it's murder

  Another mass overdose is being reported to have taken place in Baltimore. What that means is that someone is selling drugs that are laced with some substances causing death. These are illegal street drugs. Should we really expect street drugs sold in the back alleys to be FDA compliant? That is to say, come with a data sheet explaining the usage of those drugs. But the question is, why call that an overdose? Was there ever a prescribed dosage? I don't think so, the whole deal is a crap shoot as far as I can tell. You are buying something from someone that may or may not be what they say it is. They may not even be saying what it is! Apparently they aren't telling anyone the "proper" amount to take to avoid killing yourself. They aren't telling the dosage amount! 

  Should I have empathy for those people purchasing those products? I don't. I just figure that's on you brother. To me it's no different than buying a gun, a car, a knife, a piece of power equipment or whatever. Any of those things can kill you, you really have to know how to use them properly. Everyone is aware that drugs sold by dealers in dark corners are potentially deadly. Heck, everyone knows drugs prescribed to you by a physician and dispensed at a registered pharmacy are potentially deadly. That's why you get that "information" sheet, usually a couple pages long explaining all of that. 

  I'm listening to the politicians express such a deep concern about this. Those drugs being sold should really be safe. Yes, that's what I'm hearing. These politicians would like to somehow control and regulate what drugs are being sold illegally. They should be safe! Many are blaming unscrupulous drug dealers. I know, criminals that don't care about their customers, it's tragic. We are already providing Narcan, free of charge to anyone that asks for it, being told that we really should carry some of that around, just in case we see someone overdosing on the street, and there are many "services" offered to those that would buy those drugs. It's not their fault they are drug addicts, that they are forced to buy those drugs. In fact, we should do everything in our power to ensure the safety of those back alley drugs! We need to arrest the ones selling the bad stuff. We're not nearly as concerned with the ones selling the "good" stuff. 

  Are you concerned about being caught up in a mass overdose event? If you are there is a very simple way to avoid that, don't buy drugs from shady characters in back alleys. If you really, really need that fix there are many organizations just waiting to help you. All you have to do is ask. If you don't ask, that's not my fault, it's yours. If I were in charge of any of this I would continually tell those people that buying street drugs will kill them. That should be the PSA broadcast 24/7. No mention of attempting to make the drugs safe so you don't overdose, no mention of free Narcan for when you do, just the announcement that it will kill you! 

  That should be the deterrent, not the safety of the drug. I would not be saying it was a mass overdose event! No one prescribed any dosage of that product, it wasn't accidental in any way, it was a choice on the part of the person ingesting or injecting that drug. The message needs to be clear, do that and you will die! No maybe, no it might; it should be, it will! Yes find and arrest all those drug dealers, they need to be accountable. But don't make it sound like the buyer is the innocent person in all of that. If I buy a gun and shoot myself whose fault is that? Is it the one that sold me the gun? I don't think so. If I bought that gun in some back alley deal and it blows up in my face whose fault is that? It's mine, should have purchased it from a registered dealer in firearms. Yeah, the fault is yours. 

 A mass overdose event or mass murder. In my opinion it is the latter. Those selling those drugs should be charged with murder. They are selling what they know to be deadly regardless of anything they may have been told by whoever supplied it to them. I really doubt there is a chain of custody associated with those products and any record of safety protocols followed in the manufacture of them. Those on the street, the ones actually selling the products are more than likely not the ones manufacturing them. They may or may not be "cutting" them to increase their profits. Whatever the case may be, they are all murderers in my book. They sell that stuff and it's no different than pulling the trigger on a gun.