Drugs are sold out in the open in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. Inside the fight to curb it | CNN
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The California Highway Patrol may best be known for freeway chases and the Hollywood glamour of its motorcycle cops in television shows like “ChiPs.” But now the storied agency is patrolling the streets of San Francisco’s Tenderloin as part of a multiagency effort to crack down on rampant drug dealing that’s decimating the 50-square-block area.

    … On one day recently, CNN watched as task force members arrested a suspected drug dealer accused of selling meth and fentanyl. Inside a plastic bag: 33 grams of fentanyl that CHP officer Andy Barclay estimates, at its worst, could potentially kill thousands of people.
    “We’re looking at around 16,500 fatal doses of pure fentanyl in that small bag. Yes, 16,500 people could potentially die,” Barclay said.…

    I’ve seen this before — stick a microphone in a policeman’s face after a fentanyl bust, and they’ll claim they’ve prevented thousands of imaginary deaths.
    There was one report after a raid some months back where a cop said they’d prevented half a million deaths.
    It’s all bullshit, like the War on Drugs hysteria always is.
    Thanks for the laughs, Officer Andy.

  • blanketswithsmallpox@kbin.social
    101·
    1 year ago

    … I’m good with cops taking fentanyl off the streets thanks lol.

    Reminder that Narcan is now available over the counter. If you have insurance they’ll normally cover it for free. Most counties have free doses you can get somewhere.

    • LanternEverywhere@kbin.social
      61·
      1 year ago

      Fentanyl, like all drugs, should be legal and highly regulated. Fentanyl is perfectly safe when taken in controlled conditions. In hospitals it’s used safely thousands of times every single day.

      • Doug Holland@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        72·
        1 year ago

        Can’t argue when you’re so damned right.

        Drugs will always be a serious problem, until we adopt the obvious solution that’s worked with alcohol and is working with marijuana in America’s saner states: End prohibition, and instead legalize, tax, and regulate drugs for safety.

        If America’s decrepit leadership had compassion and any sense of right and wrong, there’d also be free drug counseling and rehab, and safe use spaces, and drug education wouldn’t be riddled with lies, like “16,500 fatal doses of pure fentanyl in that small bag.”

      • blanketswithsmallpox@kbin.social
        31·
        1 year ago

        The difference being legal and highly regulated with correct avenues to acquire it.

        Not from my cousin mixing too much of it in with his stepped on heroin. That way Becky and Nate don’t end up OD’ing because the person cutting it didn’t bother to use a mixing machine, they hit a hot spot, now she wakes up next to her dead friend 3 hours later.

        Drugs are great. Drugs are even better when you get exactly what you purchase.

        This wasn’t some dude with 1,000 fent patches stolen from a hospital lmfao.

        Don’t fuck around with alcohol, meth, or opiates people.

        https://neverusealone.com/ - 1-800-484-3731

        https://www.goodrx.com/naloxone/narcan-naloxone-at-home-free

    • Doug Holland@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      42·
      1 year ago

      Drugs are bad, m’kay? But humans have always enjoyed mind-altering substances, and they’re not going to stop.