America’s opiates literally began with the coming of the Mayflower.   The Sumerians called it ‘the joy plant’ over 5,000 years ago.   It was used for both medicinal purposes and for pleasure.   It was used to treat pain during the era of smallpox and dysentery in the US.   Mixed with alcohol, it was used as a tincture for many ailments as well as for fussy children.   Opium dens sprang up across the US.   And fair weather use grew exponentially.   Then in 1906 Teddy Roosevelt declared the opiates illegal outside of prescribed medicinal use and the Chinese Mafia moved in.

Various Tongs, Chinese gangs, vied for the illegal trade of drugs which was hugely lucrative.  One of the leading triads is the New Righteousness and Peace Commercial & Industrial Guild founded in 1919 and still active today.  In the 1950’s, the founder, Sun Yee On, was deported to Taiwan from the mainland.   From there, the business thrived and expanded!

Sometime in the 1980’s they moved their operation to Hong Kong.

Throughout Hollywood’s early years, Chinese opiate dens found that sex room activity could be used to blackmail their clients.   And the cesspool that is Hollywood today is no different.  It was lucrative and found a steady stream of old and new clients!   Owned by China via triads pushing illicit opium, cocaine and heroin.   Only today, the have added ‘fentanyl’.

Fentanyl was first used in the US in the 1960’s as an adjunct to anesthesia.   In 2015, there were 6.5 million fentanyl prescriptions dispensed by doctors in America.   A lethal dose is 2 milligrams.   The government attempts to distinguish between illegally manufactured Chinese fentanyl and legally manufactured pharmaceutical brands.  Johnson & Johnson, Teva, Takeda, and BioDelivery Sciences International are some of the current medical manufacturers.

Heroin was first introduced by Bayer in the late 1800’s.   These drugs became additives to just about everything including cough syrup, coca-cola, teething powders, and tinctures for menstrual cramps.   Addiction was massive.  Money was more massive!

Today opiates come into the US illegally through the Mexican Border.   Migrants are not searched.   Their medical history is not evaluated.   And the vast majority are ‘young men’.   Given the quantity of fentanyl for drug use is so small, smuggling is relatively easy and lucrative.   Cities with the largest increase in addiction and deaths from drugs incudes;   Philadelphia, Columbus, Chicago, Cleveland and Milwaukee.

Across the US 70,000+ die from opioid drug use every year, the vast majority between the ages of 18 – 45.   These are the working class.  The drug fueled relationship vomited across America in the recent court action between Heard and Depp was only a glimpse into the Hollywood noggin vacancy.   What Money Can BUY!

So exactly what is our esteemed CDC doing to mitigate this Epidemic?   Monitoring.    What is HHS doing to mitigate the opioid crisis?   Bercerra has declared that HHS is putting forth a great effort to provide addiction services.   In other words, both agencies are doing NOTHING!  And the DEA?   They created a national give back day where people voluntarily relinquish their ‘prescription’.

Two sources – legal and illegal.  

From the legal prescription standpoint, Pharma and the FDA have done little.   Perdue Pharmaceuticals was the main distributor in the 1990’s of OxyCotin.   The FDA approved the drug although trials were apparently less than realistic.   They have been cited as the issue that caused the first wave of deaths from this legal prescription.   Doctors were also embedded in the liability as they freely handed out prescriptions for long term use despite warnings.

While the opioid crisis has been marked as one of thee most devastating epidemics in history, little has actually been done by our government agencies.  In fact, year over year it has only continued to worsen significantly.   Overdoes and deaths have risen over 54% in the last 7 years.

The fastest means of eradicating the epidemic is to stop the manufacture – stop the prescriptions – and close the BORDER.   Medically, withdrawal clinics would be tasked with addressing addicts to help wean them off the toxic death march.   If clinics were specific to opioid addiction – it might lessen the stigma given patients would all share a common issue – while a focused concentration by staff would hasten recovery efforts.

Monitoring and setting up ‘committees’ to evaluate and research is a ridiculous WASTE!  Employers spend billions that could be relieved.   And crime would drop significantly!   A Win for ALL!