Never Gonna 'Kill Again'

By Alicia Dorr in News on Jun 7, 2006 1:35AM

Despite all devil babies, good news came with the dawn of Satan’s day (…obviously today). Federal agents in the U.S. and officials in Mexico have shut down the drug lab that is believed to be the source of at least some of the powerful painkiller fentanyl that has done in heroin users in eight states.

While officials are reluctant to claim that this lab is the source of all of the painkiller that, when cut with heroin, killed 51 people in Chicago, they say it’s still probably a major portion of it. We’re also glad that they caught a man referred to as “the chemist”, along with four other major drug purveyors. It’s definitely good that such a huge source of this stuff – whether it is linked to the U.S. deaths or not – is no longer operational.

We have friends that always used to say, “I hate it when people say ‘but’ because it means forget everything I just said because it’s a lie.” While that’s not totally true, it is just a little disclaimer for the impending But. Call us traditional, “square” or what-have-you (sticks and stones), but we find it a little hard to experience a pure sympathy or joy in this situation. This huge bust is excellent, but we still aren’t huge fans of the fumbling War on Drugs. The lives being saved by stopping any more fentanyl from reaching heroin users are worth the money. We know that fentanyl is infinitely more powerful a painkiller than morphine; it is used for cancer patients and other people in unimaginable pain. But we can’t help but long for at least some of the money spent on “working with Mexican officials” and all the other stuff to be used on innovative rehabilitation plans. The same amount of heroin is out there, it’s just a little less likely to be cut with fentanyl.

Don’t get us wrong – we appreciate the good chuckle we get from government
anti-drug commercials (“I learned it from watching you, Dad!”). We just wish more tax dollars were spent on helping the users instead of catching the easily and constantly replaceable drug barons.