SpankyMcFarland

Indeed. If we are going to be drastic with the minor distributors here, why turn a blind eye to the factory owners who are churning it out?

What about 1,000 worth or 100 worth?

How low down the food chain would you go? Prosecuting minor dealers binds them more closely to the gang. They can't get normal work. The big fish rarely see prison.

So what would you suggest?

I can't think of Donald Rumsfeld in quite the same way after watching this (at 2.30 and after): http://www.12step.com/videos/drug-addiction-videos/rumsfeld-talks-about-sons-drug-addiction On another interview he did, he actually had to stop and gather himself.

The end of newspapers is good news for politicians. Amateurs lack the skills and resources to pursue stories over years. They will also be easier to intimidate.

It's hard to imagine a more awful circumstance than having a child addicted to opioids or meth. The disruption, uncertainty, anger and guilt must be close to unbearable.

Here's a physician who became addicted to fentanyl: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/programs/metromorning/physician-barrie-addiction-fentanyl-recovery-1.3765601 Opioid addiction has always been an occupational hazard for physicians, esp. those with easy access like anesthesiologists.

As Upton Sinclair observed, 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it'. The implications are terrifying for most of us and so it's hard to accept the evidence.

Another class of drugs now causing havoc are the psychedelics. N-Bomb is becoming widely available, is highly potent and can be ordered online: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/25I-NBOMe http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/n-bomb-fake-lsd-being-sold-in-n-l-prompts-rcmp-warning-1.3212467 https://www.inverse.com/article/8865-why-college-kids-are-overdosing-on-the-hallucinogen-25i-nbome-n-bombs Some of these drugs have had their structures altered creating legal problems for prosecution. One of the most alarming things about this drug is that it attracts young users in their teens.

My knowledge of this region is scanty. Didn't Iran go Shia in the 16'th century? It was a bastion of Sunni scholarship before that. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safavid_conversion_of_Iran_to_Shia_Islam Persians occupied many important positions in the Mughal bureaucracy: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persians_in_the_Mughal_Empire Here's a famous Iranian-Pakistani and her family: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusrat_Bhutto And a Shia who founded the country: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_Jinnah The relationship is complex and has had its tensions but I would not describe the two countries as perpetual and bitter enemies. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IranPakistan_relations India has much closer cultural, culinary and linguistic ties with Iran than Pakistan has with China. Regarding what the Chinese really think of South Asians, have a look at this: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/07/air-china-inflight-mag-condemned-for-racist-guide-to-london http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/40533/no-air-china-your-racist-advise-was-not-needed/

No easy solutions, that's for sure. Here's some stuff on the Purdue/physician connection: http://canadians.org/blog/who-behind-canadas-opioid-epidemic And a (sort of) famous doctor (sort of) apologizes for his role: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/i-was-part-of-big-pharmas-big-influence/article535295/ Some new guidelines for Canadian doctors: http://nationalpaincentre.mcmaster.ca/opioid/cgop_b01_deciding_to_initiate_opioid_therapy.html And a piece by David Juurlink: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/05/09/let-the-sun-shine-on-doctors-ties-to-pharma.html

Sure, there are tensions now but there are also profound cultural ties, far greater than China's on the region. Farsi had a deep influence on Urdu. Pakistan is deeply dysfunctional as I have pointed out many times. That does not excuse India's behaviour in Kashmir. The solution there is simple - let the people vote on their future as the Scots did.

Does it? The idea of a bottom is subjective. Some negative consequences does not sound like a traditional 12 Step bottom to me. My point is quantitative - fentanyl is like driving without brakes. It greatly amplifies the hazard of taking drugs.

There's a fair bit of debate about that now. Some people talk of 'raising the bottom'. http://drugabuse.com/library/hitting-rock-bottom-myth/ In the first place, it isn't just the individual who is at risk from his addiction. Through crime and disease, he endangers many others. Society has a vested interest in intervening as early as possible. Another aspect is that with fentanyl the chance of accidental death is considerably enhanced. Occasional users end up dead. A passive, Darwinian 19'th century approach would take many years to show any effect. Anyway, I hope we can do better than that.

