3 ms·

I think it’s bold to assume the government even wants to nab the big guys. One example is fentanyl is killing us by the thousands every year. We know who the

I think it’s bold to assume the government even wants to nab the big guys. One example is fentanyl is killing us by the thousands every year. We know who the guy is who owns the factor that’s providing most of the fentanyl and precursors to the cartels. He lives in China and runs an also legit chemical factory. He commits the crime right in the main factory in the open. We politely asked China to arrest him, but they said no. No real political pressure to do anything, no assassinations, nothing. Thousands dead every year.

WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
In response to the Fentanyl/heroin issue, State govs clamp down on legit opioid Rx, leaving Dr's too wary to Rx any effective pain meds at all. People in chronic pain now get to live their lives without any relief at all. They get ignored my news orgs who are obsessed with amplifying an opioid hysteria narrative. Go Gov.
- paulpauper 5y ago
  Agree. The opiod epidemic is just the latest moral panic used to justify limitng people's rights.if you want to o.d., that's your right and your fault. OTC pain medication useless for serious chronic pain and a bigger ripoff than prescription drug companies. Opiods are safe when taken under doc guidelines. This notion that otc drugs are safe is wrong too: Otc drugs are known to cause liver and kidney problems too.
  - rincebrain 5y ago
    I agree with a bunch of your point, but I want to contest one thing - opioids are not necessarily safe by following your doctor's guidelines. There's not (as far as I've found) currently any consistent threshold for how much of a given opioid you have to take for how long to develop an addiction. Some people might be able to take a high dose for an extended interval and not blink. Some people might take a much lower dose and have a very bad time indeed. (For that matter, I've known some people who got IV opioids with no effect. Biochemistry is wild.) So I don't think it's reasonable to argue "opioids are safe if you follow the guidelines" and "OTC pain meds are unsafe [if you ignore the guidelines]" - both have risks that you can try to mitigate by following the guidelines given, but unknown factors can result in it still having negative outcomes.
- rincebrain 5y ago
  I think it depends on your location and situation. A couple months ago, I had minor (in absolute terms) surgery which resulted in a good deal of pain; the doctor asked if I wanted a prescription for opioids, I said yes, it was sent in, no further questions. Am I saying people in chronic pain don't now have issues? No, I have no direct experience with that situation. But it's still quite possible for people to get opioids sometimes.
sneak 5y ago
On average, approximately 7x more people die in the US each day from use of tobacco use than do from use of opiates.
- astrange 5y ago
  One of the largest causes of death is car accidents, and there's approximately no support for policies that would reduce driving.
rkk3 5y ago
> No real political pressure to do anything, no assassinations, nothing. Thousands dead every year. Assassinating a Chinese citizen in China would be a huge overreach and a major violation of sovereignty. Not to mention it wouldn't stop the drug trade. Instead of looking at the Liberal Hegemony playbook for a solution, they should de-criminalize and regulate. During prohibition many people were dying from additives/impurities in bootleg alcohol, now we don't have that problem.
- Consultant32452 5y ago
  I think it's important to help people understand that the stated goals of the government are completely out of alignment with their behavior. The state pretends that it wants to stop the drug trade, but its behavior is the opposite. I have no reason to believe that the CIA and other three letter agencies care one iota about sovereignty. What the actual policy should be towards drugs is downstream of helping the public understand they are being misled systematically, and have been being misled since school.
sumedh 5y ago
The US govt didnt give any meaningful punishment to the Sackler family who live in the US for OxyContin, why should they go after someone in China?

WarOnPrivacy 5y ago

In response to the Fentanyl/heroin issue, State govs clamp down on legit opioid Rx, leaving Dr's too wary to Rx any effective pain meds at all. People in chronic pain now get to live their lives without any relief at all. They get ignored my news orgs who are obsessed with amplifying an opioid hysteria narrative. Go Gov.

paulpauper 5y ago
Agree. The opiod epidemic is just the latest moral panic used to justify limitng people's rights.if you want to o.d., that's your right and your fault. OTC pain medication useless for serious chronic pain and a bigger ripoff than prescription drug companies. Opiods are safe when taken under doc guidelines. This notion that otc drugs are safe is wrong too: Otc drugs are known to cause liver and kidney problems too.
- rincebrain 5y ago
  I agree with a bunch of your point, but I want to contest one thing - opioids are not necessarily safe by following your doctor's guidelines. There's not (as far as I've found) currently any consistent threshold for how much of a given opioid you have to take for how long to develop an addiction. Some people might be able to take a high dose for an extended interval and not blink. Some people might take a much lower dose and have a very bad time indeed. (For that matter, I've known some people who got IV opioids with no effect. Biochemistry is wild.) So I don't think it's reasonable to argue "opioids are safe if you follow the guidelines" and "OTC pain meds are unsafe [if you ignore the guidelines]" - both have risks that you can try to mitigate by following the guidelines given, but unknown factors can result in it still having negative outcomes.
rincebrain 5y ago
I think it depends on your location and situation. A couple months ago, I had minor (in absolute terms) surgery which resulted in a good deal of pain; the doctor asked if I wanted a prescription for opioids, I said yes, it was sent in, no further questions. Am I saying people in chronic pain don't now have issues? No, I have no direct experience with that situation. But it's still quite possible for people to get opioids sometimes.

sneak 5y ago

On average, approximately 7x more people die in the US each day from use of tobacco use than do from use of opiates.

astrange 5y ago
One of the largest causes of death is car accidents, and there's approximately no support for policies that would reduce driving.

rkk3 5y ago

> No real political pressure to do anything, no assassinations, nothing. Thousands dead every year. Assassinating a Chinese citizen in China would be a huge overreach and a major violation of sovereignty. Not to mention it wouldn't stop the drug trade. Instead of looking at the Liberal Hegemony playbook for a solution, they should de-criminalize and regulate. During prohibition many people were dying from additives/impurities in bootleg alcohol, now we don't have that problem.

Consultant32452 5y ago
I think it's important to help people understand that the stated goals of the government are completely out of alignment with their behavior. The state pretends that it wants to stop the drug trade, but its behavior is the opposite. I have no reason to believe that the CIA and other three letter agencies care one iota about sovereignty. What the actual policy should be towards drugs is downstream of helping the public understand they are being misled systematically, and have been being misled since school.

sumedh 5y ago

The US govt didnt give any meaningful punishment to the Sackler family who live in the US for OxyContin, why should they go after someone in China?