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Is the Biden Administration to Blame for the Surging Opioid Crisis?

No one said the crisis is new, though fentanyl as the drug of choice is.

The article says that the illegal imports have surged and blames the surge on Biden administration border policies. That is not silly.

It's not being smuggled in on migrant's bodies, it's being shipped in in larger quantities.
 
That's only because Trump's economic team was so much better than Biden's. Trump has successful results to show for it, and Biden has poor results.


Access to Americans who crave drugs. That's the whole point of smuggling, after all.


You have no argument, yet you posted. The BS is yours.

Trump's entire business career is mired in incompetence and failure. Look at his ongoing struggle to find a legal team that works, then explain how he created a world class economic team from nowhere. He is entirely focused on personal enrichment.
 
It is established fact that Biden administration policies have allowed a vast increase in illegal border crossings. Indeed, ending the Stay-in-Mexico policy has been a major administration push. Have the illegal crossings also contributed to the surge in drug smuggling, particularly fentanyl? This right-leaning article tries to make the case though some of the logic is suspect.

Federal police at the nation's borders are making massive seizures, but they simply cannot wall off the United States from drug smugglers eager to flood every corner of the country with fentanyl "It's a constant problem," said Guadalupe H. Ramirez, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s director of field operations for the Tucson, Arizona, region, adding that Mexican cartels "flood the port" knowing that despite what his officers manage to interdict, plenty will get past them.​
The surge has had fatal consequences. U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 45 years old are more likely to die from consuming fentanyl than they are to die as the result of a car crash, the coronavirus, a heart attack, suicide, or a terrorist attack. Fentanyl overdoses were a driving force behind the record-high 100,000 overdose deaths last year.​
Clearly, prior to about 2015 fentanyl was not as significant. Some of this shift must be attributed to the conversion from opium and cocaine related drugs to manufactured ones. However, there does seem to be a tie between increased illegal human traffic and increased illegal drug traffic.

You can add this opinion piece from Greta van Susteren.
Well, at least the author didn't blame Mr. Biden for the droughts, fires, hurricanes, and post-nasal drip that beset Americans.
 
The sun will turn into a red giant someday and toast the earth like a big space marshmallow. Has Biden done even one thing about that? Nope. Did he cause it? I haven't seen convincing proof that he didn't, and he's awfully quiet about it.
 
We're in seventh place for opiate addiction.




The sentiments you're describing would best be attributed to a country like Finland or the Netherlands, and they're in 107th and 83rd place respectively.



Bibble babble.



We await your suggestions.
When I liked your post it was mostly for “Bibble babble”😃

I have a solution. Legalize ALL drugs and let evolution decide. We can tax the shit out of them and pay off the debt before the dopers disappear. This would of course be retroactive, so we’d have to let all the drug offenders out of prison (another big tax savings), and then maybe we could fill all these vacant jobs around the country.

We might not want to repeal 2A until the whole matter gets settled. Probs be a bumpy ride.
 
When I liked your post it was mostly for “Bibble babble”😃

I have a solution. Legalize ALL drugs and let evolution decide. We can tax the shit out of them and pay off the debt before the dopers disappear. This would of course be retroactive, so we’d have to let all the drug offenders out of prison (another big tax savings), and then maybe we could fill all these vacant jobs around the country.

We might not want to repeal 2A until the whole matter gets settled. Probs be a bumpy ride.
The late John W Campbell (editor of Analog Science Fact/Science Fiction) once proposed that all drugs be legalized and that

[1] on the first overdose a person suffered, they be given full and complete medical care in order to survive and recover from it (because anyone can make a mistake)​
[2] on the second overdose a person suffered, they be given full and complete medical care in order to survive and recover from it (because "We're nice guys.").​
and​
[3] on the third overdose a person suffered, they were on their own (because "We're not that stupid.").​

However, that would have to be associated with rather strict "Truth In Labeling" legislation that provided REALLY severe penalties for selling "bad dope" UNLESS it was properly labeled.
 
No one said the crisis is new, though fentanyl as the drug of choice is.

The article says that the illegal imports have surged and blames the surge on Biden administration border policies. That is not silly.
Given that the smuggling has all been at border crossings how has he changed how we handle them?
 
