit of the same interests, who don't care about the human suffering all of this causes.

So long as it serves their interests.

Which is why it'll be interesting to see whether compound 368 will get the interest it deserves.

The term refers to a first-responder remedy for fentanyl overdoses -- the very thing Derek Chauvin had to deal with on the streets of Minneapolis. It works with naloxene -- which is already in use as an emergency treatment for opioid overdose. Naloxen works by rapidly replacing the deadly opioids in the body's opioid receptors, counteracting the effect of the drug.

There are vending machines that dispense naloxene overdose kits for free in places such as Kansas City, which has been dealing with a 91 percent increase in drug-related deaths over the course of just five years (from 2015-2020). The naloxene vending machines were put into place as a way to help addicts help themselves before help can get there -- which can be the difference between life and death.

"We have a huge substance use disorder issue in Kansas and the Wichita area, and opioid use and deaths from overdose are happening a lot, so this is one way we can provide a method to save lives," says Stacy Haines of the Douglas County Citizens Committee on Alcoholism (DCCCA). However, "the problem is much bigger than what a naloxone vending machine is going to solve. That is a tool and way to get naloxone in the hands of Wichitans 24/7, but it’s going to take a much bigger organized effort on behalf of everyone to curve this.” 

Enter compound 368, which has yet to be named -- but could be a big help, both to the addicts and to first responders. 

According to a just-published study by Stanford University researchers in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, compound 368 enhances the effectiveness of naloxene because it “is able to increase the binding of naloxone and turn the (opioid) receptors (in the body) off more completely." 

But only when naloxone is administered with compound 368.

"Working with mice, the scientists found that  . . . when they combined compound 368 with naloxone, opioids were more effectively blocked from binding. The more of this newly discovered compound was added, the better naloxone blocked opioids, including fentanyl and morphine," the study says. 

In lab experiments, mice were given naloxone by itself and compound 368 by itself. Neither worked as well as they did together. And that's why it's important they be used together -- assuming there's interest in doing something to prevent tens of thousands of preventable deaths from opioid overdoses.

Compound 368 not only might have saved George Floyd (and Derek Chavin) it might save hundreds of thousands of Americans like Floyd, who are otherwise likely to die as a result of their abuse of opioids such as fentanyl.

But only if there's enough interest in compound 368. 

Michael A. Letts, Founder, President, and CEO of In-Vest USA, a national grassroots non-profit organization that is helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bullet-proof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs.

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