In the cult classic Caddyshack (Warner Brothers 1980), groundskeeper Carl Spackler misunderstands a simple instruction about gophers. His reply:
"Check me if I'm wrong, Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they're gonna lock me up and throw away the key..."
He nails it in this dialogue. The analysis is impeccable. Killing people is wrong. Killing people can lead to incarceration. Fentanyl is a huge element of the American issues of drug abuse, overdose death, and international relations. Fentanyl is killing people. Well, if you buy that statement then guns are killing people also. But, we all know that those are just instruments, and in the end, people are killing people.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has been around for almost 50 years. We can thank the Presidential Reorganization Plan that year, in which President Nixon merged various elements of the federal government into a consolidated organization to spearhead America's efforts as regards illicit drugs. These included - the "Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement, the Office of National Narcotics Intelligence, and elements of the Bureau of Customs and the Office of Science and Technology."
The DEA describes its purpose succinctly: "The Drug Enforcement Administration enforces the United States' controlled substance laws and regulations and aims to reduce the supply of and demand for such substances." How we each describe ourselves is critical, and we cannot be judgemental, at least euphemistically. But, honestly, do you perceive that either supply or demand is less today than in 1973? For that matter is America less dependent upon foreign oil than we were when the Department of Energy was created in 1977? America is great at creating bureaucracies and staffing departments; but are they solving the problems?
Since the 1970s, the DEA's efforts have featured in such Hollywood efforts as Breaking Bad (High Bridge, 2008), Pablo Escobar (Cankpamedia 2021), Narcos (Gaumont 2017), The Mule (Warner Bros. 2018), Sicario, Day of the Soldado (Black Label 2015), Bad Boys II (Columbia 2003), and License to Kill (Tarpan 1989), among many others. Drugs are featured in a plethora of other offerings too numerous to mention. Hollywood loves drugs, shootouts, and car chases. Oddly, they are drawn to topics and representations that draw viewers (and their dollars). Parallelism perhaps?
Drug lords are popular. For the sake of curiosity, Google "Pablo Escobar" sometime. You can get posters, clothes, and more featuring this drug lord. America is fascinated with drugs, drug runners, and the counterculture that they represent.
Drugs are part of America. They have been for some time, and they have an unfortunate impact on many people. I have repeatedly written about the challenges of overdose: Does Farr's Law bring us Good news (July 2017); PDMP and Opioids in Ohio (March 2017); What Worthwihile Can you do in 11.2 minutes (December 2015); The Time has Come, the Time is Now (April 2021), and many more. In the most succinct terms: Dying to me don't Sound like all that much fun. (October 2013).
American overdose is at an all-time high, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Through intent or misadventure, many lives end through the use of drugs. That is a problem for the people who choose to partake, and for the victims of those who may administer such substances without notice to the unsuspecting. Should society care? Is the loss theirs, or collectively ours?
A recent news story featured video of a Florida police officer, gloved for safety, doing a traffic stop search being exposed allegedly due to wind when a bag of drugs was opened. The police suspect it was Fentanyl. She was reportedly provided Narcan and revived. There are those who doubt the story, and who champion fentanyl. They take issue with the news story and suggest that the police will stop at nothing in their efforts to mislead us and make us think this stuff is dangerous.
Is there room to debate how easy it is for fentanyl to kill? Perhaps.
Do the police want people to stop using drugs, stealing to fulfill such habits, and killing each other? Of course.
Is fentanyl deadly? Unquestionably. Your friends at the DEA say that “Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered.” It has its own national awareness day (May 10), and the DEA has built an awareness display in Virginia to display the "faces of fentanyl." Axios reported this week that the DEA seized "over 379 million doses . . . of fentanyl in 2022." This included "fake prescription pills," and over "10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder." The sherrif here in paradise made a similar announcement as to local seizures and local population.
This DEA report says that the drugs are primarily produced in Mexico, using Chinese chemicals. The DEA claims that the production and importing (adopting the media's preference for euphemisms) is mainly the work of "two Mexican drug cartels" (or should those be "enterprises?"). The DEA noted that they are "primarily responsible for the fentanyl that is killing Americans today" (should they instead say "northerners," "mid-continentians," or some other better description for the general geographic area that is north of Mexico and south of Canada? More to come on euphemisms another day.
In the waning days of 2022, there will be opportunities to remember those lost. it is an annual ritual. It too often focuses upon the famous, or allegedly so (as I age, I recognize the names of fewer and fewer of the "celebrities," their bands, teams, or achievements). There will likely be actors, sports participants, musicians, and more. While tragic, the loss of their lives is no more or less important than any of the estimated 71,000 people killed by fentanyl in 2022. People are dying. Supply is seemingly increasing. Efforts are failing.
Some describe that the so-called "war on drugs" instigated by President Nixon has failed. The American Progress website provides staggering statistics on use, arrests, racial disparity, overdose and cost. It contends that we have spent $1 trillion on this war (We are said to have spent double that on the Afghanistan war, and those who identify as female there still cannot attend school). Progress advocates an end to this war, and legalization. If drugs were legal, the argument seems to be, then fewer overdoses or death would occur. Would free access to drugs alleviate the street trade, the violence, and the other crime?
The volume of seizures in 2022, "over 379 million doses" is said by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to be "enough fentanyl . . . to kill every American." And, what are we doing about it? What should we be? The hand-wringing is not working. The statistics are not deterring. The deaths are not enough; the costs are not enough; and, the tragedies are not enough. What would be enough? We outlawed drugs and people kept dying. Is it possible that bans and wars don't change people?
