Who is really responsible for the opioid epidemic?

The New York Times recently posted this article documenting many examples of drug overdose deaths being criminally prosecuted throughout the U.S. The article claims “Addiction is a slippery adversary that cannot be held to account.” Well, I think it can. 

I am somewhat sympathetic to the police because they are the first to respond to these overdose calls and see first hand what is happening on our streets. They feel like they need to seek justice. And I, for one, do not want to be in their shoes. Small town police departments have decided the simplest thing to do is to arrest the person closest to the dead drug user, usually that’s the person who last used with them AND the person who calls the police in the first place. In a way, the police think they are saving them from suffering the same fate as their friend because, what is worse, to die of an overdose or go to prison? 

The police and first responders are so overwhelmed with the problem of drug overdoses. “Despair death,” as the CDC now calls it, includes deaths related to drugs and suicide. In 2016, nearly 100,000 people died from drug overdoses or suicide — 55,000 overdosed and about 45,000 took their own life. For comparison sake, 58,000 Americans died during the 20-year Vietnam War. So in one year, twice as many people died from drugs and suicide than the entire Vietnam war. We have a “Vietnam” right here on our streets in America as we battle opioids and fentanyl.

But if I am being honest, it’s just lazy police work. Why are we not pursuing and arresting the murderers who introduced this death trap to our society in the first place?

The Purdue Pharma marketing team should be held accountable. They exploited a disenfranchised part of the population, creating multigenerational opioid addicts. The Sacklers are murderers. Why are we not arresting them? 

The dealers on the street need to be held accountable as well. If we’re going to arrest people, why are we arresting the pathetic drug addict that just lost their spouse or friend? It could have been them that died. But the dealer they bought from is still on the streets selling and making his profit.

What about the online dealers who are selling Fentanyl from China? One kilogram of Fentanyl bought online from China costs about $3800. Bring it to America, sell it on the street, and it’s worth $30 million. Fentanyl is the future, and it is scary shit. We think we have a problem now. Wait until Fentanyl takes over. You think 100,000 people a year would wake people up. We will get to 300,000 by the year 2025, and most of those will be related to Fentanyl. 

I think people selling Fentantyl are the type of people who would have sold nuclear weapons to Osama Bin Laden. They follow the money and do not care if our society is destroyed in the process.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”I think people selling Fentantyl are the type of people who would have sold nuclear weapons to Osama Bin Laden. They follow the money and do not care if our society is destroyed in the process. ” quote=”I think people selling Fentantyl are the type of people who would have sold nuclear weapons to Osama Bin Laden. They follow the money and do not care if our society is destroyed in the process. -Bob Forrest”]

This should be an all out war against drug suppliers and sellers, and we should start at the top and work our way down from there. Purdue Pharma marketing team should all be in prison FOR LIFE. Then the politicians and lobbyists who pushed this stuff even further into our society should be held accountable. The doctors who knew the risks and prescribed it anyway should be held accountable. The online and street dealers who are making loads of money should be held accountable. Then, if there is still a need to find someone responsible, maybe we can go after the fellow drug user. 

Municipalities all over the U.S. are creating new charges just so they can prosecute someone related to the death of these drug addicts. Are you kidding me? “Drug delivery resulting in death” is just one of these charges. 

Maybe it’s that the police are overwhelmed. Or maybe it’s that they don’t have the proper resources to go find the actual murderers that I just listed above. For them, it’s just as easy to hold the fellow drug user responsible. 

We have to figure out how to hold the right people accountable and stop this epidemic simultaneously. All the more reason to start at the top, arresting the heartless and greedy execs at Purdue Pharma. Unfortunately in America, we don’t arrest rich white people — just pathetic drug addicts.

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