The Truth about the Opioid Problem

The Truth about the Opioid Problem

It won’t stop.

When it comes to illegal drugs the people who abuse them will find a way, and those who make huge profits will supply them. The illegal drug supply is like one of those long skinny balloons. You can squeeze it all you want, but you can’t stop it, it just pops up in another place.

All I have to say about the supply of legal drugs is the right for people who need them should not be impaired by the government. When someone needs a drug or medication for medical needs, they will find a way to obtain the medication.

What we need to ask is how many lives we want to destroy in the pursuit of a drug free America, a totally unrealistic goal by the way.

We have spent years using education and social pressure to lower the use of tobacco. According to the CDC cigarette smoking is still responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States. 1300 people a day

The good news is that using education and social pressure we lowered tobacco us from 43% of adults in 1965, to 16% in 2014. We didn’t put anyone in prison, we didn’t destroy any families, we didn’t tear apart any homes, nor have men in black masks break down doors leaving children with PTSD.

We did spent millions of dollars in the pursuit of the Sinaloa Cartel’s leader El Chapo. When arrested it was a big deal, everybody celebrated capture. We won, the Sinaloa Cartel closed its doors and drugs stopped flowing across the border.

Right, there was and will be a bloody battle for control of the Sinaloa Cartel. According to Guardian News there were 142 homicides in March of 2002 alone… www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/02/mexico-captures-sinaloa-cartel-leader-el-chapo

It doesn’t matter if drugs come from huge powerful pharmaceutical companies, or huge powerful drug cartels, drugs are worth too much money, and supply will follow demand.

We have had a knee jerk reaction to the media reports of the Opioid Epidemic. In 2015, more than 33,000 Americans died as a result of an opioid overdose. Remember 13,000 Americans died from tobacco each DAY. Every 2.5 days as many Americans died from tobacco as died in all of 2015 from opioids. Why don’t we just create a prohibition on tobacco? Because prohibition doesn’t work, that’s why.

Do your research only 10% of overdoses are from pills alone. Most are from illegal sources or a combination of pain pills and alcohol, or other drugs not prescribed.

Look at what the government has done, by limiting opioids for pain patients the government has created a monster that can’t control, drug cartels. When you prohibit something, or regulate it to the point they have pain medications today you create a black market and loose the control.

CNN reports the Nebraska State Patrol seized nearly 120 pounds of the drug fentanyl -- enough to kill about 26 million people, according to estimates by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/25/health/nebraska-fentanyl-bust/index.html

This is the monster they create when law enforcement plays doctor. The new laws trying to limit medical use of pain medications will cause the death of so many more people than opioids alone would have if we just educated patients, physicians, and people.