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Thursday, June 11, 2026

Could it Get Worse?


The fact is that it can almost always get worse. See Cow Manure (August 2025). You should be careful in this world, suggesting that things cannot get better or cannot get worse. The world can suprise you. Nonetheless, I have written a great many posts about the American opioid crisis (listed at the end), and we all realize how troublesome it has been. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control, "Drug overdoses are one of the leading causes of injury death in adults and have risen over the past several decades." There are a number of villains in the chorus. Fentanyl, other opioids, cocaine, and psychostimulants are among them.

And the so-called war on drugs has long been lost. When history is written, there will be stories of the horrid battles that were fought, sacrifice, and horror in the Revolutionary, 1812, Civil, The War to End all Wars (I), World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf. All terrible conflicts with devastating losses. 

None is as significant as our defeat in the war on drugs. In Armistice Yesterday (November 2024), I noted that "more Americans have died of drug overdose than in all our wars combined."

Let that sink in. More people have self-destructed on recreational escape than were ever killed in battle in our entire 250-year history. That is the bad news. The worst news is that the situation is deteriorating rather than improving. Dope is rampant and being called medicine. THC is available at most convenience stores and in restaurant drinks. Street drugs are proliferating. 

The more threatening chemicals are scarier still. The Associated Press has reported recently that "Weapons-grade chemical carfentanil" is our latest threat. Fresh from the supply issues apparently created by our war on Fentanyl, and "a recent crackdown by the Chinese government on the sale of precursors used to make fentanyl."

The miscreants and ne'er-do-wells are short on Fentanyl and are using "carfentanil to boost the potency of a weakened version of fentanyl." This chemical is "10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times stronger than fentanyl." It is, simply, fatal.

How much? That is a fair question. Almost anything can kill in sufficient quantity. Well, "less than a poppy seed-sized amount (or carfentanil) can kill a person." The good news is that carfentanil has been battled before and majorly curtailed "after China banned it."

Does anyone see any interesting parallels here? Fentanyl supply in America seemingly depends on the Chinese. Carfentanil supply depends on the Chinese. There are tens of thousands of Americans dying every year from overdoses that are seemingly inextricably intertwined with an economic rival who may not have our best interests at heart. Admittedly, that is both concerning and curious.

I was harkening back for a moment to the old saying, "guns don't kill people; people kill people." And perhaps that is true of drugs? Perhaps they are merely another tool in the arsenal that people use to kill people? Those can be next door or a world away, but are actively engaged weapons nonetheless. 

Unfortunately, the people who are using this garbage are predominantly doing so voluntarily. Those who would seek such a high are taking incalculable risk. This is, nonetheless, voluntary, volitional, and free-willed. None are seeking death, but most of those dying put this garbage in their bodies. 

The personal and societal failures are simply unfathomable. 


Prior Overdose and Opioid Posts:
Skittles for the Community (April 2021)
Contemptuous? (October 2021)
Fentanyl is Killing, Still (November 2021)
Can I Buy you a Drink? (November 2022)
Kill Every American? (December 2022)
A Vaccine Against Being High (January 2023)
The Fourth Wave (September 2023)
Edible but Stomach-Churning (October 2023)
Xylazine (December 2023)
Recriminalization (April 2024)
Nitazenes are Worse (June 2024)Is the Evidence Coming to Light? (May 2025)
Links and Questions (July 2025)
Thousands and Thousands (September 2025)


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