When officials arrived at the scene, no drugs were found on Michael, but a coroner later determined that he had died from a fentanyl overdose, despite the dad not being a heroin user.His sudden death has shocked his family, who are struggling to understand how he died. Tamula Mercer, Michael’s 65-year-old grandmother who works as a caretaker in Bullhead City, said: « Michael didn’t do drugs.
« He would smoke pot – we smoked pot together because it’s legal – but he hated alcohol and didn’t like the way it made him feel. That’s why all this just blows my mind that he would die this way.
« He showed a picture of a joint in his hand, » she said. « He found a pre-roll. » Tamula said Michael had told his coworkers about his find.
« I guess he told two of his other coworkers to come meet him and they’d smoke it together, » she said, adding, « They didn’t come and we don’t know if he smoked it. »
When emergency workers arrived, neither the pre-rolled joint or any other drugs were found on his person.
Tamula, who adopted Michael when he was just two years old, is now on a crusade to prevent other families from experiencing a similarly random, fatal, overdose.
Ahead of speaking at the 5th annual Lost Voices of Fentanyl Rally on October 18 at the Washington Monument, the grandmother wants to make people more aware of the potential dangers of the drug.More than 16,000 Americans lost their lives to drug overdoses in the last year alone, according to CDC data, down from a peak of 31,000 in 2021.
Fentanyl is an extremely powerful synthetic opioid, often used in medical scenarios due to it being a painkiller that is 50 times stronger than normal morphine. Illegally-manufactured fentanyl is increasingly available on the street and can be smoked, snorted, or injected by users, many of whom could be unaware that they are consuming ‘fent’.
Amid the shocking rise in deaths from opioids over the past decade, some experts have claimed that the extremely strong opioid can kill just from individuals simply coming into contact with it.
« It’s not like in the old days where you can go to a party and somebody’s passing around a joint and everybody’s cool, » Tamula said. « It can be on anything.
« All you got to do is touch something, and if it’s got fentanyl on it and you touch your mouth, eyes, or nose, it’ll kill you. »The grieving grandma had been told this information by officials, with Tamula adding: « I talked to the mayor here in our town, and he said that all you have to do is be around it, and if it’s in the air and you smell it, it can kill you, » she said.
« He was telling me about a drug bust where the house was full of fentanyl, and all the detectives had to go 200 feet away while HAZMAT went in to clean it out. »
She added: « All you have to do is smell it and it goes up in your lungs and you’re gone. »
While fentanyl can be extremely dangerous, the idea that merely being near the drug or accidentally exposed to it can kill is not correct. Washington State’s Department of Health has pushed back on this misconception, saying in guidance: « It is unlikely you will overdose just from being around or helping someone who has smoked or used fentanyl. There is no evidence of first responders experiencing an overdose from secondhand fentanyl exposure. »Following reports that Halloween candy could become contaminated with fentanyl, a regular story at this time of year, Tamula went on to say: « Now I go to the stores and I’m scared to touch things.
« I’m seeing where babies are dying just from touching it, and there are drugs that are stronger than fentanyl killing people. »
Tamula also revealed that the stress of learning about the potential dangers of fentanyl had caused her serious health problems. She explained that she had a heart attack ‘due to the stress, the horrible grief that this has caused’.
Despite her personal tragedy and health difficulties, Tamula remains determined to raise awareness of the dangers and prevent other families from experiencing a similar tragedy. She said: « I just want, before other kids die, before other parents face what I’m facing, for people to know the dangers.
« If I could save one person, if we could save even one person. »
Experts have warned people against using a weight loss drug that hasn’t yet come on the market.
Weight loss drugs have become a lot more popular in recent years and people across the world seem to have sworn by them.
In America, 12 percent of adults have reported taking some form of weight loss medication, which equates to around 15 to 20 million people.
Much of the popularity stems from the fact that in many cases, people don’t need to live their lives too differently because of how the drugs work.
Many of the medications mimic the natural hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which is released in the gut after eating.
