On May 11, 2022 the New York Times reported: Overdose Deaths Continue Rising, With Fentanyl and Meth Key Culprits.  The subtitle of that reports is stunning:  New data shows a surge in overdose deaths involving fentanyl and methamphetamine. Overall, the nation saw a 15 percent increase in deaths from overdoses in 2021.

Let us begin by noting that fentanyl and other narcotics are illegal because they have the potential to kill or otherwise inflict serious harm.                                              

I can still remember my dad telling me when I was a teenager, so many years ago: “nothing is so good it could not be made better, or be so bad that it could not be made worse.”

My dad’s sage advice certainly came to my mind when I saw a the May 27, 2022 CBS News article, “Let’s Talk Fentanyl” ad campaign raises eyebrows for some straphangers.

You would think that an agency called The New York City Department Of Health would be focused on the health and well-being of the residents of New York City and consequently would do as much as possible to discourage drug use, period. 

After all, the massive campaign against cigarette smoking, which is ongoing to this very day, has been extremely effective in getting people who smoke to stop smoking and prevent young people from taking up that dangerous and, all too frequently, deadly habit.

Consider this item posted on the New York State Department of Health:

Information about Tobacco Use, Smoking and Secondhand Smoke

Today, however, in the age of radical madness, the New York City Department of Health is actually focused on preventing overdoses- not be discouraging the use of such dangerous and illegal drugs as fentanyl, but by providing a guide to the supposedly safe use of these deadly drugs!

Consider this item posted on the NYC Health Department’s official website:  Fentanyl Avoid an Overdose.

Here is how this “how to” guide begins:

Fentanyl use can increase your risk of overdose, especially if you do not regularly use opioids.

Fentanyl has been found in many different drugs, including heroin, cocaine, crack, methamphetamine, ketamine and pills from nonmedical sources. Anyone who uses drugs that may contain fentanyl, even occasionally, may be at risk of overdose.

To prevent an overdose:

Avoid using alone and take turns

Start with a small dose and go slowly

Keep Naloxone ready and on hand

Avoid mixing drugs

Test your drugs using fentanyl test strips

This supremely infuriating and disturbing sentence included in the guide states:  “start with a small dose and go slowly.”  In other words, when you first begin using these drugs in the beginning, this is the safest way to do it! 

The “Health Department’s guide also includes this virtual menu of other illegal, dangerous and deadly drugs in this sentence:  fentanyl has been found in many different drugs, including heroin, cocaine, crack, methamphetamine, ketamine and pills from nonmedical sources. Anyone who uses drugs that may contain fentanyl, even occasionally, may be at risk of overdose.

Drug use is, in and of itself deadly and destructive to those who fall victim to addiction.  Even those who do not die from overdoses are likely to find drug addition impacts their ability to support themselves and care for their family members.  Imagine the impact that this has on the children of the addicts.  Drug addiction has been cited as a factor in massive homelessness.

Then there is the issue of the crimes that addicts may commit to be able to buy the drugs they are hooked on.  I would love to know how many deadly shootings involve individuals who have drugs flowing through their veins.  Perhaps toxicology reports should be made public in the aftermath of a violent attack.

With all of the emphasis on gun control in the wake of mass shootings we need criminal control.

The same could be said for the accidents caused by motorists who drive under the influence of drugs and inflict injuries and death to those caught in their paths.

The drug trade also funds terrorism in the United States and around the globe as has been noted in numerous reports and various Congressional hearings.

Consider my earlier articles published in 2018: Iran Threatens U.S. And Its Allies With “Drugs, Refugees, Bombs And Assassination” and Congressional Hearing: Iranian Sleeper Cells Threaten U.S. So many hearings, so little action.

Finally proceeds from the drug trade fund violent transnational gangs who create a veritable reign of terror in the communities in which they operate- frequently those communities are ethnic immigrant communities from around the world, because human nature is universal and the proverbial “good, bad and ugly” can be found in every race, religion and ethnicity. (My 30 year career with the former Immigration and Naturalization Service hammered this home to my INS colleagues and me.  Furthermore my approximately 4 year assignment to the Unified Intelligence Division of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration, followed up by my 10 years as an INS Senior Special Agent assigned to the Organized Crime, Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) provided me with a front line seat to the nexus between failures of border security and immigration law enforcement that undermined national security and public safety.)

Last year I wrote an article, Interior Enforcement And The Border Crisis in which I postulated that the borders of the United Sates cannot be made secure against the entry of massive numbers of illegal aliens if they faced no consequences for being illegally present in the United States.  Illegal aliens only come to the United States in violation of law if they are encouraged that law enforcement authorities will ignore their violations of our immigration laws so that they can achieve whatever illegal goals motivated them to come to the United States – whether it is illegal employment, the desire to flee law enforcement in other countries because they are fugitives from justice, or because they seek to engage in activities involving gangs, narcotics, terrorism or other such dangerous activities.

Over the years I have written many articles about how so-called “Sanctuary policies” promulgated by city or state governments.  As I noted in an article awhile back, Sanctuary Cities Endanger – National Security and Public Safety

On February 27, 2003 I testified before a hearing conducted by the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims on the topic, New York City’s `Sanctuary’ Policy And The Effect Of Such Policies On Public Safety, Law Enforcement,And Immigration.

Now New York City and other cities are now apparently providing a sort of “sanctuary” for drug users that imperil not protect public health and the long-term welfare of both the drug users and their family members as well as many others who may fall victim to various aspects of the drug trade even as the Biden Administration has all but dismantled the borders of the United States to not only facilitate the flow of unprecedented numbers off illegal aliens into the United States, but massive quantities of deadly narcotics as well.

The only reason that drugs are being smuggled in such huge quantities into the United States is a direct function of the fundamental economic principle of “Supply and Demand.”  Our open borders facilitate the flow of fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States and local governments are helping to drive up and not tamp down the demand.

Consider my article, that sums up the insanity we face from so many directions: For Dems to Succeed, Americans Must Fail.