14 DAY TRIAL // Joshua Makin was partying with his friends when he swallowed a nicotine-like patch meant for severe back pain. After ingesting the drugs, the young man went home and died in his sleep right next to his girlfriend.
The opiate patch had been stolen from one of his friends' father, who uses the prescribed medicine for a chronic pain condition. The victim didn't realize the painkiller had 50 times the dose physicians recommend and took it as a joke.
The next day, Joshua's girlfriend was shocked to discover he was lying lifeless on the bed and called a friend to ask for help. When the paramedics arrived it was too late, as Mr. Makin was already dead. After further investigations, it was determined that the patch the 20-year-old ingested was part of a fentanyl batch prescribed to a former airline pilot.
The toxicology report revealed that Josh had 50 times the recommended dose of the drug in his system. The patches are designed to slowly release the drug through the skin but, when ingested, the process speeds up, causing deadly reactions.
The pilot's son stole the patch-like painkillers and sold them to his friends at parties, like in the case of Joshua. The young drug dealer had no idea what he was messing with and now he is facing 18 months in jail for dealing Class A drugs, according to Daily Mail.
“Anybody trying recreational drugs is playing Russian roulette with their lives. If they truly knew what we had gone through after Josh's death, I would hope they would never do it again. It's been hell since he died,” the 20-yearl-old's mother said, according to Daily Mail.
The medicine Joshua ingested is similar to morphine, used for chronic pain or terminal illnesses and it was often accused of creating addiction. The skin patches are meant to be worn for multiple days in order to release the substances slowly into the bloodstream, and in no case should they be ingested.