We Are in the Midst of the Worst Drug Crisis in American History

There has never been a time in our history when more Americans have been on drugs.  According to the most recent government numbers, 24.6 million Americans have used an illegal drug within the last 30 days.  Of course the number of Americans taking legal drugs is actually far, far higher.  According to Bloomberg, 46 percent of all Americans have taken at least one legal pharmaceutical drug within the last 30 days.  In most instances, those legal drugs have been prescribed by doctors with the intention of helping people, but sometimes legal drugs are even more addictive than illegal drugs are.  In particular, opioids have destroyed countless American lives over the past decade, and in so many cases those that got addicted originally got them legally.  Today, Americans consume approximately 80 percent of the total global supply of opioids, and it is a major national crisis.  But even if we were able to get rid of all the opioids, we would still be the most drugged up nation on the entire planet.  We have become a nation of addicts, and the self-destructive path that we are on does not have a positive ending.

Whenever I come across a story about a really crazy crime that someone has committed, it almost always involves drugs.  For example, just check out this doozy from West Virginia…

A stripper has been convicted of beheading her boyfriend’s disabled Star Wars-obsessed son after having sex with him. Roena Cheryl Mills, 43, was last Thursday found guilty of the first-degree murder of 29 year-old Bo White at a house in Lerona, West Virginia, in April 2018. Mills – who has the phrase ‘special kinda crazy’ tattooed across her chest – reportedly targeted Bo after having sex with him in return for drugs.

The stronger the addiction, the more desperate addicts become to get their next fix.

And very desperate people do very desperate things.

One of the first things that you will notice when drugs start taking over an area is that crime goes way up.  Addicts are always looking for a way to fund their lifestyles, and retailers all over the nation are being hit particularly hard right now.

In fact, Home Depot is specifically blaming “the opioid crisis” for the epidemic of theft they have been witnessing…

The company said organized criminals are stealing millions of dollars’ worth of goods from it and other retailers and storing the merchandise in warehouses. The theft, which retailers call shrink, has gotten so bad that it will narrow Home Depot’s operating profit margins next year, executives said during a meeting with analysts and investors.

“This is happening everywhere in retail,” Chief Executive Officer Craig Menear said. “We think this ties to the opioid crisis, but we’re not positive about that.”

Each year, doctors issue approximately 300 million prescriptions for pain medications.

That number is way, way too high, and so many Americans end up as addicts.

There has been an effort to educate the American people about these drugs in recent years, but most of us still don’t realize how incredibly dangerous they can be.

Sadly, the number of Americans dying from opioid overdoses continues to steadily grow…

More than 61,300 people in the U.S. died from drug overdoses in 2017, up from the previous year’s record of 54,800. (See the graphic.) That’s more than the number of Americans who died in the Vietnam War. And it’s happening every year.

Opioids are directly or indirectly responsible for about 70 percent of those overdose deaths.

If you can believe it, the number of Americans dying from drug overdoses has actually more than doubled since 2010.

So many people never would have imagined that their doctors would prescribe them something that is highly addictive and highly dangerous, and once you are hooked it can be exceedingly difficult to escape.

The New York Times has said that what we are facing is “the worst drug crisis in American history”, and for once I actually agree with the New York Times.

I have mostly focused on opioids so far in this article, but there are so many other classes of drugs which are also a massive problem in the U.S. right now.

In fact, federal officials are telling us meth “is making a big comeback” in this country…

Meth producers in Mexico are cranking up the speed of production, and the drug is making a big comeback in the U.S.

“Across the country, it’s probably still the largest problem we have in America,” Derek Maltz, former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Special Operations Division, told Yahoo Finance. ”The Mexican cartels… they make it at levels that we’ve never seen before. So business is booming, the country’s addicted, and it’s really, really out of control.”

“We’re talking super labs,” another former DEA agent, Kevin Hartmann, told a local TV station in Texas. “Super labs that can produce multi hundred kilograms of methamphetamine.”

Meth is insanely addictive, and it will literally take over your life once you open the door.

When asked about her multi-year addiction, one opioid addict described it this way…

Erika Haas calls it “the pull.”

When Haas was 24, her doctor prescribed OxyContin for back pain. She quickly progressed to heroin – and then to methamphetamines. Now 30 and in recovery, she described the grip that meth had over her for more than five years.

“It’s like God tells you that if you take another breath, your children will die,” she said, shaking her head and trying to hold back tears. “You do everything you can not to take a breath. But eventually you do. That’s what it’s like. Your brain just screams at you.”

Thanks to decades of border security neglect, the big Mexican drug cartels are able to pump drugs into this country at a staggering rate.

And now they have apparently come up with a new form of meth that is stronger and cheaper than before…

Primarily imported from Mexico by major drug traffickers, “meth 2.0” is stronger, cheaper and far more plentiful than the old home-cooked variety. And with historic levels of funding from the federal government focused exclusively on fighting opioid addiction, states and counties are scrambling to find resources to combat this most recent drug plague.

Law enforcement officials are doing the best they can to fight back, but without sufficient border security it is often a losing battle.

In South Dakota, they recently came up with a new slogan to show they are trying to fight back: “Meth. We’re on it.”

A lot of people got a good laugh out of that, but unfortunately the slogan accurately describes what is happening in community after community all across the United States.

The ancient Greeks used the word “pharmakeia” to describe the mystical pull these sorts of drugs can have on people.  This is a crisis that just seems to get bigger with each passing year, and it is one of the primary causes for the social decay which we see all around us.

Those who have been snared by these drugs need our love and compassion, because they are truly victims of a relentless war against our nation.  So many lives have already been destroyed, and we desperately need our politicians on the national level to start taking this threat a whole lot more seriously.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

Michael Snyder is the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, The American Dream Blog and The Truth. You can follow him on Twitter right here.