And who says there's never any good news? Looks like Fentanyl makers are scrambling for their last hurrah. Insys stock dropped over 24% in the last 5 days and <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/insy">46.65% over the past year</a>. And that's just fine by me. I have more respect for any honest weed dealer or a tie-dyed purveyor of magic mushrooms than I do for those who profit in the billions by legally serving up deadly, life-ruining drugs like Oxycontin or Fentanyl. I will admit, there was not a twinge of sorrow when I heard that today, <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/billionaire-owner-of-insys-arrested-in-anti-opioid-crackdown-2017-10-26">the billionaire owner of Insys</a>, the makers of Fentanyl, was under arrest in the wake of the opioid crackdown.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Trump talking about fentanyl: “We are requiring that a specific opioid that is truly evil be taken off the market immediately.”</p>— FOX59 News (@FOX59) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOX59/status/923619423855968256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Insys have a new product, a fentanyl spray whose effects, according to reports is "indistinguishable from those produced by the opioids morphine and heroin." As if fentanyl wasn't already dangerous. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 1/3 of the 64,000 opiate overdose deaths last year were attributed to use of the prescription drug.
In addition, Fentanyl has a shorter half-life than heroin which causes cravings to come on quicker, one of the reasons the opioid is especially lethal. Oxycontin and Fentanyl are the legally available through prescription equivalents to heroin and they've made billionaires out of the people responsible for keeping them on the street.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">After claiming just 3,000 lives in 2013, fentanyl killed 22,000 people in America last year <a href="https://t.co/qaj8F9tFKn">https://t.co/qaj8F9tFKn</a> <a href="https://t.co/Zy4kmiPZcW">pic.twitter.com/Zy4kmiPZcW</a></p>— The Economist (@TheEconomist) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheEconomist/status/923654626917969920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The truth has been slowly coming out though. The current opioid crisis, in other words, could never have come about without the duplicity of doctors, pharmacists and others who <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/fentanyl-billionaire-comes-under-fire-as-death-toll-mounts-from-prescription-opioids-1479830968">profit off the sale of these drugs</a> which have become an artificially created pandemic.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fentanyl, a drug more potent that heroin, is the latest iteration of America's evolving opioid epidemic. <a href="https://t.co/59nofaan1n">pic.twitter.com/59nofaan1n</a></p>— Vox (@voxdotcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/voxdotcom/status/923627217971683328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Meanwhile, the same company that profits off of a drug that is deadlier milligram for milligram than heroin <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-08/fentanyl-maker-donates-big-to-campaign-opposing-pot-legalization">spent half a million dollars lobbying against medicinal cannabis</a> in Arizona. Here's hoping President Trump is <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/9790-Experts-Debunk-Kratom-Deaths">made aware of the plant, kratom,</a> so that more people can benefit from the use of healthier, natural alternatives.