The late John W Campbell (editor of Analog Science Fact/Science Fiction) once proposed that all drugs be legalized and that

[1] on the first overdose a person suffered, they be given full and complete medical care in order to survive and recover from it (because anyone can make a mistake)​
[2] on the second overdose a person suffered, they be given full and complete medical care in order to survive and recover from it (because "We're nice guys.").​
and​
[3] on the third overdose a person suffered, they were on their own (because "We're not that stupid.").​

However, that would have to be associated with rather strict "Truth In Labeling" legislation that provided REALLY severe penalties for selling "bad dope" UNLESS it was properly labeled.
Yeah, legislation… this whole thing is going to require a lot of that. But yes, you got what I was talking about.
 
It is established fact that Biden administration policies have allowed a vast increase in illegal border crossings. Indeed, ending the Stay-in-Mexico policy has been a major administration push. Have the illegal crossings also contributed to the surge in drug smuggling, particularly fentanyl? This right-leaning article tries to make the case though some of the logic is suspect.

Federal police at the nation's borders are making massive seizures, but they simply cannot wall off the United States from drug smugglers eager to flood every corner of the country with fentanyl "It's a constant problem," said Guadalupe H. Ramirez, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s director of field operations for the Tucson, Arizona, region, adding that Mexican cartels "flood the port" knowing that despite what his officers manage to interdict, plenty will get past them.​
The surge has had fatal consequences. U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 45 years old are more likely to die from consuming fentanyl than they are to die as the result of a car crash, the coronavirus, a heart attack, suicide, or a terrorist attack. Fentanyl overdoses were a driving force behind the record-high 100,000 overdose deaths last year.​
Clearly, prior to about 2015 fentanyl was not as significant. Some of this shift must be attributed to the conversion from opium and cocaine related drugs to manufactured ones. However, there does seem to be a tie between increased illegal human traffic and increased illegal drug traffic.

You can add this opinion piece from Greta van Susteren.
I think you can blame it on the drug companies who got people hooked and now we are all paying the price. Fentanyl is just the next needed high for those already hooked who have trouble getting the legal drugs.
 
It is established fact that Biden administration policies have allowed a vast increase in illegal border crossings. Indeed, ending the Stay-in-Mexico policy has been a major administration push. Have the illegal crossings also contributed to the surge in drug smuggling, particularly fentanyl? This right-leaning article tries to make the case though some of the logic is suspect.

Federal police at the nation's borders are making massive seizures, but they simply cannot wall off the United States from drug smugglers eager to flood every corner of the country with fentanyl "It's a constant problem," said Guadalupe H. Ramirez, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s director of field operations for the Tucson, Arizona, region, adding that Mexican cartels "flood the port" knowing that despite what his officers manage to interdict, plenty will get past them.​
The surge has had fatal consequences. U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 45 years old are more likely to die from consuming fentanyl than they are to die as the result of a car crash, the coronavirus, a heart attack, suicide, or a terrorist attack. Fentanyl overdoses were a driving force behind the record-high 100,000 overdose deaths last year.​
Clearly, prior to about 2015 fentanyl was not as significant. Some of this shift must be attributed to the conversion from opium and cocaine related drugs to manufactured ones. However, there does seem to be a tie between increased illegal human traffic and increased illegal drug traffic.

You can add this opinion piece from Greta van Susteren.
wth? I was told by progressives that the cartels weren't smuggling drugs over the open border!!!

you mean... they LIED???!!?
 
No you werent.


No you lied about being told that.
hmm, ok maybe I am remembering that wrong...

so I WAS definitely told that the border was FINE by progressives and that every illegal immigrant would be a hard working boon to our economy, and yet here we are...

so perhaps they did not lie... they were just stupid.

hell the President and VP they voted in told me the damn border was JUST FINE.. of course I KNOW they are stupid, so , ok yeah that must be the deal.
 
No one said the crisis is new, though fentanyl as the drug of choice is.

The article says that the illegal imports have surged and blames the surge on Biden administration border policies. That is not silly.
The government has been letting drugs get into the country for over a half century.
 
It's not being smuggled in on migrant's bodies, it's being shipped in in larger quantities.
Is there a point here? No one said it was carried by illegal migrants, though they are likely part of the larger process.

