Chronicle AM: Overdose Deaths at Record High, DEA Cuts Opioid Production Quotas, More... (8/16/18)
Drug overdose deaths hit another record high last year, the DEA is cutting prescription opioid quotas again, California pot tax revenues are not meeting expectations, and more.
[image:1 align:right caption:true]Marijuana Policy
California Pot Tax Revenues Still Sluggish. The state has taken in $82 million in marijuana tax revenues in the first six months of 2018, finance officials reported. That's less than half the $185 million anticipated. Politicians and industry figures say that's because illicit sales still flourish and because many localities in the state don't allow retail marijuana sales. At a meeting with state regulators Tuesday, fingers were also pointed at a shaky supply chain, a shortage of licenses, testing problems and restrictions on retail sales and deliveries.
Medical Marijuana
Utah Medical Marijuana Foes Try Hail Mary Court Challenge to Block Initiative. Opponents of the Proposition 2 medical marijuana initiative filed a lawsuit in state court Wednesday seeking to remove the measure from the ballot. The opponents claim the initiative would tread on their freedom of religion because it violates the religious beliefs of a Mormon foe. "In the United States of America, members of all religions, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have a constitutional right to exercise their religious beliefs," the complaint reads. "This includes the right not to consort with, be around, or do business with people engaging in activities which their religion finds repugnant." Proponents of the initiative called the move "a wacky attempt" by foes to derail medical marijuana.
Heroin and Prescription Opioids
DEA Proposes Big Cuts in Opioid Manufacturing Next Year. The DEA has proposed decreasing the manufacturing quotas for the "six most frequently abused" opioids for next by 10%. That would be the third straight year of reductions. The move is described as part of President Trump's Safe Prescribing Plan, which seeks to "cut nationwide opioid prescription fills by one-third within three years." Neither this proposed cut nor the plan address whether bluntly tightening production quotas could lead to shortages for patients needing them for chronic pain.
Overdose Deaths At Record High Last Year, Driven By Opioids. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Wednesday that preliminary figures showed that more than 72,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, up 7% over 2016. Opioids, which include prescription painkillers along with heroin and other illegal synthetic opioid drugs, contributed 49,068 to the total number of overdose deaths, the report indicates. From 2002 to 2017, the CDC estimates a 4.1-fold increase in the total number of deaths due to all types of opioid drugs.
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Marijuana Legalization and Fascism
Here’s what’s fucking with me: Truth matters.
Trump supporters who say they support marijuana legalization… Well, they don’t. It’s simply not possible.
Look, I had math anxiety as a kid. But I learned, eventually, that the answers were objective, and that it wasn’t personal. The math wasn’t out to get me, or frustrate me.
Then as a teen, I encountered Reefer Madness. Having reached the age of reason, I said, “Didn’t we already cover this? Facts matter, right?”
“Not in this case,” I was told. “Just believe what we tell you.”
That’s when the dain bramage first started. Because, you see, IT WAS THE LIES THAT MADE MARIJUANA PROHIBITION WRONG IN THE FIRST PLACE!! IF THE LIES HAD ALL BEEN TRUE, THEN I WOULD HAVE AGREED WITH THE REASONING, AND GONE ALONG WITH MARIJUANA PROHIBITION!
Fast forward to 2016.
Now, along comes Traitor Trump, and his entire UNIVERSE of “alternative facts.”
Now, we’ve got a contradiction incarnate: the pot-smoking Trump supporter. They say they support marijuana legalization… But they can’t. They don’t. They may think they do… but they are mistaken. It’s simply not possible. Maybe they’re lying; or, maybe they’re crazy… who knows. But those two positions are fully incompatible.
“Now hold on just one minute,” you might say! “I hate Trump as much as the next decent and compassionate human being; but I also happen to know actual, real people who voted for Trump, AND who voted for the marijuana legalization initiative on the very same ballot! Explain that!”
Okay. What I am saying is, said voters are in a state of conflict. They are taking on two contradictory positions. It is not only that the Republican party has always been, in my lifetime, actively and aggressively opposed marijuana legalization. It’s also that, right now, the Republican Party is presently the Party of Trump.
And..
Trump is a Putin operative.
And…
The Republican Party openly covers for Trump’s treason.
That makes the Republican Party the party of Putin. And THAT makes the Republican Party, not only treasonous, but FASCIST as well.
Now, back to the pot-smoking Trump supporter.
Sure. Anybody can claim to hold two contradictory statements. Anybody can claim that 2+2=5, too, and for the very same reason: freedom of speech!
But here is why they are full of shit: It may be only a case of hypocrisy, or self-deception, or some other mental malfunction… Until they step into the voting booth.
But at that point, in the voting booth, one position takes precedence over the other position, and the net result is this: A vote for Trump, or any Republican, is a vote for Fascism. And a vote for Fascism will always takes precedence over a vote for marijuana legalization, even if both issues “win” at the ballot box.
That is because if both ballot issues “win”, Fascism can, and will, destroy marijuana legalization; but marijuana legalization cannot, and will not, destroy Fascism. Marijuana Legalization requires a democracy! And a democracy is something that Fascism does not permit.
Marijuana Legalization and Fascism are mutually exclusive. Authoritarian permission, or tolerance, is NOT equivalent to legalization, because it is not based on any valid legal principle — only the whims and moods of “Our Dear Leader”… In this case, a fucking scumbag of a wanna-be dictator like Traitor Trump.
Nietzsche said
“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”
I say again, Truth matters.
…the price we will pay for being wrong is that there will be a crackdown — and don’t lie, we all saw it coming from a mile away. Trump, Sessions, McConnell, the whole lot of them — all rabid prohibitionists with no respect for Truth. You may buy their “hemp-friendly” marketing, but not me, buddy!
Trump and the Republicans must be stopped.
Republican pot-smokers need to abandon the Republican Party!
…And if we fail?
Then History will say “Stupid Fucking stoners. Trump and Putin played them for suckers, and they fell for it. Such obvious lies, too… tsk, tsk, tsk. I guess pot really does make you stupid.”
And, perhaps, “Once the legalizers got a taste of power, all principle went out the window, didn’t it? Well, now we have a fascist authoritarian crackdown. I guess they all got what they deserved!”
Poll: I support marijuana legalization because:
A) marijuana prohibition is unjust, inhumane, and founded on lies.
B) My white privilege entitles me to legal weed.
C) I look out for Number One.
D) I do not support marijuana legalization.
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