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Cutting supply of prescription drugs won’t solve problem

Recently, there was a letter in the Sentinel regarding the county commissioners discussing the opiate crisis in West Virginia. Supposedly, the Democrat Congressmen want the DEA to limit the supply of pain pills, so as to create an artificial shortage. Even Joe Manchin has been involved in these conversations. In the 1970s we had a similar opiate crisis, however, back then law enforcement would place the person who overdosed in jail for possession of narcotics and then try to obtain the name of the pusher in exchange for a lighter sentence. Also, the supply of narcotics was depressed so severely that the price was driven up to about $300 a day to maintain a heroin habit, which in today’s dollars would be $1,100 to $1,200. It was so expensive, that most people could not maintain a heroin habit at those prices. You could only steal so much to supplement your habit. Today the price of a hit of “heroin” is $5 to $6, so you can maintain a heroin habit for approximately $25 to $30 a day. Even if you work at a fast food restaurant, you can maintain a heroin habit.

The politicians keep quoting statistics like seven out of 10 people who have overdosed have used prescription narcotics within the past year. That’s like saying 99.99 percent of the people that die in car accidents have ridden in a car that year. If an overdose victim is resuscitated, the police generally have them sign a paper that they will seek help for their addiction instead of trying to obtain information regarding their supplier. This is because our law enforcement officials’ hands are tied. Being brought back to life from an overdose now is like a badge of honor for the user. When I am on call for emergencies, I see one or two people with infections from improper use of needles, or devastating muscle and nerve damage from being passed out in one position for 10 to 12 hours. And of course we have the 64,000 young people who died last year. What the authorities and politicians fail to tell you is that most of the deaths are the result of a Fentanyl overdose. Fentanyl is combined with heroin in a mixture of usually 20 percent heroin and 80 percent non-medical grade Fentanyl, or one of its cousins. About half the Fentanyl comes from China, and the other half comes from Mexico. Most of the heroin comes across the Mexican border.

In Ecuador, the government has stopped paying farmers not to grow cocoa plants. Now the farmers are growing cocoa plants and cheap cocaine is coming across the Mexican border. With ex-president Obama releasing all the cocaine dealers from prisons and the new supply of cocaine from South America, we have seen a resurgence of cocaine. Crystal Meth, which was made in the U.S. from pseudoephedrine, is now also coming from Mexico. A tablet of crystal meth is about the same price as a Sudafed tablet bought at a pharmacy. There is absolutely no incentive for American citizens to start a domestic Meth Lab, since it is cheaper to get it from Mexico than to cook it.

I feel the best way to curb this drug epidemic would be to build the wall across the Mexican/U.S. border, which would eliminate the majority of the drugs coming into the U.S. To prove this could work, look at what Hungary did overseas. They had a problem with the Muslims coming across the border and infesting their country. There were approximately 300,000 Muslims per year illegally crossing Hungary’s border. Hungary constructed a wall to stop these Illegal Invaders. Now, less than 1,000 Muslims per year make it into Hungary. One wonders why most of the democrats and Mitch McConnell are against building the wall. Building the wall could save over 60,000 young Americans. Who is the puppet masters that are controlling our congressmen and senators? Mitch McConnell undoubtedly is being controlled by the Chamber of Commerce, who wants to continue to allow cheap labor to come through the southern border. Then you have the Democrat Chuck Schumer who is being influenced by George Soros. Mr. Soros and his many organizations exclusively gave to Democrat candidates. George Soros a big proponent of open borders. President Trump is not getting any money from George Soros or the Chamber of Commerce, so he wants to do what is best for America, which is to build the wall.

It is very simple economics, decreasing the supply of the drugs will drive up the prices and less people will be able to afford the habit. Certainly the other option would be very strict enforcement of drug laws with punishing pushers like Bill Clinton did during his presidency. Blaming the doctors and taking Grandma’s Vicodin away is not going to solve anything. Passing stupid regulations is not going to solve anything. The narcotic prescriptions have been decreasing significantly over the past couple of years however, the overdoses continue to rise.

George Tokodi, D.O.

Marietta.

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