This aids the regulation of blood sugar, keeps people feeling fuller for longer and therefore sees them shed the pounds.The FDA has approved six drugs for weight management purposes, including semaglutide (Wegovy) and Liraglutide (Saxenda), however some people have opted to use medications incorrectly that can have a similar effect to those approved.
In addition to this, another concerning trend has emerged; that people are using ‘illegal’ weight loss drugs that have not yet come to market.
One of these is retatrutide, a weight loss drug being produced by Eli Lilly and currently in the clinical trials stage.
However, according to Wired, some people have still managed to get their hands on the drug and have praised it, despite the potential unknown side effects.
Eli Lilly spokesperson Niki Biro has warned against consuming drugs in this way.
Speaking to Futurism, they said: “Retatrutide is an investigational molecule that is legally available only to participants in Lilly’s clinical trials. Anyone purporting to sell retatrutide for human use is breaking the law, and no one should consider taking anything claiming to be retatrutide outside of a Lilly-sponsored clinical trial.”Dr Helen Wall has also previously spoken of why consuming medication after buying it from ‘grey markets’ is dangerous. On much of the packaging, the drugs may say for ‘research purposes’ or ‘not for human consumption’ despite people continuing to use them.
Dr Wall told Metro: “The issue is, we don’t really know what the risks are and we don’t know the dosing either. It’s certainly not just a stronger version of Ozempic and Mounjaro. It’s working on a different pathway, so that needs exploration in terms of, what the safety is, what the risks are and what the side effects are.
“It’s been developed by Eli Lilly, who are a reputable, well known pharmaceutical company, so ultimately, it may well end up on the market, but at the moment it’s still in clinical trials.”
A spokesperson for Eli Lilly told UNILAD: “Retatrutide is an investigational molecule that Lilly is studying for the treatment of obesity – it is in phase 3 clinical trials and is not available to patients outside of these trials. Retatrutide has not been reviewed or approved by any regulatory agency anywhere in the world, and therefore at this time no one can sell retatrutide for human use.
“Any product falsely representing itself as a Lilly investigational product not yet approved by regulators may expose patients to potentially serious health risks.”
Man who ‘slept with 1,000 women’ issues severe warning after revealing what it did to him
An influencer has staked claim to being the male answer to Bonnie Blue, and has warned the adult film star that she is making a ‘big mistake’.
While you’ve probably never heard of Benny James, the Brit seemingly made a bit of a name for himself hitting clubs in London four times a week over the course of a decade – and in that time claims to have slept with more than 1,000.
At the time, the womanizer would tell himself that he was ‘just living life’ and that the scores of women he’d bed each week was all ‘just a bit of fun’ – but it was all a lie.
Instead of joy, the notches on his bedpost were a reminder that he was alone… something that the 31-year-old now realizes – sliding into strangers DMs because he ‘didn’t really like being on his own’.Now, the content creator, from Croydon in south London, is urging Bonnie Blue to reconsider her life plans after she claims to have slept with 1,057 men in a single day in an attempt to set a world record.
“I was probably like the male equivalent to Bonnie Blue back in the day,” James said.
« I would tell her to think about the future. In 10 years time, how’s it going to affect your mental health? How is that going to affect you physically?
« With me, my friends and family saw me as ‘Jack the lad’ – going out, having fun. But deep down, it was affecting me without me knowing, until I hit rock bottom. »
He continued: « I think the way she’s going, she gets so much negativity. That will play a big role. »It’ll just build and build and build up. And then when you want to sit back and have a normal life, it’s hard to do that.
“Right now, I think it’s just money, money, money for her. I feel for her because I feel like it’s almost a type of self harm, almost like she’s doing it because she feels worthless. »
James knows first-hand how that lifestyle can have an affect on you, as it led him into a deep depression, something his anxiety only made worse.
However, the playboy has since turned a corner after settling down with his partner, which he explains has helped him ‘find himself again’.
« I’ve kind of just found myself in a good place, and where I promote stuff for mental health and things now I get a lot of love back from it, » he added.
