Tag: fentanyl

Fighting Fentanyl

Trump called the opioid epidemic a priority, but fentanyl deaths soar as resources fail to keep pace

WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, OHIO — In a dungeon-like jail in the center of this depressed farming town, 18 women in orange-and-white-striped prison uniforms are crammed into a two-story cellblock. Many of them are withdrawing from fentanyl.

The jail, built in 1884 to hold 24, now houses 55 men and women, a number that can swell to as many as 90. The inmates are sprawled on metal bunk beds and mattresses that line the floors as they wait for court appearances or serve time on low-level drug offenses.

The medical exam room, used to treat minor ailments, is tucked into a broom closet beneath a concrete stairwell. With few drug treatment options, prisoners strung out on fentanyl go through days of withdrawal with little help, shivering and curled up on the beds and floors of the jail.

View the complete May 22 article by Sari Horwitz, Scott Higham, Steven Rich and Shelby Hanssen on The Washington Post website here.

Kellyanne Conway reveals her deep cluelessness as drug policy adviser with bogus claim about marijuana

Among other roles in the Trump administration, Kellyanne Conway is the White House’s opioid crisis czar. But a comment she made last month demonstrates how totally clueless and unqualified for the job she is.

At a news conference before briefing Trump on the latest developments in the opioid crisis, Conway took on fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid linked to an ever-increasing number of overdose deaths in the country. The presidential adviser warned that fentanyl was turning up in other drugs, which is true. The illicit drug is showing up not only in heroin, where it might be expected to add to the opioid’s kick, but also in other powder drugs whose users are not even looking for an opioid high, such as the stimulants cocaine and methamphetamine.

The concern about drugs being adulterated with fentanyl is warranted. But Conway went a step further in her remarks, making a claim that would require only a moment’s thought (or some actual familiarity with illicit drugs) for her to realize was not only false but ludicrous.

View the complete April 1 article by Philip Smith on the Independent Media Institute on the AlterNet website here.