Number of drug overdoses is staggering: Kennedy
A new CDC report has some staggering statistics about drug overdoses: 72,000 people died just last year, and that's a 10 percent increase in overdose deaths over the year before.
What's driving the deadly bump? Bad heroin, coke and meth that are mixed with synthetic opioids like fentanyl that spell sudden lethality for unsuspecting risk takers. It's impossible to read the ingredient list on a black market heroin syringe, because you literally have no idea what you're putting in your body.
The first instinct for concerned parents, drug warriors and the less informed is to crack down on the supply and keep fentanyl and other toxic mixers off the streets, militarizing law enforcement to shift the drug war into overdrive and executing drug dealers for their crimes. These sound inviting and satisfying, but all it does is create a sad, self-perpetuating cycle of death and jail that exacerbates the glaring inequalities that plague once great cities like Chicago.
Black markets always attract crime and harsh substances, but if you shift the market toward transparency and allow consensual adults to make open transactions, you'd see not only fewer deaths, but less crime and a windfall for local governments who should not be so naive to think people will stop doing drugs if you smother what you can nab in the supply chain.
The president wants to turn the Department of Justice into a jerky boys tape by directing Jeff Sessions to sue everybody! This includes companies that legally produce opioids, and essentially turns any patient in pain into a criminal where they are one back spasm away from being turned over to the DEA.
If you want people to live, let them know what they're putting in their bodies, and if they're putting too much in there and destroying themselves, then get them some treatment to get them back on track.
Not everyone can be saved who uses drugs, but by trying to extend the irrational cycle of prohibition, you end up losing money and lives in a pointless war that only required freedom all along.
Lisa Kennedy Montgomery (Kennedy) joined FOX Business Network (FBN) as a contributor in 2012 and is the host of the primetime program, Kennedy, which airs Monday through Thursday at 8PM/ET on the Fox Business Network.