Posted on 04/03/2025 9:42:47 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. rose dramatically after 1999, but also exhibited substantial geographic variation.
Job loss due to international trade is positively associated with opioid overdose mortality at the county-level.
This association is significantly stronger in areas in which fentanyl is present in the heroin supply.
In general, the loss of 1,000 trade-related jobs was associated with a 2.7 percent increase in opioid-related deaths.
When fentanyl was present, the same number of job losses was associated with a 11.3 percent increase in such deaths.
The positive relationship between trade-related job loss and opioid-related overdose death is well illustrated by Forsyth County, North Carolina. In March 2006, less than a year after the U.S. Congress approved the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, Hanes closed a knit fabric factory, laid off 610 workers, and relocated production to plants in El Salvador, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. This was just one of many factory closures in Forsyth County, which suffered 2215 trade-related job losses from 2006 to 2008. An increase in opioid-related deaths occurred following these job losses. From 2000 through 2005, the county averaged only 12 opioid-related deaths a year. Between 2006 through 2008, the county suffered an average of 25 deaths per year, a sudden doubling of opioid-related deaths. The number of annual deaths remained at roughly the same level over the next four years, until jumping to an average of 42 deaths after the introduction of fentanyl in 2013. As local Sheriff, Dane Mastin, explained to the Winston-Salem Journal, “the trend is getting worse in part because the bad economy, job losses and other problems are driving more people to seek escape in narcotics” (Winston-Salem Journal, 2009).
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedirect.com ...
Shame on Kentucky senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul for neglecting this reality as they try to stall Trump’s trade agenda.
in which fentanyl is present in the heroin supply.
*****
I hate when my heroin is adulterated. As Norm MacDonald said, the big dope companies don’t care about you. They just care about their third quarter profits.
What about neo-marxist social engineering? The destruction of families and fatherless children? Highly politicized sexual license, LGBTQ and abortion? The active persecution of Christianity in society by leftist government in favor of post-modernism and materialism?
What about our debt-based, Federal Reserve printed fiat monetary system and how it rewards insiders and makes the middle class debt slaves?
Did these have no effect on addiction rates?
Many people on this forum simply do not understand the concept of tariffs as a tool to affect the deleterious behavior of foreign countries.
If we tell them to stop importing Fentanyl, they can say “Okay” and go on doing what they have been doing. Or they can (and do) flip us the middle finger with a smile.
Trump recognizes one thing-the power of the dollars in the hands of American Consumers.
That is it right there. That is our most powerful weapon that we can employ, bar none.
If we decide to cut a foreign industry off from our consumer product, that is the equivalent of twisting a kid’s arm who, when asked politely to stop some activity, flips you the bird with a grin.
A well placed tariff is a powerful tool, but it is not without risk. As an American citizen, I am wholly onboard with using tariffs to modify behavior of countries that is meant to harm us, both physically and financially.
I am willing to undergo the tribulations that may result in a tariff war.
But these circumstances, one-sided tariff impositions on the USA, predatory trade practices, blatant intellectual property theft (Chico’s), illegal drug trafficking, government aided illegal immigration, and deportation cooperation all demand action.
And, we may actually get significant tariff revenues, depending on how well they are targeted.
We have received zero cooperation on any of these issues until tariffs were threatened or imposed.
I find the spinelessness of many on this forum towards tariffs to be cause for reflection. If we aren’t educated to understand and willingly fight the battle in this legitimate fashion, we are screwed. Because if we don’t do it, the Left DEFINITELY won’t do it.
It is disheartening to me to see the willing cowardice on our side to fight back.
Not surprised.
Husband was from a rust belt town, originally full of manufacturing, mining, steel production, railroading, etc. Plenty of great-paying jobs to support a family and send the kids off to college (my husband was one of them, first in his family to go to college, his dad worked on the railroad, his uncle was a welder for the mines).
Now, those jobs are all gone and the next generation is struggling - opioids and fentanyl have flooded into the town.
All of husband’s nephews have struggled with addiction, jail time, rehab and the aftermath. One went in the ground last year, fentanyl overdose, married with three kids. Very sad state of affairs there.
And yes, I believe one of the main reasons is the hopelessness from a lack of well-paying jobs.
Florida must be doing something right, but look at the neigboring states and the rates increase.
“Florida must be doing something right”
I noticed that too. Strange given all of the “Florida Man” news stories....
[I’m not sure of the units associated with the numbers. Could be job losses or death rate or dr/jl.]
Taking illicit drugs is inherently risky.
I tried MJ as a teen.
But I find it hard to be worried about people that don’t care about themselves. Let them do their thing and if they die, Oh well!
Lest you think I’m heartless, I took in my cousin who was a full blown Heroin addict, she did fine for a year but missed the street life and left. She died at her mothers house from heart failure. Drugs had so ravaged her body it just couldn’t hold up. She was 45 yrs old.
I don’t blame drugs, I blame her and her life choices.
As other freepers have noted - Jeb Bush’s one deserved compliment is doing a good job of governing Florida through tumultuous national economy and setting it on the path to where it is now.
I listened to 640KFI radio today and a guest was saying how the Mexican gov’t has cracked down on the fentanyl makers, arresting thousands. The Mexican cartels have also stopped supplying the drug to the US market and will switch to europe as fentanyl he said was radioactive.
The Mexican gov’t is doing this crackdown because of the Trump tariffs and the money they will lose if hey don’t.
Fentanyl Traffic Down Dramatically (04/03)
By The John Kobylt Show
https://kfiam640.iheart.com/featured/the-john-kobylt-show/content/2025-04-03-1119-the-john-kobylt-show-fentanyl-traffic-down-dramatically-0403/
The John Kobylt Show
https://kfiam640.iheart.com/featured/the-john-kobylt-show/
Thanks. I’ll follow the links.
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