SLO County’s 5th District can do better than Debbie Arnold, and it’s clear we made a horrible electoral mistake in 2016.
While Debbie Arnold’s entire county joins a multi-billion dollar (bi-partisan) lawsuit against the opioid industry—largely responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans and billions of dollars in taxpayer health care costs—Debbie Arnold needs more time to study, more time to contemplate, more time to process.
So let’s all give Debbie Arnold some stress-free time to consider the “unintended consequences” of holding Big Pharma accountable for an unforgivable betrayal of trust, disdain for the law, and their cavalier attitude toward public safety. She is doing it in a selfless manner to protect us from corporate greed, right?
The irony (or hypocrisy) would be funny, if it weren’t so pathetically sad.
More than 100 fellow Americans die of opioid overdoses every single day while Debbie Arnold gives political cover to Big Pharma. Arnold is paralyzed by a combination of her own ignorance and cowardice, which she has repeatedly demonstrated during her tenure: Like a deer in headlights.
This is your representative, 5th District, cowering in the face of right-and-wrong, siding with corporations profiting from all angles from their treachery. Meanwhile, 22 veterans—protecting her First Amendment right to collect campaign bribes—commit suicide every day from poor mental health care and over-medication, and Debbie Arnold needs more time to think about the problem.
Don’t rush Debbie Arnold, fellow 5th District residents, it’s not like people are dying.
Side note: In the time it took me to write this, one veteran committed suicide, three died of opioid overdoses, and one hundred people were arrested for simple possession or use of cannabis.
Erik Huber
Cuesta College history student
This article appears in Sep 6-16, 2018.
Excuse me? Since when are we excused from misuse of medications?
Not only do all opioids require a triplicate prescription from an MD, those Rxs are filled by local licensed pharmacists. Both the MD and the pharmacist spell out the proper use and remind individuals to follow usage recommendations precisely.
How do drug manufacturers sell directly to consumers? They do not, they sell to MDs who should be able understand the danger of addiction.
Any adult who thinks opioids are risk free, lives in a sheltered cocoon with no contact with the rest of us at all.
With all due respect, ma’am, I am not here to educate you on the history of the opioid crisis or your generation’s failures on drug control policy. If you wish an unbiased and unweaponized education on the subject, I recommend you visit a local Community College or a public library to access up-to-date information.
However… here is a place to start:
Opioid Nation: Making of an Epidemic (2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygqalpOT3Tw
Warning: This drug may kill you (HBO 2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae4rZcZLJGk
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/1/opioid-documentary-warning-drug-may-kill-you-hbo-e/
Ex-DEA Agent: Opioid Crisis Fueld by Drug Industry & Congress
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/1/opioid-documentary-warning-drug-may-kill-you-hbo-e/
How Bad is the Opioid Epidemic (PBS “Frontline” 2016)
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-bad-is-the-opioid-epidemic/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/chasing-heroin/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/inside-the-aggressive-marketing-of-oxycontin-revisit-purdue-pharmas-role-in-the-opioid-crisis/
Gateway to Heroin – OxyContin Documentary (Vanguard 2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwKqTAqm6Ww
Sanjya Gupta’s Weed 4: Pot v Pills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R90JW1fTw8U
Treating PTSD with Cannabis? Dr Sue Sisley (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWpTOsDOpIs
Researching Medical Cannabis: Navigating Barriers to Efficacy Research
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-siYkqlTvEE
Opioid Epidemic Costs $78 Billion Annually: CDC (2016)
https://www.drugs.com/news/opioid-epidemic-costs-u-s-78-5-billion-annually-cdc-62777.html
When you’re done with those:
The Underestimated Cost of the Opioid Crisis:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/The%20Underestimated%20Cost%20of%20the%20Opioid%20Crisis.pdf
How the opioid crisis decimated the American workforce:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJZkn7gdwqI
Dr. Richard Wolff – The Death Economy, Opioids & Capitalism Exposed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOQ72LQf4kk
Everything you thought you knew about addiction is wrong (Johann Hari, 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs
How Portugal successfully tackled its drug crisis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQJ7n-JpcCk
How Portugal and Colorado solved their drug problems:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7LKfLxVtzE
14 Years after decriminalizing drugs, here’s what Portugal looks like:
https://mic.com/articles/110344/14-years-after-portugal-decriminalized-all-drugs-here-s-what-s-happening#.s0LC49HtF
Thanks for these suggestions about opioids. Thank you for your research.