The War on Drugs has been ongoing for nearly 47 years, it has cost taxpayers more than $1 trillion, and it has yet to stop the ongoing opioid crisis that has taken the lives of thousands of Americans. But not to worry, Trump announced during his first State of the Union address that he is going to fix everything.
“We must get much tougher on drug dealers and pushers if we are going to succeed in stopping this scourge,” Trump said.
By drug dealers, he clearly means major pharmaceutical companies that intentionally lie to the public about the dangers of their products, and by drug pushers, he means the doctors and physicians who prescribe opioids like candy... Oh, wait. He’s talking about the other drug dealers...
It is no secret that opioid addiction has become a serious problem in the United States, and Trump was spot on when he said, “In 2016, we lost 64,000 Americans to drug overdoses: 174 deaths per day. Seven per hour.”
But the way to cut down on opioid addiction and the deaths that result from it is not to go after drug dealers—that’s what the U.S. government claims it has been doing for nearly 47 years, and it clearly has not worked.
What has worked has come in the form of natural medicines that the government is adamantly against.
The first of these is cannabis. A study published last year showed that the CBD found in cannabis actually blocks the opioid receptor in the brain, helping to treat patients who are addicted.
"When administered alone, this dose of cannabidiol was void of rewarding and aversive properties. The finding that cannabidiol blocks opioid reward suggests that this compound may be useful in addiction treatment settings."
The government is also pushing to ban kratom, a natural plant that has provided an alternative for and has arguably saved the lives of, many who are addicted to opioids.
The fight against kratom is currently led by the commissioner of the FDA, Scott Gottlieb, who is actually a member of the board for a pharmaceutical company that has a patent on one of Kratom’s alkaloids. He was also formerly the director of a pharmaceutical company that was charged with bribing doctors to push dangerous drugs.
If the government actually put a stop to the opioid crisis, they would end the failed War on Drugs, they would start calling out the real drug dealers, and they would stop demonizing the natural plants that have been proven to provide treatment for the people who find themselves in the snares of opioid addiction, and that something everyone should be talking about.
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