Jeff Sessions’ solution to the opioid epidemic is a traditional prohibitionist witch hunt

He wants to target doctors and pharmacists profiting from demand for opioid painkillers.

While it’s important to gain control of how many new patients are prescribed opioid pain pills, targeting doctors and pharmacists will do nothing more than invigorate the black market for heroin, which will mean more fentanyl and carfentanil-related deaths, as well as the enrichment of black market criminals.  At least the pills have a known concentration of opiates.

Someone is going to get rich off of the skyrocketing demand for opiates.  Sessions, in all his hubris, cannot stop this.  It would be better for addicts to have access to a legal, clean opiate as opposed to a black market product of unknown purity, possibly laced with deadly additives.  Since most overdoses happen when the addict is alone and helpless, it would save thousands of lives just to provide a safe, sterile facility for the addict to satisfy their addiction.

Author: S. Smith