Op-Ed China Should Rejoin the U.S. in the Opioid Crisis

[thegreenhand]

China Should Rejoin the U.S. in the Opioid Crisis​

Rahul Gupta
Wall Street Journal
22 Aug 2022

Excerpt:

In recent years illicit drugs such as fentanyl have killed hundreds of thousands of people and caused millions more to suffer world-wide.

As a physician, I have treated people poisoned by these drugs in half a dozen states over the past 25 years. While clandestinely produced drugs such as fentanyl hardly ever leave China in their final form, precursor chemicals for these drugs often are imported by criminals from China to Mexico, where lethal synthetic drugs are produced and trafficked to countries across the globe, including the U.S.

The U.S. has significantly increased fentanyl seizures along its southern border, seizing more than twice as much fentanyl in fiscal 2021 than in 2020 and four times the amount seized in 2019, denying billions in profits to criminal organizations that destabilize democracies and fuel crime, corruption, violence and irregular migration. That is why President Biden’s National Drug Control Strategy makes a priority of sanctions and other efforts to disrupt and dismantle these international criminal organizations.

 

[thegreenhand]

not very confidence inspring to read this from the director of the ONDCP, but i guess it goes with the job

you'd think he'd have the knowledge at his disposal to see that interdiction hasn't worked, and really is what caused the proliferation of fentanyl

it also seems strange to unnecessarily drum up more anti china sentiment given the recent tensions over taiwan visits... not sure what the tactics are here

 

[Conky]

I wonder how much fatal ODs would go down if morphine were made available OTC.

 

[cosmic charlie]

I wonder how much fatal ODs would go down if morphine were made available OTC.

It would be a massive decrease, when I have proper Heroin/Morphine I generally just use enough to keep a steady buzz right around Nodville, less when I'm working. I would shoot two bags of quality ECP back in the day right before my shift. Then when I get home a fatter shot, another 4-5 hrs later and then sleep. I'd used Heroin for 15 years+ successfully pretty much, I never had a single Overdose until Fentanyl hit the scene, Ive been hit with Narcan on three occasions since then once my kidneys failed and I was in the ICU seven days.

Fentanyl is poison and it has scared me off street dope. I'm coming down on my Methadone now, might switch to Suboxone but both of these suck and I miss that warm fuzzy glow. What sucks is when I relapse eventually it will probably be street Dope and I hope I don't die on my family. I've had two cousins pass away already and handful of close friends. This just didn't happen years ago, I didn't realize in my youth I was living in the golden years of high quality New Jersey Heroin. It was so amazing back in the day and caused this craving I will never shake.

What is sick is that I go back just hoping I might cop something good, but it's always Fentanyl now. And I wake up on the floor after shots not knowing what happened the past hour, usually with one of my limbs numb from laying in awkward positions. The life of the Junky is pretty fucked now, they need to legalize drugs and stop everyone from dying, people will never stop doing drugs, they just need to give up this war on the people already.

~Cosmic Charlie

 

[Conky]

It would be a massive decrease, when I have proper Heroin/Morphine I generally just use enough to keep a steady buzz right above a Nodville, less when I'm working. I would shoot two bags of quality ECP back in the day right before my shift. Then when I get home a fatter shot, another 4-5 hrs later and then sleep. I'd used Heroin for 15 years+ successfully pretty much, I never had a single Overdose until Fentanyl hit the scene, Ive been hit with Narcan on three occasions since then once my kidneys failed and I was in the ICU seven days.

Fentanyl is poison and it has scared me off street dope. I'm coming down on my Methadone now, might switch to Suboxone but both of these suck and I miss that warm fuzzy glow. What sucks is when I relapse eventually it will probably be street Dope and I hope I don't die on my family. I've had two cousins pass away already and handful of close friends. This just didn't happen years ago, I didn't realize in my youth I was living in the golden years of high quality New Jersey Heroin. It was so amazing back in the day and caused this craving I will never shake.

What is sick is that I go back just hoping I might cop something good, but it's always Fentanyl now. And I wake up on the floor after shots not knowing what happened the past hour, usually with one of my limbs numb from laying in awkward positions. The life of the Junky is pretty fucked now, they need to legalize drugs and stop everyone from dying, people will never stop doing drugs, they just need to give up this war on the people already.

Well try not to use street dope while alone man. Are there safe consumption sites where you are? There's one a few blocks away from me. I've never used there but I checked it out and it's really chill. Lots of naloxone, mass spec for testing, vented room for smoking your drugs, couches, etc. They also operate a van that drives around handing out HR supplies. They've come to me a few times to test my benzos for fent. It's pretty amazing imo and every city needs more of that!