There Are Cost-Effective and Science-Based Ways to Stop Drug Overdose Deaths

You don’t have to crash the economy or go to war to do something about fentanyl overdoses and deaths in the United States.

Photo by Colin Davis on Unsplash

This past weekend, the President of the United States announced a 25% tariff on imported goods from Mexico and Canada, and a 10% tariff on Chinese goods. The reasoning, according to him, was that these economic sanctions were to be put in place to stem the tide of fentanyl being imported into the United States. Immigration and trade deficits with these countries were two other reasons he mentioned.

Let’s put aside the fact that tariffs don’t work the way the President says they do. And let’s put aside the fact that undocumented (aka “illegal”) immigration is profitable and stabilizing for a country. Let us just focus on the opioid epidemic and the tens of thousands of deaths each year from overdoses. First, like any good initial step toward a solution, let’s accept the blame.

Life Hurts

When life hurts, people will do whatever they can to make it hurt less. And I don’t mean physical pain only. There is physical pain, and there is psychological pain. There is also emotional pain. And the empathetic pain you feel when you see…