Americans failed by their system

[mrswdk]

Nobel Economist Angus Deaton talks about how decades of falling wages have led America's 'other half' of society into opioid addiciton, alcoholism, a suicide epidemic and decreasing life expectancy:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business- ... rter-lives

What of the human right to work in just and favourable conditions, or to social protection? Why do America's politicians refuse to acknowledge the reality that their policies have created?

[tzor]

Honestly, it looks like a bunch of manure and balderdash. (But I expect nothing less from the BBC.) Opioid death is not evenly distributed through the US, impacts West Virginia the hardest, as well as D.C. and impacts white males the most. But the real cause of the problem is ... wait for it ... because it involves the nation that the loyal puppet of Winnie the Pooh loves from his/her UK home ...

The Opioid Epidemic: Costs, Causes, and Efforts to Fight It

Between 1999 and 2010 the rate of opioid prescriptions in the United States quadrupled, culminating with enough pharmaceutical opioids in circulation for every American to have their own prescription bottle.[9] The addictive nature and historic over-prescription of opiates are at the root of the epidemic.[10] Of equal and perhaps more immediate concern, however, is the alarming growth in the number of deaths related to non-prescription fentanyl, heroin, and synthetic opioids, which now represent over half of all fatal opioid overdoses.[11]

Fentanyl—which can be mostly sourced to China, often with final manufacturing and packaging occurring in the United States[12]—is 100 times more powerful than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin, roughly 94 percent of which enters the United States from Mexico.[13] Potency and low manufacturing costs have led to an increased street presence of fentanyl. Unaware of the strength of their narcotic, unsuspecting users are overdosing on fentanyl-laced heroin and synthetic opioids at an alarming rate.

The number of fentanyl-related deaths in the United States rose by 92 percent last year and is expected to fuel increased opioid overdoses in the years to come.[14] In fact, four out of every five heroin users started their addiction by abusing prescription opioids and transitioned to illegal substances because the prescription drugs were “far more expensive and harder to obtain” than illegal opioids.[15],[16]

A true student of history will note the beautiful symmetric irony here, especially with the Opium wars between the UK and China in the 19th century. Of course today "Britain" doesn't rule the waves, the US does, so the long term strategy to become the only super power on the planet involves crushing the eggs of the US, not the UK, but it's still wonderful irony.

[NomadPatriot]

The Opioid Crisis: A Global Problem

United Kingdom

Reports that almost 1 in 3 of Europe’s overdose deaths occur in the UK have granted it the undesirable title of the “drug overdose capital of Europe.” Data from the National Health Service shows an increase in opioids prescribed from 12 million in 2006 to 24 million in 2016. Similarly, the region has seen a rise in prescription drug poisoning hospitalizations from 4,891 to 11,660 in the same period.


https://www.painedu.org/opioid-crisis-global-problem/

[saxitoxin]

Nobel Economist Angus Deaton

Born
Angus Stewart Deaton
19 October 1945 (age 73)
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Residence
United States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Deaton

must be doing something right

[mrswdk]

A true student of history will note the beautiful symmetric irony here, especially with the Opium wars between the UK and China in the 19th century.

The British smuggled opium across the Qing's borders illegally and, when the Qing started to get more belligerent in demanding that the UK stop, attacked the Qing Dynasty to force them to back down. In the US, fentanyl is a prescription drug that US companies purchase from abroad legally with the permission of the US government. There's no comparison.

[tzor]

Fentanyl shipment from China, seized in Mexico, could have 'wiped out a small state'

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday on "Fox & Friends" that authorities seized enough fentanyl to "wipe out a small state" in a recent bust, calling on China to "get their act together" to stop the flow of the lethal opioid.

"The president and I have talked about this on multiple occasions, these drugs flowing into our country... from China," she said. "This shipment was intercepted... in Mexico. Fentanyl is 50 to 70 times more powerful than heroin... it just takes a few grains to kill you. This massive shipment really could have wiped out a small state in our country."

"Thank goodness for the Mexican authorities and President Trump for dealing with the Mexicans on this and President XI -- they need to get their act together," Bondi added. "Not only are they funneling it through Mexico, but they're also sending it directly into our country. And I witnessed that firsthand when I was attorney general."

"What these creative drug dealers are doing -- they are lacing [other drugs]," Bondi said. "So it only takes a few grains of fentanyl to kill you."

So tell me how this is all purchased "from abroad legally." As to my point ... Q.E.D. ... Check and Mate ... Facts ... I love them.

[mrswdk]

So the drugs were produced in China and then shipped to Mexico, and someone in Mexico was then planning to transport them to the US.

Were the drugs themselves produced illegally and then smuggled out of China by criminals? Fentanyl is a prescription drug in the US - is it also a prescription drug in China and Mexico, with the only difference between the three countries being US restrictions on quality? Who is the first person in that chain of custody who planned to transport these drugs into the US - the Chinese producer or a Mexican transporter? Would there be anything wrong with a Chinese drug company manufacturing fentanyl and selling it to a Mexican buyer? Don't think about those questions too hard though or it might get in the way of all the China bashing.

[tzor]

First of all the question of production is almost a moot point, considering how much the government has its hands in the major industries of China.
The fact that it was seized is probably a good indication that it wasn't being imported legally, you think?
It's just one more element in that hundred year marathon.

[mrswdk]

First of all the question of production is almost a moot point, considering how much the government has its hands in the major industries of China.
The fact that it was seized is probably a good indication that it wasn't being imported legally, you think?
It's just one more element in that hundred year marathon.

Rational response. Reds under the beds!

[D3A7H]

Nobel Economist Angus Deaton talks about how decades of falling wages have led America's 'other half' of society into opioid addiciton, alcoholism, a suicide epidemic and decreasing life expectancy:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business- ... rter-lives

What of the human right to work in just and favourable conditions, or to social protection? Why do America's politicians refuse to acknowledge the reality that their policies have created?

this is why we voted for Trump. decades of under performing politicians

[saxitoxin]

Nobel Economist Angus Deaton talks about how decades of falling wages have led America's 'other half' of society into opioid addiciton, alcoholism, a suicide epidemic and decreasing life expectancy:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business- ... rter-lives

What of the human right to work in just and favourable conditions, or to social protection? Why do America's politicians refuse to acknowledge the reality that their policies have created?

this is why we voted for Trump. decades of under performing politicians