When you have water dripping on your forehead from the ceiling above, the first step in fixing the problem is figuring out from where the water flows.
In the case of our current opioid crisis, the “water from the ceiling” is, without question, prescription drugs.
According to the latest data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 11.8 million people misused opioids in 2016, and the majority of that abuse (11.5 million) was pain reliever misuse rather than heroin use.
And where are these pain relievers coming from? Among prescription pain reliever misusers, 35 percent are getting them from doctor prescriptions and 53 percent are either given, bought, or taken from a friend or relative:
Bottom line: Only 6 percent of pain reliever misusers say they are getting their prescription drugs from “drug dealers or other strangers.”
Samhsa.gov
Where pain relievers were obtained, 2016.
However this reality isn't Trump’s reality. In a crazed speech on March 19, he painted a picture of the opioid crisis that lays most of the blame on . . . Mexico. And undocumented Mexican immigrants.
“Ninety percent of the heroin in America comes from our southern border, where, eventually, the Democrats will agree with us and we’ll build the wall to keep the damn drugs out,” Trump howled to the New Hampshire crowd. The crowd chanted back, “Build the wall! Build the wall!”
What Trump leaves out is that more than 90 percent of opioid misuse is from prescription drugs, not heroin. It’s true, curbing heroin use should be a top concern—it’s more dangerous than prescription drugs and leads to more overdose deaths. But another bit of reality overlooked by Trump is that most heroin and other drugs from Mexico pass through at legal crossings, hidden away in vehicles.
Trump went one step further, asserting that undocumented immigrants are somehow central to the the opioid crisis. “My administration is also confronting things called sanctuary cities that shield dangerous criminals,” he said, and added, “they’re safe havens for just some terrible people. Some terrible people.”
“They don’t use guns. They’d rather use knives because it’s more painful and it takes longer. These are bad people —in Boston, Massachusetts, which is a place where you have sanctuary cities.”
As an additional touch, Trump offered a mental image of these “terrible people” by once again bringing up the gang MS-13. “ICE recently arrested 15 MS-13 gang members —these are not good people, folks. Okay?” he said. “These are bad, bad people. They don’t use guns. They’d rather use knives because it’s more painful and it takes longer. These are bad people —in Boston, Massachusetts, which is a place where you have sanctuary cities.”
And what’s Trump’s big solution for these “bad” and “terrible” people?
The death penalty.
“These are terrible people," Trump said, "and we have to get tough on those people, because we can have all the Blue Ribbon committees we want, but if we don’t get tough on the drug dealers, we’re wasting our time. Just remember that. We’re wasting our time. And that toughness includes the death penalty.”
Considering that that African Americans and Latinos are already up to six times more likely to be punished for drug crimes than whites, Trump’s threat of a death penalty carries quite the racial stench.
Imagine if he was threatening death to the (mostly white) drug company executives that produce the drugs for well over 90 percent of opioid addicts in this country? Or the (mostly white) relatives and friends that supply over half of the drugs? Or the the (mostly white) doctors that prescribe 37.5 percent of the misused opioids?
We all might need to pop some opioids to imagine that ever happening.
Jud Lounsbury is a political writer based in Madison, Wisconsin and a frequent contributor to The Progressive. Find him on Twitter.