Given that the smuggling has all been at border crossings how has he changed how we handle them?
That's not given.

Surely you meant to type "2021" here?
One of the problems with the article in OP is that the ramp up extends back into the Trump years. It accelerated in 2021 but it was there before.

I think you can blame it on the drug companies who got people hooked and now we are all paying the price.
Why do you think that? There are considerable precautions, annoyingly many.

Fentanyl is just the next needed high for those already hooked who have trouble getting the legal drugs.
The next level high is also not a given.

The government has been letting drugs get into the country for over a half century.
Not at this rate, which is the point.
 
It is established fact that Biden administration policies have allowed a vast increase in illegal border crossings. Indeed, ending the Stay-in-Mexico policy has been a major administration push. Have the illegal crossings also contributed to the surge in drug smuggling, particularly fentanyl? This right-leaning article tries to make the case though some of the logic is suspect.

Federal police at the nation's borders are making massive seizures, but they simply cannot wall off the United States from drug smugglers eager to flood every corner of the country with fentanyl "It's a constant problem," said Guadalupe H. Ramirez, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s director of field operations for the Tucson, Arizona, region, adding that Mexican cartels "flood the port" knowing that despite what his officers manage to interdict, plenty will get past them.​
The surge has had fatal consequences. U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 45 years old are more likely to die from consuming fentanyl than they are to die as the result of a car crash, the coronavirus, a heart attack, suicide, or a terrorist attack. Fentanyl overdoses were a driving force behind the record-high 100,000 overdose deaths last year.​
Clearly, prior to about 2015 fentanyl was not as significant. Some of this shift must be attributed to the conversion from opium and cocaine related drugs to manufactured ones. However, there does seem to be a tie between increased illegal human traffic and increased illegal drug traffic.

You can add this opinion piece from Greta van Susteren.
So fentanyl grew as a problem under Trump
 
Just say no.
 
So fentanyl grew as a problem under Trump
Not exactly. It would be more accurate to say that an existing problem shifted to fentanyl as the drug of choice.
 
Not exactly. It would be more accurate to say that an existing problem shifted to fentanyl as the drug of choice.
People using more of a drug means that drug usage grows.
 
The government has been letting drugs get into the country for over a half century.
More correctly "The Government" has been unable to stop drugs getting into the country for over 250 years.

Why is this the case?

Well, you do realize that "The Government" has to comply with the laws of the country and that the people who are importing illegal substances simply don't bother to comply with the laws of the country - don't you?
 
Is there a point here? No one said it was carried by illegal migrants, though they are likely part of the larger process.


That's not given.


One of the problems with the article in OP is that the ramp up extends back into the Trump years. It accelerated in 2021 but it was there before.


Why do you think that? There are considerable precautions, annoyingly many.


The next level high is also not a given.


Not at this rate, which is the point.
You do realize that there are a lot of "independently financed, closed control, entrepreneurial, self-regulating, import/export/distribution/wholesale, companies" out there - and that they have more money than "The Government" is committing to closing down the import of substances which those companies are supplying to a very large number of very eager American consumers who simply don't give a damn whether or not "The Government" says that they can use their own money to purchase for their own purposes - don't you?
 
Not exactly. It would be more accurate to say that an existing problem shifted to fentanyl as the drug of choice.
No one in their right mind takes uncontrolled Fentanyl from unknown sources as a "drug of choice".

Lots of importers/distributors/wholesalers add uncontrolled Fentanyl from unknown sources to other products in order to boost profits and sales.

As with adding Quinine to Heroin (which the forerunners of those importers/distributors/wholesalers did as a "public service" to decrease the number of their customers who were dying from Yellow Fever) the wrong amount of Fentanyl added to "Drug X" can turn a safe dose of what the customer thinks is "Drug X" into a lethal cocktail.

[ASIDE - Those horror pictures that were once so common showing a drug addict lying dead in an alley with the needle still stuck in their arm most likely showed someone killed by an overdose of Quinine because it is almost impossible to inject enough "street Heroin" at one time to kill yourself so fast that you don't even have time to pull the needle out BUT it sure is possible to do so with Quinine.]
 
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