NY Times. Fentanyl, a synthetic painkiller that’s 50 times more powerful than heroin, is being sought by heroin addicts wanting a cheap, effective alternative. Pretty interesting illustration of how the War on Drugs directs drug users to the most dangerous drugs imaginable. Heroin is illegal, so users try to find an alternative. They want to get high, and they’re going to find a way. Blocking their path to a safe high will just redirect them to a more dangerous high. The death toll o the heroin/fentanyl epidemic is skyrocketing in New England. Instead of taking the same old path of cracking down, military-style, on drug users and drug manufacturers, those states should legalize safer highs, like marijuana, or even opium. A crackdown on opium in the 80’s led to heroin becoming the sought-after alternative. Today, the heroin crackdown is pushing kids to fentanyl, which looks to be almost certain death. Prohibition gave our society heroin, and now it’s gifting us with something far worse.