It's pretty awful news for us too esp. when you add in overweight Canadians. Over on the right side of the country we have the 'Atlantic Advantage' when it comes to tubsterism. A German student remarked with pleasure after trying some clothes on in our local Walmart that, 'in Paris I am large, at home medium, but here, for the first time, I am small'.

I'm surprised nobody has started a thread on this. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is approximately 80 times more potent than morphine and therefore easier to smuggle into the country in small packages where it can be diluted with other substances. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fentanyl Obviously, this dilution process doesn't always go as planned with the dealers and the safety margins are small. Fentanyl overdose can lead to depression of the respiratory centre in the brain and death. An epidemic of such fatalities is now sweeping North America: http://www.livescience.com/54595-prince-death-prescription-opioids-lethal.html In Canada, the crisis is most acute in BC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-police-say-fentanyl-a-game-changer-struggle-to-stop-ovderdoses-on-the-street-1.3762446 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/the-new-face-of-fentanyl-addiction-kati-s-story-1.3766697 I have no definite answers or particular expertise on what should be done. It seems to me we have to target the supply (particularly China via the Internet to dealers or even users here) as diligently as we can and come up with a co-ordinated national strategy as soon as possible. The antidote to fentanyl needs to be made as widely available as possible. We need to be able to map every incident of overdose or death across the country in real time, something we are a long way from achieving at the moment. As to harm reduction and legalization or decriminalization of less dangerous opioids, the debate goes on. BC certainly needs more beds to treat these people as the Premier admitted recently. The medical profession in Canada has played a regrettable role in using opioids indiscriminately and inappropriately to treat non-cancer pain. We are belatedly recognizing that many people have become addicted to opioids through this route. One thing looks certain - this disaster is moving across the country and will hit all provinces eventually.

Compared to consuming alcohol? Less dangerous to the user and MUCH less dangerous to those around him.

Slightly off topic but.. Research fraud that hid sugar's role in causing heart disease was alleged decades ago and is now confirmed: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2548255 Interesting that a British researcher, John Yudkin, already drew the connection between sugar and heart disease in the Fifties. His findings were specifically targeted by the US sugar industry. Science and commerce are often uneasy bedfellows.

What is behind this phenomenon? Humans are wired to admire novelty. Tesla represents the start of a big change in automobile technology. The acceleration on the luxury models is extraordinary, apparently. The big car companies and the Chinese are all rushing to compete with Mr. Musk. What are the implications for oil producing nations and provinces if this fad really catches on, though? I fear my future pension may be 'modified' or 'made more sustainable' in some very nasty way: http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-ev-oil-crisis/

The logical cultural unit is India/Pakistan/Iran, lands that have been united by cultural ties for centuries. The Pakistani army remains obsessed with the Indian threat and Kashmir even as its own members are slaughtered by Islamic extremists. South Asia will have ample time to rue its disunity

The guy asking the question has probably done it himself.

Isn't this more of a general Canadian problem, though, rather then down to one man?

Hard to assess how well we measure up against other countries in the judging. I must say I have been impressed with the few Canadian judges I have encountered professionally and socially. They have been polite and modest. Some that I haven't met have said the darnedest things but that phenomenon is not confined to Canada. Here is Peter Cook making fun of biased remarks made many years ago by an English judge during the trial of politician Jeremy Thorpe: http://youtu.be/Kyos-M48B8U We should also remember that some of them are quite old and may be losing wattage upstairs.

That is not always true, by any means. I can assure you that some doctors who earn a fortune are deeply ignorant of their specialty. My GP has a very low volume of patients per day and is never late for my appointment. He does not rush and goes through every problem I have on each visit. Everybody in town wants to be his patient. His RateMyMD score is almost perfect.