Have you heard of Nitazine? It is the new kid on the illegal drug block. And a wall is not going to stop it. Here is the story.
Once upon a time …
On January 17, 1920, the 18th Amendment kicked in. The US went dry. And Americans quit drinking. In 1971, buoyed by the unalloyed success of Prohibition and concerned about the use of marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, President Nixon declared a War on Drugs. By the 1980s, drug use was almost non-existent in the US. And the few remaining users dropped the habit as soon as Nancy Reagan told them to “Just Say No.”
Now, a generation raised on OxyContin has turned to heroin and fentanyl as the government cracked down on prescription drug abuse. Fortunately, the descendants of the ‘stop the supply, solve the problem’ anti-abuse warriors have a solution — build a border wall with Mexico. If only those drug-pushing Democrats would get out of the way.
Of course, this version of history is so patently absurd it will soon be taught in Florida schools.
Meanwhile, back in the real world
The reality is that prohibitions did not work. Wars on drugs are not working. And walls will not work. Because where there is demand, there is supply. And demand for drugs is so pervasive that thousands of people put their freedom and lives on the line to make money by supplying them. This greed has made the drug trade a billion-dollar game of Whac-a-Mole.
It has also made some average Americans experts in chemistry. And hence we have meth and fentanyl. As in many other industries, drug entrepreneurs realized the advantages of scale and offshoring production. So much of the fentanyl sold in the US is now manufactured in Mexico from Chinese precursors.
Conservatives, being unimaginative, unempathetic, and blinded by the money to be made in fighting, but not winning, the war on drugs, maintain that if we seal the border, the Mexican narcotraffickers will cry uncle and go back to selling insurance.
But wait, there’s more. The chest-thumpers have an interim plan. While waiting for the wall, they will invade Mexico. And stop the drug trade. Because American military incursions into foreign countries are always swift, painless, and effective.
Please make it stop.
Drugs are like iPhones
Drugs are a consumer product. And just like the management at Apple, Proctor and Gamble, and Kraft Heinz, the drug lords are constantly looking to tweak old products, create new goods, and maintain healthy supply lines.
If the cost of manufacture becomes too high in one country, they will look to another. If politics makes doing business the old way impossible, they will look to a new way. If tomorrow China prohibited the manufacture of iPhones, Apple would have them made elsewhere. Because the demand for iPhones is high.
Contrast that with 3-D TV and ‘New Coke’. Nobody makes them because there is no demand. And therein lies the lesson about tackling the drug trade. But only if people are smart enough to learn it.
The next generation
When the government cracks down on the supply of imported illegal drugs, enterprising individuals will break out their chemistry sets. Methamphetamine may now be Mexican-made. But if, for argument's sake, the Mexican supply dries up — and drug dealers ignore the other three sides of the US — expect a slew of domestic chemists to break bad.
If fentanyl can be synthesized in a Mexican lab, I am sure that Americans can do it — after all, conservatives keep telling us we are #1. The same goes for MDMA (ecstasy/Molly). A product which drug barons currently make in, and smuggle from, Canada and the Netherlands. Where is the MAGA push for a northern wall?
(Note: If you can handle dubbed TV series, check out the Belgian shows Undercover and its prequel Ferry on Netflix. Channeling a combination of the Sopranos and Breaking Bad, they portray a fictional story inspired by the real-life Dutch MDMA drug lord, Janus van Wessenbeeck.)
There’s more. Drug dealers have repurposed a veterinary tranquilizer, Xylazine (aka ‘tranq), as a street drug. Injecting xylazine leads to sores, ulceration, and worse, scaly dead tissue called eschar. Untreated, this can lead to amputations. Ground zero was Philadelphia. I am sure it will soon be all over the place.
The latest addition to this pharmacological hellscape is a group of novel synthetic opioids called nitazines. They may be more powerful than fentanyl, 1,000 times more potent than morphine, and may even require more doses of naloxone to reverse an overdose.
It does not take a prophet to predict there will be an endless variety of new 21st-century bathtub ‘gins’ to meet the demand of people who are compelled to consume them.
Rehab — not perfect, but better than the alternative
The War on Drugs has already cost over $1 trillion, with an additional $39+ billion thrown at the problem every year. For what? Apart from military wars, it is the most expensive boondoggle in America. And just as ineffective.
The time is long overdue to start trying an effective solution to the problem. To begin, no more jail time for drug possession. If we can afford to lock up addicts, we can afford to put them in rehab. Further, rehab should be widely and instantly available for free to anyone who asks. It might even pay for itself.
Rehab is not a panacea. There are no standardized protocols. There is a significant failure rate. And the industry is littered with charlatans. But it has worked for many — while interdicting supply has helped no one. Let us reinforce what works and discard the rest.
A cost/benefit analysis must show that helping addicts is the cheapest tool in reducing addiction. It seems so obvious it makes you wonder why it is not already a political priority.
If you did not know better, you would think some politicians would rather win elections than solve problems.