Condemning People in Pain to Ignore the Facts on Heroin, Still and Again

Did you see this? The Obama administration has a revolutionary plan to help law enforcement officials partner with health experts."  No, it doesn't.  Any plan that does not deal with the fact that bans on prescription painkillers are driving thousands of desperate people in chronic pain to heroin is a waste of time and money as well as a crime against public health.

It's spreading.  The stupidity of KASPER out of Frankfort has infected Washington.  Now everybody in the country gets to suffer in agony because the fucking War on (Some Classes of People Who Use Some) Drugs doesn't have enough victims.

Shame on you, President Obama. You know better.  Shame!

Tara Culp-Ressler at Think Progress:

The Obama administration unveiled a new strategy to combat heroin abuse on Monday, pledging $2.5 million in additional funds to target five “high intensity drug trafficking areas.” The plan, which aims to pair law enforcement officials with health experts, is notable for its emphasis on connecting heroin users with treatment rather than focusing on putting them behind bars.

In the 15 states participating in the pilot program, a public health official will coordinate “heroin response teams” and help track the number of overdoses in their region. More first responders will be trained about how to administer naloxone, a drug that can reverse overdoses from heroin and prescription painkillers.

The new strategy “demonstrates a strong commitment to address the heroin and prescription opioid epidemic as both a public health and a public safety issue,” according to Michael Botticelli, the Obama administration’s director of national drug control policy.