Trump Opioid Policy: Step Up War on Drugs, Not Treatment

[luckyshot]

Trump Says He Will Focus On Opioid Law Enforcement, Not Treatment

Officials and care providers who work on the frontlines of the opioid crisis are scathing about what they see as a lack of action from the White House. Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who served on the White House opioid commission, says he's "incredulous" that, after declaring a public health emergency in October, the president still hasn't requested any money from Congress to combat the epidemic.

"I mean this is just a crisis of the first order," Kennedy says, "and this administration has done nothing."

For those of you keeping score at home:

• There is still no head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. In October, Trump's nominee to the position, Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., withdrew his name after reports linked him with a bill that limited the DEA's ability to investigate abuses by opioid manufacturers and distributors.
• President Trump still hasn't nominated anyone to head the Drug Enforcement Agency.
• The administration hasn't asked Congress for any new funding to address the opioid epidemic.
• In the 2018 budget, the president recommended cutting the Office of National Drug Control Policy budget by 95 percent, and may do so again this year.
• The 2018 budget had a $400 million cut to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is the lead agency that funds treatment in the United States.
• A law signed by President Barack Obama that designated a billion dollars to help states combat opioids runs out of money this year. There is no sign that President Trump intends to ask Congress to renew that funding.

The White House is preparing to act on one of the recommendations of its "blue ribbion opioid committee"-- headed by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie-- launch a campaign to educate the public, especially young people, on the dangers of opioids.

The campaign is being developed not by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, but by a team in the White House led by.... Kellyanne Conway.


https://www.npr.org/sections/health...focus-on-opioid-law-enforcement-not-treatment




I mean, if the last 35 years of American history has taught us ANYTHING, it's that drug wars TOTALLY work.

116 people per day are currently dying of opioid abuse, a public health crisis largely sparked to by our for profit medical/ pharmaceutical complex.

 

[LMP]

Yes punish the victims and death penalty for dealers, that's not fascist or anything.

 

[KILL KILL]

The war on drugs has been a great success!!

 

[TSO]

How about we stick to the principals of liberty and let people do what drugs they want?

 

[luckyshot]

The war on drugs has been a great success!!

The for-profit corporate prison industry agrees with you.

How about we stick to the principals of liberty and let people do what drugs they want?

President Donny Dump and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions disagree with you.

(But I'm not sure people who get hooked on pain killers based on a Rx written by their doctor "want" to be addicted to opioids...)

 

[Ceez]

Legalize them all and tax the shit out of them. Problem solved

 

[LMP]

How about we stick to the principals of liberty and let people do what drugs they want?

Nah let's kill everyone that doesn't fit our President views of what society should be.

 

[sickc0d3r]

When locking people in cages doesn't work, the obvious answer is to lock even more people in cages. And then kill them.

 

[tonni]

I thought he would reform marijuana laws? Didn't know he meant death penalties lol.

 

[Steve-French]

How about people take some accountability for themselves? I'm not a huge fan of drug laws, but everybody that uses or sells drugs know the consequences ahead of time. I have empathy for people that struggle, but I have no empathy for the punishment they receive if they get caught.

 

[GOATER]

 

[jimbob27]

The campaign is being developed not by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, but by a team in the White House led by.... Kellyanne Conway.

I just came up with an awesome idea for her campaign.

 

[Steve-French]

Legalize them all and tax the shit out of them. Problem solved

That sounds good on paper, but legalizing shit like PCP and Meth would be nuts. LSD is another one that wouldn't be a good idea. I've dropped more than my fair share acid in my late teens and early 20's and I found it to be an overall positive experience, but that shit's not for everybody.

 

[curryjunkie]

Yea..............,...........that'll work............

 

[Ceez]

That sounds good on paper, but legalizing shit like PCP and Meth would be nuts. LSD is another one that wouldn't be a good idea. I've dropped more than my fair share acid in my late teens and early 20's and I found it to be an overall positive experience, but that shit's not for everybody.

True that.

Here's the thing though, its out there regardless so if you want it you can get it.

I've always heard the argument that drugs aren't legal because the government makes more money from them being illegal. I don't know how true that is or not but isn't this an avenue to take advantage of a certain sector of capital? Honestly I know jack shit about policy or this and that, I don't claim to either but people and their addictions to drugs aren't going away either way. What's the best thing to do for everyone involved as it relates to drugs being legal/illegal?

 

[luckyshot]

What's the best thing to do for everyone involved in 'Murica?

According to the Global Commission on Drug Policy, all research shows that successful drug policy increases treatment and reduces punitive sentencing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Commission_on_Drug_Policy

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/31/opinion/failed-war-on-drugs.html

The war on drugs in the United States has been a failure that has ruined lives, filled prisons and cost a fortune. It started during the Nixon administration with the idea that, because drugs are bad for people, they should be difficult to obtain. As a result, it became a war on supply.

