Opioid, Fentanyl, Meth Epidemics, Mental Illness and Homelessness Crises, and the War on the Individual

There's a war being waged on the American individual. Fentanyl---a hyper-potent synthetic opioid manufactured in China and trafficked through Mexico---is killing Americans at unprecedented rates. More Americans now die yearly from fentanyl overdoses than died during the entire Vietnam War. Fentanyl has disrupted the drug world the way tech start-ups disrupt established industries.
Meanwhile, Mexican drug traffickers, using chemical precursors from China, figured out a more potent way to synthesize methamphetamine. This new meth is cheaper, more potent, and more destructive. It destroys the brains of its users, making them schizophrenic---displaying paranoia, psychosis and hallucinations; frantic with imaginary demons; and screaming on the streets for no apparent reason. Meth prompts users with strange obsessions---with bicycles, with backpacks, with flashlights, and with hoarding junk. Users become mentally ill. All they do is seek dope. They don't remember basic things like where they are, what time it is, and can't even remember their names or their families. And this meth induced mental illness spawned a homelessness crisis across the country---with tents popping up everywhere, from sea to shining sea. Contrary to conventional wisdom, homelessness isn't caused by poverty. Homelessness is a symptom of drug-induced mental illness that can befall on anyone regardless of income or socioeconomic status.
COVID-19 lockdowns further intensified the problem. Lockdowns re-created the conditions that gave rise to the opioid epidemic: widespread job loss and isolation. Those in recovery and those who lost their jobs relapsed. Alone, addicts overdosed and died.
Brent and Vadim tackle America's drug, mental illness, and homelessness crises in this episode. They trace the history of the Opioid Era in America---the main players, the symptoms, the consequences, the downstream effects, and why it's important that we put a stop to it if America is to remain the global superpower. They discuss Purdue Pharma and its addictive painkiller OxyContin. The role management consulting firm McKinsey played in the opioid epidemic. How Walmart has been the epicenter of crime for those seeking dope. How an open border exacerbates the crises. The war being waged by China and the Mexican drug traffickers on the American soul. And much more.
The Least of Us book: https://amzn.to/3eW8gRT

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