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I think drug-war propaganda is what really, really caused a whole generation of kids to learn to call bullshit on some tough guy with a badge trying to speaking loudly and authoritatively on almost any topic, most especially drugs.
I remember I was maybe in 5th or 6th grade when I first ran across the infamous Blue star tattoo bullshit. Supposedly handed out by cops to our school...even back then, I had my suspicions. But the usual suspects among kids and adults were buying it hook, line and sinker.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_star_tattoo_legend
Later, I was at a job where someone wanted to put that up on the break room wall as some kind of PSA, but was showing it around to everyone first. I literally laughed out loud and told them this was an urban legend. This was c. 1994-1996; I told them to look it up. I was given much side-eye and treated like I "didn't care about the kids" since I was young and single.
The flyer still went up. 🤣
There is just a helluva lot of bullshit floating around and for things that many normies haven't been exposed to and don't bother to look into, what a cop says will pass as the "authoritative" answer.
TBF, I know nothing about fentanyl and have never really looked into it.
this stuff usually comes from republicans so im going to invoke that every accusation is an admission of guilt. republicans were/are giving all kinds of hard drugs to children. damn that makes me sad because its probably connected to epstein...
The thing about drugs is, as far as I'm aware, the "hard drug" thing is bullshit, and it's part of the problem. We give drugs to kids all the time, in the form of caffeine. Most people have a caffeine dependance and at least casually use alcohol.
I dislike that we treat some drugs as evil, and others as part of our daily lives. The should all be handled with proper education and care. People should actually be made aware of what addiction feels like, and how to handle it. They should also be informed of what certain drugs feel like and have access to harm reduction techniques if needed.
Drugs aren't evil. They are often dangerous though. They have been a part of human culture for longer than we've been human. We should be free to use them if we choose, and this should be able to be done safely.
Well, it's incontrovertible that things can go much more badly wrong with some drugs than others.
Hmm, that's kind of a "guns don't shoot people, people shoot people (wuth guns)" argument. I take a fairly extreme decriminalization position on all drugs, but even so, part of harm reduction is being able to exercise sensible triage. There can definitely be "riskier" and "less risky" rankings, and policy should address the risker category more intensively.
Risky ≠ evil though. Yeah, some are easier to OD, and some are more addictive. People should be educated on the effects and dangers before using them. However, "hard drug" is used not as a term for danger, but a term for morality.
As for the gun thing, it's not really the same. The thing with guns is it posses a danger to others. Drugs (usually) only pose a danger to yourself. We evolved to use drugs. Using them in the proper way in the proper context should not be stigmatized or illegal. Obviously using them in a way that does put others at risk should be though, and heavily.