-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email For anyone living in America, the nightmarish shift in a contaminated drug supply is all too familiar. For roughly two decades, the United States has been gripped by an increasingly deadly overdose crisis , largely driven by the opioid fentanyl, that has killed more than 1 million people since 2000. These deadly trends, experts say, are largely driven by an unstable and unpredictable drug supply made possible by prohibition.
Many people know it began with the overprescription of opioids like Oxycontin, which resulted in a DEA crackdown that shifted many users to street heroin. Demand became so high that illicit drug manufacturers realized they could make more money and traffick drugs easier by shifting to synthetic opioids. Thus came the rise of ultra-potent opioids like fentanyl , which is increasingly mixed with other drugs including stimulants, xylazine , benzodiazepines and nitazenes.
If any of these drug names seem unfamiliar to you, just know that what used to be a predictable bag of dope has now become a soup of different substances, some of which provide a buzz or act as fillers, others that can kill. Related Why harm reduction is more about ending stigma than syringes and naloxone In Europe, the last few decades have played out differently. Overdose deaths have remained steady , largely thanks to a regular, relatively pure supply of heroin shipped straight from Afghanistan.
"I remember roughly a year or so after the Taliban cam.