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After some initial confusion about the White House's plans earlier in the week, President Trump has followed the recommendation of the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, headed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and declared the opioid crisis to be a national emergency. He has promised to spend "a lot" of time, effort, and money to combat the problem:
Among the other recommendations were to rapidly increase treatment capacity for those who need substance abuse help; to establish and fund better access to medication-assisted treatment programs; and to make sure that health care providers are aware of the potential for misuse and abuse of prescription opioids by enhancing prevention efforts at medical and dental schools.
President Trump also decried a slowdown in federal prosecutions of drug crimes and a reduction in sentence lengths. Activists and policy experts are wary of an enforcement-heavy approach:
Bill Piper, senior director for the Drug Policy Alliance, told CNN Tuesday that stricter enforcement "has never worked" and the President would be "better focusing on the treatment side of things." "A supply side approach to drugs has never worked," Piper said. "That is what has been tried for decades and it has failed for every drug it has applied to, including alcohol during Prohibition. As long as there has been and[sic] demand for drugs, there will be a supply." Trump would not be the first administration to crack down on drug use by focusing on enforcement, but Piper said doing so would play into a desire to "sound tough," not actually solve the problem. "It makes it look like they are doing something even when they are not," Piper said.
Trump also advocated for more abstinence-based treatment to combat the opioid crisis. "The best way to prevent drug addiction and overdose is to prevent people from abusing drugs in the first place. If they don't start, they won't have a problem. If they do start, it's awfully tough to get off," Trump said. That sort of strategy advocates for targeting kids and young adults with anti-drug messaging, evocative of the "Just Say No" ad campaign of the 1980s and early 1990s.
This crisis is serious, folks:
"It is a serious problem the likes of which we have never had. You know when I was growing up, they had the LSD and they had certain generations of drugs. There's never been anything like what's happened to this country over the last four or five years. And I have to say this in all fairness, this is a worldwide problem, not just a United States problem. This is happening worldwide. But this is a national emergency, and we are drawing documents now to so attest."
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by c0lo on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:11AM (9 children)
Crisis - Trump's attitude towards survival as a president.
He passed "Presidency 101" and learned the "wag the dog" technique. Now he's shaking that dog as hard as he can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:20AM (6 children)
This will probably be serious.
I'm expecting armed stand-offs outside of recreational cannabis dispensaries. It ought to be fun.
There will probably be fewer and fewer places around town selling glass pieces. Tobacco shops sell them now, in addition to places geared more towards cannabis consumers. Then nobody around here will be selling them, and then they'll be illegal to buy over the internet as well.
Cannabis legalization was nice while it lasted, but it's over. I will never have the experience of buying recreational cannabis, browsing the buds, talking to a budtender about what I bought last and getting a recommendation for something new, having 20 different kinds of bud to choose from, in my life.
A legalization ballot initiative in my state got shut down by Republicans pulling horseshit, and now it's all over.
I hope that Trump starts World War 3. I want to see the nuclear apocalypse. I want to see humans wipe themselves off the planet.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:34AM (3 children)
There is no way Republicans are going to shut down the cannabis initiative states. And the guy in the Administration most in favor of doing it, Jeff Sessions, is about to be pushed off a cliff by Trump.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Troll) by jmorris on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:31AM (2 children)
Ponder something. Do you think that someone who is in the WWE Hall of Fame understands the concept of Kayfabe? Do you think that Beauregard over at the Justice Dept knows? Trump's public behavior takes on an entirely different interpretation once you read that Infogalactic / Wikipedia page.
Look at the result, not the tweets themselves. Sessions seems to be doing exactly what needs to be done, within the limitations of the reality that he still has very few loyal soldiers in his command, including that weasel #2 that he is still stuck with. Sessions now has "strange new respect" from all sorts of nominal enemies yet has new room to maneuver in hunting leaks and locking up Hillary... or at least nailing some minions.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:53AM
Maybe I haven't paid enough attention to the madness. Maybe Sessions took some advice from Steve Bannon, who entered the fire but emerged unscathed.
Still, I don't see Trump making a move on cannabis. Some of his people (Ventura is estranged but w/e) back legalization, and the polling (ratings) backs legalization:
https://news.vice.com/story/roger-stone-unveils-plan-to-get-trump-to-legalize-weed [vice.com]
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/11/trump-will-cripple-states-if-he-reverses-marijuana-laws-jesse-ventura.html [cnbc.com]
http://thehill.com/homenews/345028-poll-finds-support-for-marijuana-legalization [thehill.com]
Medical = not kill: http://www.businessinsider.com/medical-marijuana-trump-administration-2017-first-statement-2017-5 [businessinsider.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:18PM
Lol jmo is a wrestling fan. I am not surprised, just another tick on the "basement dwelling man child" list. Apologies to any sane people who like wrestling, but that crowd has its own stereotypes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:47AM (1 child)
I'm expecting armed stand-offs outside of recreational cannabis dispensaries. It ought to be fun.
hyperbole and bullshit.
There will probably be fewer and fewer places around town selling glass pieces
Yeah.... right. 'head shops' have been around forever and will be here long after we are gone.
I will never have the experience of buying recreational cannabis
boo fucking hoooo. You are making shit up. You were never going to do it in the first place.
I hope that Trump starts World War 3. I want to see the nuclear apocalypse. I want to see humans wipe themselves off the planet.
I know a guy who will sell you Vicodins at 2-3 a pill. I can hook you up and you can have your own little personal hell instead of dragging us all into whatever disorder you have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:31AM
I don't want to mess with opiates. They sound pretty bad, though I've always been curious to try. I'll try anything except maybe jimsonweed at least once.
I sometimes have back pain, usually lower back but sometimes upper back. I've found yoga an effective solution. Frog pose can resolve my lower back pain, so I suspect it's nothing serious. Upper back pain can be likewise resolved by going through sun exercises. Everybody else seems to have a medicine cabinet full of opiates. Cubicle-mate was having intermittent back pain, sounded a lot like mine, so I showed him an easy pose (1st sun exercise pose) that works for me. That wasn't good enough for him. He had pills to pop.
I have a very reliable source for cannabis flower, but thank you anyway for the offer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:39AM (1 child)
Unlike last president, who ignored bad shit happening if it was happening to White people.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:59AM
affirmative inaction