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posted by martyb on Saturday October 28 2017, @05:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the we-need-a-heroin dept.

"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." – President Donald J. Trump

President Trump has declared the "Opioid Crisis" a nationwide public health emergency. This action will allow for "expanded access to telemedicine services" to remotely prescribe medicines for substance abuse, allow the Department of Health and Human Services to "more quickly make temporary appointments of specialists with the tools and talent needed to respond effectively to our Nation's ongoing public health emergency", allow the Department of Labor to issue dislocated worker grants for those "displaced from the workforce" due to the Opioid Crisis, and will help people with HIV/AIDS to receive substance abuse treatment. The press release lists several actions that the Trump Administration has taken to respond to the Opioid Crisis, including the July 2017 law enforcement action against AlphaBay.

The declaration has been criticized for not requesting any funds to respond to the Crisis. The "nationwide public health emergency" declaration is also distinct from a promised "national emergency declaration", which would have freed up money from the Disaster Relief Fund to be spent on the Crisis. 14 Senate Democrats have introduced a bill that would authorize $45 billion to address the Opioid Crisis. The Obama Administration called on Congress last year to pass just over $1 billion in funding for opioid treatment programs nationwide. This funding was included in the 21st Century Cures Act.

The Department of Justice has arrested and charged the founder and majority owner of Insys Therapeutics Inc., John Kapoor, along with other executives from his company. Kapoor is accused with leading a nationwide conspiracy to bribe doctors and illegally distribute the company's fentanyl spray, intended for cancer patients, so that it could be prescribed for non-cancer patients. Kapoor stepped down as CEO of Insys in January. Acting U.S. Attorney William D. Weinreb said, "Mr. Kapoor and his company stand accused of bribing doctors to overprescribe a potent opioid and committing fraud on insurance companies solely for profit. Today's arrest and charges reflect our ongoing efforts to attack the opioid crisis from all angles. We must hold the industry and its leadership accountable - just as we would the cartels or a street-level drug dealer." Six former Insys executives and managers were charged in December.

[takyon: a262 would like you to know that Insys Therapeutics donated $500,000 to help defeat Arizona's 2016 ballot initiative that would have legalized recreational use of cannabis.]

Walgreens has announced that it will stock Narcan® (naloxone) nasal spray in all of its over 8,000 pharmacies nationwide. Naloxone is a life-saving essential medicine that can reverse opioid overdoses and treat opioid withdrawal. Naloxone is available over-the-counter in 45 states, but still requires a prescription in Hawaii, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, and Wyoming. Delaware recently allowed over-the-counter sales of naloxone. Laws in Hawaii and Missouri are pending, and Montana has agreed to grant CVS wider access to the drug.

Maybe banning kratom was a mistake.

Nationwide Public Health Emergency: Also at NYT, BBC, Reuters, and Fox News.

Insys Therapeutics Inc.: Also at NPR and Bloomberg.

Walgreens Narcan: Also at NPR, ABC, and CBS.

Previously: 4/20: The Third Time's Not the Charm
Jeff Sessions Reboots the Drug War
Development of a Heroin Vaccine
Goal of US's First Opioid Court: Keep People Alive
Chicago Jail Handing Out Naloxone to Inmates Upon Release


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  • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Sunday October 29 2017, @10:45PM (3 children)

    by meustrus (4961) on Sunday October 29 2017, @10:45PM (#589234)

    Junkies wrecking their own lives should be fine with all of us. It doesn’t hurt me if you kill yourself. But instead of living by that idea, we’re stuck between conservatives that want the government enforcing arbitrary moral standards and liberals that want the government to save us from ourselves.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Mykl on Monday October 30 2017, @02:34AM (2 children)

    by Mykl (1112) on Monday October 30 2017, @02:34AM (#589314)

    I disagree. Mostly because junkies wrecking their own lives always affects others:

    • Those they steal from
    • Those they injure/threaten
    • Those who love them
    • Medical professionals looking after these people instead of other patients. By that reasoning, ALL OTHER EMERGENCY PATIENTS
    • Any who were once dependent on them (e.g. kids)

    The government's objective here is not arbitrary, and they're saving more than just the junkies. If they can reduce the number of junkies, they can reduce the strain on the whole of society, and improve the happiness of their citizens (both potential junkies and potential affected-by-junkies). If that means you can't inject whatever you want into your veins then I say to you - Boo Hoo.

    • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Monday October 30 2017, @06:26PM

      by meustrus (4961) on Monday October 30 2017, @06:26PM (#589578)

      Ah, the practical argument. It's a damn shame more people don't think that way. In this and many other political issues.

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    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday November 16 2017, @07:45AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday November 16 2017, @07:45AM (#597608) Journal
      And yet, the illegality of these drugs is the primary cause of the problem. Jailing junkies, for example, doesn't help them come up with options to theft (like holding a job) to pay for their habit. The expense of the drugs also contributes to theft behavior. To cover their habit, they need more money.

      Further, there's a lot of dangerous drugs out there. Most of these risks are mitigated by government regulators (particularly, the ATF and FDA) and liability lawsuits. You don't see cigarette manufacturers cutting their product with a lot of strychnine or liquor sellers mixing in wood alcohol, and causing serious poisonings and death. But that does happen with illegal recreational drugs all the time. And what recourse does a junkie have when their dealer sells them a defective product?

      Junkies aren't less of a burden on society when they're moving in and out of jail. It's not solving anything. It's not making any harms of drug use less severe or junkies more beneficial to society. The various abuses of the war on drugs don't help us. We're not better off because authorities can steal your money via illegal civil asset forfeiture. We're not better off due to the various sorts of secretive spying programs like Sting Ray. We're not better off due to the various gang wars that are funded by the illegal drug trade. We're not better off by having 1% of the population in jail.

      The war on drugs is evil. It ruins peoples' lives. It destroys our freedom. It squanders public funds. There is no excuse for your support of this.