Ignore all the news stories including Breitbart (smh)... saying that Floyd had coronavirus. True he did, but it's a side story.
Allow me to break this down for you. First... let's talk numbers and nomenclature.
-Analgesia = pain control. You're awake, breathing, and feeling fine.
-Anesthesia = You are unconscious. Usually, your brain is not telling you to breath either, so you need to be ventilated. This is usually done with a ventilator, bag mask, or mouth to mouth resuscitation.
Fentanyl Plasma Levels for...
Analgesia = 1-2 ng/mL
Anesthesia = 10-20 ng/mL
Floyd's plasma level was 11 ng/mL. That's not subjective. It's a lab report. It's not an arguable point. It was drawn at the hospital some time after the arrest video.
Here's likely what happened and why.
At some point during the police interaction, or just prior, he ate his stash of fentanyl. He did not inject it... because the almost instantaneous peak plasma level would have lead to instant death (by 'cardiopulmonary arrest'). He would have been found slumped over the steering wheel.
However... if Floyd INGESTed fentanyl... the blood level slowly increases... peaking somewhere between 50 to 150 minutes.
So initially... he's fine. 1-2 ng/mL ... he's not complaining about those tight cuffs anymore. His shoulder doesn't hurt. He's actually starting to act a little euphoric. Some time passes.
5 ng/mL... suspect is becoming drowsy. Still talking. Still breathing.
Little bit later... uh oh... we're now approaching ANESTHESIA levels of fentanyl in the blood. He's not responding anymore. Shallow breathing and there is still a pulse.
Levels still increasing. Now at 11 ng/mL. He's not responding and just stopped breathing. FUCK. Now his heart starts tweaking out because of lack of oxygen. 30 secs later, heart stops completely. Cardiopulmonary arrest.
Note that the blood is no longer pumping, so the fentanyl level in the blood should remain relatively unchanged. It's no longer being broken down by the liver, or being absorbed from the bowel (both of which require blood to be moving).
When his blood level of fentanyl hit anesthesia levels. He died. His blood level came back as 11 ng/mL. The anesthesia dosage is 10-20 ng/mL. Case closed. The knee to the back of the neck had nothing to do with it. Not that any of this matters anymore, who is George Floyd anyway?
You make a good case, Pede, and you have good sources to back it up.
But there is one thing you are perhaps missing. I'm not a doctor so I can't describe the mechanism exactly, but with opioids, like heroin and the very similar fentanyl there is an increasing tolerance that develops as the user repeatedly takes the drug.
This means that the first time might take one hit to get high, but the next time one hit doesn't product the same effect so they take a second hit. The next time it takes three, and so on. The end result is that someone who is a habitual, regular user can absorb doses that would straight-up kill a person who had never taken a dose before.
I think Floyd was a habitual user, to the point that it took 11 ng/mL for him to get the kind of high he was after. Based on the reports of his behavior, it was definitely a serious high, but chances are his body was so tolerant of the drug that he was still semi-functional like an ordinary person on the 1-2 ng/mL level.
Keep in mind that these numbers are likely from JUNKIES, with high tolerances.
Large series of fentanyl fatalities in Florida Blood median **9.7 ng/mL ** (n = 46)
81 fentanyl deaths in Montgomery county, Ohio; 56 cases without concomitant use of heroin or cocaine Blood median 9 ng/mL
**Floyd's level was 11. **
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6609322/