Posted on 04/12/2023 1:14:26 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The ever-escalating fentanyl crisis in U.S. cities has been particularly acute in the Bay Area. It’s made for some interesting headlines as well, from reports that the head of San Jose’s police union ran an international fentanyl-dealing operation out of her home for years to Elon Musk calling for legalization.
Among supporters of harm reduction, who point to the abysmal failure of the War on Drugs to do much beyond swell the U.S. prison population, the term “drug worker” is a suggested replacement for the term “drug dealer.” A Canadian drug-policy expert’s Twitter thread went viral among certain segments of extremely online people in San Francisco.
At first blush, this response appeared tailor-made to send people through the roof; perhaps the guy who sells you cannabis could plausibly be a “drug worker,” but fentanyl is lethal. Yet “drug worker” may strike some people as a term better suited to the volunteers who educate San Franciscans about how to administer Narcan to someone who’s overdosing.
More importantly, the prevailing political winds have shifted in favor of beefing up the ranks of the San Francisco Police Department, as violent and seemingly random crimes amplify a widespread sense of public disorder.
However, as critics point out, you can’t arrest your way out of a drug crisis, and many people selling fentanyl in San Francisco are known to be victims of human trafficking.
More importantly, this type of humanizing, or “people-first,” language has grown widespread. The best analogy for “drug worker” might be “sex worker,” a term that’s far less pejorative than “prostitute” or “whore” and which acknowledges the fact that sex work is a form of labor that’s been practiced since time immemorial.
Witness, too, the transition from “illegal alien” to “undocumented person” or “unauthorized resident.” These are not quote-unquote woke euphemisms. They are technically correct, as a person cannot be illegal.
At the same time, the discourse surrounding people who sell deadly substances like fentanyl has grown quite heated, with some prominent commentators strongly implying that we should apply capital punishment, or at least look to prohibition models like Singapore’s.
Roughly 650 people died of fentanyl overdoses in San Francisco in both 2021 and 2022, with roughly 130 deaths in January and February of this year as well.
Astrid Kane can be reached at astrid@sfstandard.com
Hoyt Axton wrote the song. He had a number 1 hit with Three Dog Night's Joy to the World, while his mother had a no. 1 hit with Elvis' Heartbreak Hotel?
I think anyone in this line of work doesn’t get butthurt too much about stuff like this. By the very nature of their jobs.
Sorry, I should have put a warning. But Curtis Mayfield didn’t use it gratuitously. I don’t think he would ever use it in an <Impressions song.
We’re all adults. We don’t need trigger warnings like the leftists
I think that was the first time I ever heard it in a song, and then it was on the long version of Stevie Wonder’s “Livin’ For The City.”
Curtis Mayfield used it in one other song on the soundtrack, and also on (Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go. The latter song includes a few racially insensitive words, to make a point.
Yeah, some folks have figured that out but not the way the progs here are going to like.
.
Stevie got complete artistic freedom starting with “Music Of My Mind” back in 72.
Yes, it was a watershed for Motown.
And before that, they were mostly a singles shop. Wonder and Gaye paved the way for more intentional albums.
You lost me at “Progressives want”
Like ‘People in Hell want.....’
Or Late Term Abortionists.
How about:
Independent recreational therapeutical substance distributor
Freelance pharmaceutical supplier
Home based death dealer.... I could go on, but you get the idea - a rose by any other name is still a **death dealer**.
- Jim, The Glass Menagerie, 2023 woke revision
How about freelance pharmacists?
Those selfish Indonesians realize you have to defend civilization or lose it to cretins.
Me too.
All part of the Left/Liberal “Non-judgemental” schtick that got started in…Glory Be! … the public health and public school systems.
(Systems that are increasingly indistinguishable from each other.)
Non-judgemental = no moral bottom.
so who obeys??
Conservatives do!
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