[buck4roo]

> Drug consumption is at least as much a demand side problem as a supply side one.

Perhaps you meant "drug importation is at least..."

The importation of fentanyl is not due to demand.

The importation of fentanyl is due to it's low cost (synthetic ingredients) and high potency (less mass, smaller volume when smuggling) - and its ability to be added as a potent adulterant to any other drug (can be used to cut any other drug, to increase dealer profits) - all without end consumer's knowledge or desire that it is in there.

> Bottom line is that you need centralised state intervention to eliminate dealers and distributors, coupled with renditions to remove the vulnerable from the exposure to opportunity, coupled with pathways out of poverty for those who wish to take a different life.

An overwhelming number of accidental overdoses begins with patients becoming addicted to pharmaceutical pain medications after surgery/medical-care. Those patients need continuous, unfettered access to both the medication they are addicted to, and no-cost medical care (and income replacement, if they are working), in order to allow them to enter inpatient detox programs. The FDA's approach to treating doctors as criminals if they provide long-term access to Rx pain medication is an injustice to every patient in need.

Patients that are unable to provide themselves with the pain medication they have become addicted to (through no fault of their own) will seek other sources, which is where non-pharmaceutical (black-market counterfeits) and fentanyl enter the picture.