Deadly Crisis Deepens

[Atomoa]

I wonder how bad this Fentanyl situation will have to get before our courts decide it is time to deal the dealers of this deadly substance some appropriate penalties. These lowlife scum are knowingly supplying substances to drug users that is highly likely to kill them... and that is not a serious crime worthy of serious jail time.

Prohibition birthed the Fentanyl problem.

You are literally suggesting pouring gasoline on a fire to put it out.

People want Heroin and Oxy and they can't get it because you say so. Now they're addicted and their supply of clean pure stuff is completely limited, so gangsters come in with baby aspirin cut with Fentanyl.

You want to get rid of Fentanyl? Make heroin and oxy available to people who want it. Put the gangsters out of business. There is no short supply of people willing to throw their lives away for the chance to make big money. Bust a dealer with serious jail time and the demand stays the same. The more risk the more reward, so longer jail terms means you're just making the gangsters rich and passive-aggressively punishing people with addictions.

[Nasturtium]

So the addict that street deals to his fellow addicted friends should fall under the same category?

Would it not make more sense to go after the supply chain?

Preferably

[bob vernon]

Look, we just have to get this issue past the election in May. Christie has already played the Task Force card, and that should delay things for the fall and winter. In the spring the Task Force will make their conclusions public and then some promises can be made during the campaign. That should do the trick. Following the election, of course, any promised funding can be cut and we can go back to business as usual.

[the truth]

Other threads have discussed similar concerns. Canada's Justice and Judicial system needs a complete overhaul.

and then some

[the truth]

Drug dealers should automatically be charged with Murder.

agree 100%

[the truth]

Maybe it doesn't deter others but at least they are gone instead of returning to the streets to do it again and again. I'm sick and tired of the rotating doors with no consequences.

no consecquences is the real problem thats for sure

[the truth]

Guys, what you need to realize:

The media is either stupid or (more likely) purposely being dramatic.

What do I mean? In 9 out of 10 cases, the junkie KNOWS he/she is getting Fentanyl. In fact, they'll PAY MORE for it!

Why? Because it's fricken powerfull stuff with a wicked high.

Media makes it all out like it's a bunch of shady dealers passing 1 thing off for another. That's not accurate in most cases.

Going after the dealers won't fix the problem.

i agree with you on that part, 9 out of 10 cases the junkie knows they are getting fentanyl , most people on here seem to refuse to see or accept that

imo any drug dealer who can be connected to there product killing the user should get life in jail

[the truth]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37172002

[Nasturtium]

Mr Duterte describes it as a pandemic, afflicting millions of his fellow citizens. It is also very profitable. He has listed 150 senior officials, officers and judges linked to the trade. Five police generals, he says, are kingpins of the business. But it is those at the lowest levels of the trade who are targeted by the death squads.

[Nasturtium]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160622101953.htm
University of Toronto June 2016

Adults who have drug or alcohol dependency have experienced very high rates of early adversities, according to a new study. One in five drug dependent Canadian adults and one in six alcohol dependent adults were survivors of childhood sexual abuse. This compares to one in 19 in the general Canadian population. More than one half of substance abusers had been physically abused in childhood compared to one-quarter of those who were not addicted.

[dogspoiler]

Death penalty and I am serious. Anyone caught selling an illegal drug that could kill someone should get the death penalty.

The thing is, many of these dealers are facing guns and knives on a fairly regular level. They are on high alert most of the time. The ones that are careless and sloppy are the ones we read about in the news. When a person is risking being shot, stabbed, or vanishing every day, coming in to stand in front of a Judge is not much of a deterrent.
It does not do one bit of good to scare away twenty dealers, when there are forty waiting to fight for the job.

[Treblehook]

Fentanyl kills and everyone knows that, including the greedy scumbags who are adding it to street drugs. To say that "prohibition" is what caused Fentanyl use and trafficking to come into being is pretty ludicrous. Condemning the notion that serious penalities ought to be handed to people who add this deadly substance in street drugs is an interesting position to say the least. It would be interesting to hear what the alternative should be [in the eyes of those who condemn harsh penalties]. Or is it their opinion that society and the judicial system should just ignore the contribution these traffickers are making to the deadly overdose situation that exists today? Drug abuse already costs society more than most would imagine when you consider the healthcare costs, the cost associated with crimes committed to support addictions, law enforcement, legal aid, and so on. Should we add more costs like publicly funded labs to test street drugs for Fentanyl? I don't think so!!! I bet we would all be surprised at the cost that is being incurred to supply the anti-overdose meds to every police officer in the country, because of the proliferation of Fentanyl on our streets.

[Treblehook]

Carfentanil now showing up in overdose deaths. This article from Alberta is alarming in terms of the lethal nature of this stuff:

http://www.theprovince.com/news/local+n ... story.html

[fluffy]

I read a gripping article in Esquire a couple of months back, describing how the drug cartels in Mexico are embracing fentanyl as their new "cash crop", utilizing the same distribution network as they use for more traditonal export products like pot and heroin. Their pot business has dropped dramatically since the laws in Canada and the US have become more relaxed, so in a rather shrewd business move they dropped the price on heroin and increased the potency through additives like fentanyl. There is also a booming market for the drug on its own, and since it doesn't need huge amounts of real estate to produce it has become the money-maker of choice. Profit margins per kilogram produced out pace anything else on the market.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a46918/heroin-mexico-el-chapo-cartels-don-winslow/

[Ka-El]

To say that "prohibition" is what caused Fentanyl use and trafficking to come into being is pretty ludicrous.

Not ludicrous at all. As Einstein pointed out, we will not solve these problems using the same thinking that created them.