Containing the drug crisis

Dear Readers, Gluttony – overindulgence in food or drink – is the fifth of the “Seven Deadly Sins.”  There is something endemic to human nature that lends itself to addiction, be it sex, drugs or food, among others.

At its core, addiction is a family tragedy.  It robs us of our loved ones, cripples families, and leads to economic disaster.  

We think of addiction as an affliction of drug abuse.  This is true, but addiction is not limited to drugs.  Gambling can be an addiction, food can be an addiction – anything a person uses to fill a hole in their psyche. It also depends on your definition of “drug.”  

In a way, cigarettes are a drug, laced with nicotine.  Addiction to cigarettes may not seem as pernicious as cocaine, but long-term use leads to lung disease, cancer, and heart disease.  

Alcohol does not have the same stigma as heroin, but it is a drug.  It leads to heart disease and organ damage, particularly liver disease.  Because it is socially accepted, we allow people to consume alcohol and drive.  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics document between 11,000 and 12,000 deaths from Driving Under the Influence nationally each year.  A death every 42 minutes, and 30% of all traffic fatalities.

Recovery programs are centered on the “Serenity Prayer.”  It teaches addicts to focus on their choices, good and bad, damaging themselves and their families; it teaches families that they are not responsible for their loved one’s addiction – a very hard lesson.

Because of synthetic Opioids (Oxydocone, Hydrocodone, etc.) and, specifically, fentanyl, addiction has a different persona.  This class of drugs has medicinal purposes, meaning we inflict them on ourselves – opioids, prescribed as miracle pain medications, and fentanyl, an anesthetic.

Pain pills change how we view the disease of addiction.  Prescriptions unwittingly lead to dependence.  The road to addiction starts with legally prescribed medication to treat the malady of pain.  Yet, for some, this starts an addict spiraling down a dark path of self-destruction in just a few months.

Opioids are so powerful, especially if laced with fentanyl; one use can kill.  We have lost over 650,000 Americans in the past two decades to overdose (which includes methamphetamine as a significant contributor), the largest cause of death among those aged 18-45.

This creates a legal conundrum.  We manufacture prescription pills, which are themselves foreboding; doctors prescribe them in pill mills, bearing the façade of a regular pain clinic, but which hand out Opioids like candy. We try to shut them down and bring criminal doctors to heel; this is only after hundreds, if not thousands, of lives have been ruined in the greedy pursuit of financial gain.  This is largely a domestic criminal justice matter.

Fentanyl, in its pure form, is deadly enough, as indicated above, though the true danger is when it contaminates another drug or bill.  It comes here from manufacturing in China, routed through the Mexican drug cartels; despite our strikes in the Caribbean, Venezuela is not a source.

Now, we have an even more powerful synthetic drug to worry about – Nitazenes are 800 times more powerful than morphine and 40 times more powerful than fentanyl, and just a microscopic amount can be lethal.  As many as 2,000 people have died of Nitazene overdose since 2019.

The CDC has announced a 27% reduction in overdose deaths (Alaska is an exception), which had skyrocketed during the COVID years.  This decline is likely the result of the expanding availability of Naloxone to treat drug overdoses.  

Because drug addiction is personal, it does not lend itself well to state intervention.  We only need to look back to China’s exportation of opium in the 19th Century to understand how futile this is as a cudgel.  There were two wars, the First (1839–1842) and Second (1856–1860) Opium Wars, fought by Europe to stem the flow of opium.  This failed foreign intervention ultimately led to the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), during which we, along with other nations, invaded China.

The drug cartels in Mexico are armed to the teeth.  They have military-grade drones and shoulder-mounted rocket launchers.  Fentanyl and Nitrazenes are so powerful, it only takes the transportation of minute quantities to prove profitable.  Closing the Southern border is no solution.

We cannot stem addiction and overdose deaths by containing the illicit drug trade at its source.  Successful prevention comes only from personal vigilance and skeptical use of prescription pain killers.  This is the sad reality; there are no miracle solutions.

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami.  Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000.  E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.