It is becoming more and more mainstream that Fentynal is a killer. Five years ago, people didn’t even know what it was. Also, until people read this, they may not even know that Fentanyl:
“Was first developed in 1959 and introduced in the 1960s as an intravenous anesthetic. It is legally manufactured and distributed in the United States.” (dea.gov)
Now why would this be a Bangov thing? Well, Bangov believes that business ideas can be seen everywhere, as well I do encourage everyone to follow the money when knowing that everyone’s shit stinks if you’re willing to dig deep enough. Life being one big contradiction that it is, even in the places that may be unsettling to others. Which is also the point. Doing things that you’re not particularly comfortable doing, and no I am not advocating doing Fentanyl. What I am advocating is getting out of your comfort zone in order to learn about things that may affect you, your community. General knowledge is also always a good thing, or “awareness” to those who usually are the ones that just scream something that has no scholastic value whatsoever.
Nancy Reagan was the OG in this in the 1980’s when “Just Say No” PSA’s (Public Service Announcements) were blasted all over television screens. This coming from a Marketlplace.org article about the history of anti-drug PSA’s. Same article, 1987 “This is your brain on drugs”, “Users are losers” as part of a McGruff the Crime Dog ad with a chorus of children singing that drug users are losers. I will not be posting these ads in video for the simple fact that they don’t work, but even more so that it would be a contradiction to post these anti-smoking ads given that according to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center:
“Tobacco companies successfully fought to have the phrase “here is the truth” removed from the ads. When tobacco companies advertise pro-smoking messages, those ads are quite visually appealing. However, their anti-smoking ads are less engaging. The goal of these ads should be to sustain viewers’ attention, not to bore them.”
This means that THEY MAY HAVE BEEN INTENDING TO SELL RATHER THAN DISCOURAGE CHILDREN FROM SMOKING. Kind of a reverse psychology according to Professor Ludwig, professor of health education at Hofstra University, stating: “When you advertise against it, you may also be inadvertently advertising for it,”
So, for tobacco companies to spend $8.2 billion dollars on advertising of tobacco products every year, which is even more broken down to $22.5 million dollars every day and $1 million dollars every hour. It is very naive, which is defined as: (of a person or action) showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment; to think that anyone in the business of pushing Fentanyl into this country will receive any consequence for the deaths. (cdc.gov)
- The age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths increased from 8.2 deaths per 100,000 standard population in 2002 to 32.6 in 2022; however, the rate did not significantly change between 2021 and 2022.
- Rates decreased between 2021 and 2022 for people ages 15–34 and increased for those age 35 and older.
- Between 2021 and 2022, rates increased for all race and Hispanic-origin groups, except Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander Non-Hispanic and White non-Hispanic people.
- Between 2021 and 2022, the rate for synthetic opioids other than methadone increased 4.1% from 21.8 to 22.7, while rates for heroin, natural and semisynthetic opioids, and methadone declined.
- Between 2021 and 2022, rates for cocaine and psychostimulants with abuse potential increased.
Stats from the National Vital Statistics System via CDC.
When tobacco companies do it legally here in the US: (cdc.gov)
- More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking.
- Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day.
- On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.
- If smoking continues at the current rate among U.S. youth, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than 18 years of age are expected to die prematurely from a smoking-related illness. This represents about one in every 13 Americans aged 17 years or younger who are alive today.
“More than 50 years after the U.S. Surgeon General’s first report on cigarette smoking and mortality, smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The first report established a causal association between smoking and lung cancer, and subsequent reports expanded the list of smoking-attributable causes of death to include other cancers, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and respiratory diseases. For a second level of causes of death, the current evidence is suggestive but not sufficient to infer a causal relationship with smoking. This study draws on 1980–2004 U.S. vital statistics data and applies a cause-specific version of the Preston-Glei-Wilmoth indirect method, which uses the association between lung cancer death rates and death rates for other causes of death to estimate the fraction and number of deaths attributable to smoking overall and by cause. Nearly all of the established and additional causes of death are positively associated with lung cancer mortality, suggesting that the additional causes are in fact attributable to smoking. I find 420,284 annual smoking-attributable deaths at ages 50+ for years 2000–2004, 14% of which are due to the additional causes. Results corroborate recent estimates of cause-specific smoking-attributable mortality using prospective cohort data that directly measure smoking status. The U.S. Surgeon General should reevaluate the evidence for the additional causes and consider reclassifying them as causally attributable to smoking. Brought to you by the NLOM (National Library of Medicine article here)
Going just a little deeper, but if you have been with me this long then this is a part of bonus for ya to grit your teeth to. According to a DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) Intelligence Report(unclassified) the Fentanyl flow into the United States as of 2019 was even worse than that in 2014. This is a 2020 report stating:
“Currently, China remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations environments, as well as the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States. Seizures of fentanyl sourced from China average less than one kilogram in weight, and often test above 90 percent concentration of pure fentanyl.”
Just a fun fact(sarcasm) in 1998 a settlement was reached between the 4 largest tobacco companies crossing 46 states and territories. A whopping $206 billion dollars over 25 years. Was the biggest civil settlement in history (Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement). South Carolina gave 15 percent to tobacco farmers affected by crop prices, and North Carolina gave 75 percent to tobacco production.
Let us stop thinking the government has a handle on any sort of risk to the American people. What is worse is that this is a supply and demand industry. Bangov does not look to the government for solutions. It can only ask that individuals stop being the problem. Taking responsibility for your own health would be a first step. Second step might just be quit asking that others solve your problems, Bangov Actual, out.
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