Open borders and woke policies drive surge in drug addiction and overdose deaths
The overdose rate is now the leading cause of injury or death in the United States—20 times the global average. San Francisco's downtown doubles as an outdoor drug den.
Drug use and addiction in this country is out of control and getting worse. A surging supply of fentanyl across our southern border has resulted in rampant drug use and overdose deaths all across our country. "We are far and away the world leader in overdose deaths," said Joseph Friedman, a substance use researcher at the University of California Los Angeles.
The overdose rate is now the leading cause of injury or death in the United States—20 times the global average. The overdose rate among school-aged children in the US doubled between 2019 and 2020 and then rose a further 20% last year, said Friedman
The New York Post (reports that progressive policies in San Francisco have resulted in rampant drug use and dealing, which has led to a surge in crime, overdoses and homelessness. "Living in a city whose downtown doubles as an outdoor drug den is becoming intolerable even for many notoriously tolerant San Franciscans."
A few highlights from the article:
Prior to the pandemic, tech workers on hoverboards coexisted, awkwardly, with homeless people smoking meth on the sidewalk. Now the “normal” people are mostly gone. The streets are almost entirely dominated by the dealers and users of the open air drug market.
Addicts attracted to San Francisco by the Tenderloin’s notoriety live in tent encampments scattered all over the city. In addition to shoplifting, addicts support their habits by breaking into cars and occasionally invading homes. The effects of the open air drug market thus ripple through every nook and cranny of San Francisco.
The city’s open-air drug problems are likely to become even more dire as a trio of new “supervised” drugs sites are soon to debut; never mind that their infamous predecessor was a spectacular (and illegal) public failure. Downtown will thus continue to be a ghost town, thanks to city leaders whose policies embolden drug dealers and users with little or no consequence.
“My son is stuck with politicians who just hand addicts free drug paraphernalia and double down on the same failed policies,” said Jacqui Berlinn, who has tried for years to save her son, who is a homeless addict in the Tenderloin.
A few recent headlines:
Fentanyl seizures have spiked by 323 percent in San Diego in the previous three years. Border Patrol seized 5,091 pounds in the first nine months of FY 2022. In LA a spate of overdose deaths from pills has authorities worried. The state of California seized 52lb (24kg) of fentanyl powder - enough to make a quarter million pills. In New York last week, authorities seized 15,000 rainbow-colored pills hidden in a Lego toy box.
Bottom line: The surge in drug use and deaths are a direct result of lax [drug-use enabling] “woke” progressive policies and an open southern border.