From the article: "heroin and synthetic opiates kill one American every 16 minutes" (Emphasis mine - J.) From another article: "almost 51 people die due to smoking every hour in the U.S. That's about one person every minute. (Emphasis mine - J.) Article Source: How Many People Die an Hour Smoking? Now, how are we going to solve THAT little problem - smoking? 16 times the fatalities of heroin etc.! J.
Wow, that was really really emotional. Well worth the time (warning: it's long). I pray for the wisdom of people in charge because I don't have authentic compassion.
View from the street - The strategy of legalizing needles, providing "safe injection sites", Narcan with no mandated follow-up treatment, and telling them it's not their fault, is not working. I have the same compassion for addicts that I would have for any human, more so for those who get hooked when their physicians get a little too liberal with pain medications after legitimate accidents. However, it's becoming very hard to muster sympathy for those who voluntarily start taking this poison, for no other reason than to get high. You can't use that shit recreationally, in moderation, like alcohol or even marijuana. People have been trying for hundreds of years, it's never worked, and will never work.
are we there yet? https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2019-08-13/experts-recommend-drug-screening-for-all-adults-opioids
My physician is there to give me expert advice so I can make good decisions for my own health. If in his opinion it's worthwhile to ask me, just to be sure, then I don't have a problem with that. But if we're talking mandates about what my physician is supposed to do, then no, no, no.