CounterPunch | In Ohio a heroin (and other opioids) epidemic, and attendant
overdoses, has stretched the city budget because Paramedics respond and
administer Narcan (Naxalone) to revive the patient. And Narcan is
expensive. City Councilman Dan Pickard offered the solution of cutting
off paramedic responses after two visits. In other words, let the OD
victim die. Besides Pickard’s fundamental stupidity, the glaring
question that goes unasked is why has the price of Naxalone tripled in
the last year? Well, because there is a heroin epidemic, and an
Oxycontin epidemic. That is capitalism.
One of the by products of the spike in Narcan usage (its even sold
over the counter in some cities, without prescription) is a kind of
Overdose-porn; cell phone videos of addicts passing out and in
respiratory arrest being given Narcan and having those symptoms
reversed. I see a reality TV show in the future. Of course Narcan also
triggers severe withdrawl symptoms in anyone with an opioid addiction. I
remember friends being given Narcan and immediately running out to find
some junk to stop the pain. There is such an obvious disregard for
addicts in this society that it almost feels pointless to repeat the
same statistics yet again. The War on Drugs is much like The War on
Terror. It is a business opportunity for western Capital.
Interestingly, 76% of Americans think addicts should be a medical
problem and not a criminal one. However, compassion is NOT a business
opportunity, ergo compassion is not part of the lexicon of the ruling
class.
