Editor:
There has been lots of discussion regarding fentanyl lately, including a mother’s impassioned story regarding her children's addiction issues and basically blaming alcohol. While I sympathize with the mother and her children's addiction issues, I must humbly disagree with her assertions.
Personally, I believe the larger issue is with society’s, and the medical profession's, over reliance, and dependence, on pharmaceutical drugs.
Whatever your problem is these days, whether it's a weight problem, pain, depression or even toenail fungus, they can all be alleviated with a pharmaceutical drug. Make an appointment with a doctor, if you can find one, and you’re given 10 minutes. The doctor doesn't have time to deal with your personal history and they often don't have the time to keep up with the latest medical inroads. The quickest and easiest road is to prescribe a drug.
Pharmaceutical reps are constantly dropping by doctors’ offices with their latest offerings and, sheep that we are, we believe they have our best interests at heart. I would be willing to bet that every single reader can go to their bathroom cabinet and find at least three or four medications, some of which may be out if date.
The fact they are "legal" and legally prescribed does not make them any less dangerous than so-called street drugs.
We have become desensitized to the pharmaceutical industry’s takeover of our bodies. All of our food has some kind of added supplement, which is more than likely made in a laboratory, so it is a drug.
I don't have any easy answers, but I would suggest that instead of making drugs a criminal issue, they should be a health issue. Legalizing drugs would take the profitability away from the criminal element and allow more control over substances the drugs are mixed with.
Portugal, since its decriminalization of drugs, has found their crime rate associated with drugs has declined rapidly. Legalization will not cure the problem, it will always exist in one form or another, however, it should be obvious that our war on street drugs is an abject failure and we accept wholeheartedly the pharmaceutical industry’s intrusion into our lives with its "legal" chemicals.
Peter White
