The deaths are rising because of our Laissez-faire attitude towards drug crime, most especially in the big cities. Seattle, for an example, says 3 grams of fentanyl laced heroin is simply personal use - oh, yeah, that's also about 80 doses of the drug as well, or to put it in the context of this story, enough to kill 16 people.
I know many libertarians who are sick and tired of the drug war - I get that; the FDA is an unconstitutional overreach by the federal government. And honestly, you want to go kill yourself in your own home, it is your decision, not mine.
But there are tens of thousands of heroin & meth addicts occupying public spaces from the streets in front of productive businesses to our nation's waterways which they are openly polluting with their filth. Every single one of them is impacting the lives of others even if it is just to cover the nose to get through a urine soaked street.
So I respond to those libertarians - do you think it acceptable for someone to occupy private or public property for their own ‘home’? Without any care for how unsanitary they live, how much they steal from the neighborhoods around them?
If tomorrow they somehow wiped out the federal drug laws, the results still remain - drug tent enclaves destroying public parks, human waste dumped wherever they please, trash causing flooding of homes people work hard for.
We keep using excuses, trying to imply it isn't their fault, that it is a medical condition that causes total disregard for the city or country around them. It isn't an epidemic, it is sedition away from the community so they can get high one more time.
“It’s not an epidemic, nor is drug use a disease. And neither are infectious, you actually have to make a choice to use them.”
Indeed. But we have pretty much put bubble wrap on every one of the sharp corners in life in order to shield stupid people from the consequences of their actions. As a result we are hip deep in stupid.
“The deaths are rising because of our Laissez-faire attitude towards drug crime, most especially in the big cities.”
I work in downtown Chicago and I used to walk from my office to see any number of my customers. I got really tired of stepping over stoned mentally ill drug addicts on literally ever street corner and walking through clouds of weed smoke every day. Good for the cab companies but expensive for my employer as I expense every single trip.
“But there are tens of thousands of heroin & meth addicts occupying public spaces from the streets in front of productive businesses to our nation’s waterways which they are openly polluting with their filth.”
We used to have laws against that sort of thing and they used to be enforced.
“So I respond to those libertarians - do you think it acceptable for someone to occupy private or public property for their own ‘home’?”
Absolutely not. You want to get stupid in your own home I don’t care. As long as you’re not harming kids or puppies my give a damn is busted. But the second someone brings it into the streets it’s everyone’s business.
L
Winnuh!!!
Leftists run all the big cities around the world. Right voters couldn't elect a dog catcher in any of them. We can't help and they don't want us to try.
High rise cities once were once the castles in our economy but most American commerce has since moved into virtual cities online. Legacy cities now serve as concentration camps for undesirables.
A prayer from the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."