As first lady during the crack epidemic, Nancy Reagan tried to change this approach in the 1980s. But her “Just Say No” campaign to reduce demand received limited support.

Over the objections of the supply-focused bureaucracy, she told a United Nations audience on Oct. 25, 1988: “If we cannot stem the American demand for drugs, then there will be little hope of preventing foreign drug producers from fulfilling that demand. We will not get anywhere if we place a heavier burden of action on foreign governments than on America’s own mayors, judges and legislators. You see, the cocaine cartel does not begin in Medellín, Colombia. It begins in the streets of New York, Miami, Los Angeles and every American city where crack is bought and sold.”

Her warning was prescient, but not heeded. Studies show that the United States has among the highest rates of drug use in the world. But even as restricting supply has failed to curb abuse, aggressive policing has led to thousands of young drug users filling American prisons, where they learn how to become real criminals.

The prohibitions on drugs have also created perverse economic incentives that make combating drug producers and distributors extremely difficult. The high black-market price for illegal drugs has generated huge profits for the groups that produce and sell them, income that is invested in buying state-of-the-art weapons, hiring gangs to defend their trade, paying off public officials and making drugs easily available to children, to get them addicted.

Drug gangs, armed with money and guns from the United States, are causing bloody mayhem in Mexico, El Salvador and other Central American countries. In Mexico alone, drug-related violence has resulted in over 100,000 deaths since 2006. This violence is one of the reasons people leave these countries to come to the United States.

 

[snakedafunky]

That sounds good on paper, but legalizing shit like PCP and Meth would be nuts. LSD is another one that wouldn't be a good idea. I've dropped more than my fair share acid in my late teens and early 20's and I found it to be an overall positive experience, but that shit's not for everybody.

You could buy Meth or some variation of it openly in the 20's and 30's in pharmacy in a lot of countries.
I think how it would work stuff like PCP and some other Drugs would still be illegal.
But Cocaine, Heroin and whatever they call MDMA these days would be legal and regulated.

That would undermine the illegal market to such a degree that a lot of it would just go away. I don't think you could ever get rid of it 100%.
But right now its just so profitable that some Drug dealers from South America are billionaires.

 

[Steve-French]

You could buy Meth or some variation of it openly in the 20's and 30's in pharmacy in a lot of countries.
I think how it would work stuff like PCP and some other Drugs would still be illegal.
But Cocaine, Heroin and whatever they call MDMA these days would be legal and regulated.

That would undermine the illegal market to such a degree that a lot of it would just go away. I don't think you could ever get rite of it 100%.
But right now its just so profitable that some Drug dealers from South America are billionaires.

I would be on board with this.

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

War in drugs 2.0 is really gonna work this time!

We should win that war right about the same time the wealth starts trickling down.

 

[Ares Black]

Trump Says He Will Focus On Opioid Law Enforcement, Not Treatment

Officials and care providers who work on the frontlines of the opioid crisis are scathing about what they see as a lack of action from the White House. Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who served on the White House opioid commission, says he's "incredulous" that, after declaring a public health emergency in October, the president still hasn't requested any money from Congress to combat the epidemic.

"I mean this is just a crisis of the first order," Kennedy says, "and this administration has done nothing."

For those of you keeping score at home:

• There is still no head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. In October, Trump's nominee to the position, Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., withdrew his name after reports linked him with a bill that limited the DEA's ability to investigate abuses by opioid manufacturers and distributors.
• President Trump still hasn't nominated anyone to head the Drug Enforcement Agency.
• The administration hasn't asked Congress for any new funding to address the opioid epidemic.
• In the 2018 budget, the president recommended cutting the Office of National Drug Control Policy budget by 95 percent, and may do so again this year.
• The 2018 budget had a $400 million cut to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is the lead agency that funds treatment in the United States.
• A law signed by President Barack Obama that designated a billion dollars to help states combat opioids runs out of money this year. There is no sign that President Trump intends to ask Congress to renew that funding.

The White House is preparing to act on one of the recommendations of its "blue ribbion opioid committee"— headed by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie--
launch a campaign to educate the public, especially young people, on the dangers of opioids.

The campaign is being developed not by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, but by a team in the White House led by.... Kellyanne Conway.


https://www.npr.org/sections/health...focus-on-opioid-law-enforcement-not-treatment




I mean, if the last 35 years of American history has taught us ANYTHING, it's that drug wars TOTALLY work.

116 people per day are currently dying of opioid abuse, a public health crisis largely sparked to by our for profit medical/ pharmaceutical complex.

Hmm... countries with public healthcare don't have similar opioid crises... I wonder why....

What a moron. If its not working, then do it EVEN MORE.