Back on topic...........In Canada the majority of deaths seem to be the unfortunates who have had a troubled life from the beginning. I suppose their use of these drugs is because they have generally given up on life. I have read recently of some significant captures around the world of Fentanal and most fingers point to China as the culprit. But then again Fentanal is a legal drug used not only for animals but humans in severe pain such as some cancers so controlling those drugs from the makers is an issue..........
The truth about the US ‘opioid crisis’ – prescriptions aren’t the problem **
The overdose epidemic is unmistakable. But it’s driven by illicit use of drugs. If moral panic results in more patients in pain, that would be a disaster **
by Marc Lewis ** Tuesday 7 November 2017 ** The Guardian
The news media is awash with hysteria about the opioid crisis (or opioid epidemic). But what exactly are we talking about? If you Google “opioid crisis”, nine times out of 10 the first paragraph of whatever you’re reading will report on death rates. That’s right, the overdose crisis.
For example, the lead article on the “opioid crisis” on the US National Institutes of Health website begins with this sentence: “Every day, more than 90 Americans die after overdosing on opioids.”
Is the opioid crisis the same as the overdose crisis? No. One has to do with addiction rates, the other with death rates. And addiction rates aren’t rising much, if at all, except perhaps among middle-class whites. Let’s look a bit deeper.
The overdose crisis is unmistakable. I reported on some of the statistics and causes in the Guardian last July. I think the most striking fact is that drug overdose is the leading cause of death for Americans under 50. Some people swallow, or (more often) inject, more opioids than their body can handle, which causes the breathing reflex to shut down. But drug overdoses that include opioids (about 63%) are most often caused by a combination of drugs (or drugs and alcohol) and most often include illegal drugs (eg heroin). When prescription drugs are involved, methadone and oxycontin are at the top of the list, and these drugs are notoriously acquired and used illicitly.
Addiction is not caused by drug availability. The abundant availability of alcohol doesn’t turn us all into alcoholics. No, addiction is caused by psychological (and economic) suffering, especially in childhood and adolescence (eg abuse, neglect, and other traumatic experiences), as revealed by massive
correlations between adverse childhood experiences and later substance use. The US is at or near the
bottom of the developed world in its record on child welfare and child poverty. No wonder there’s an addiction problem. And how easy it is to blame doctors for causing it.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/07/truth-us-opioid-crisis-too-easy-blame-doctors-not-prescriptions
" In June, 2016 the RCMP seized one kilogram of carfentanil shipped from China in a box labelled "printer accessories". According to the Canada Border Services Agency, the shipment contained 50 million lethal doses of the drug, more than enough to wipe out the entire population of the country."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carfentanil
