All Episodes
Previous Next
April 12, 2022 - Louder with Crowder
54:51
The American Opioid Crisis Explained | Louder with Crowder
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
["Hit The Road With Me"]
["Detroit Sucks"]
Time to listen up, you silly liberal fruitcake students!
You didn't take that turn, you didn't build that!
Four years ago when things got dumb, I made me some calls and got me some money.
Yes, Lotto and Trotter has gone daily.
And since 2016 on election night, my club has survived.
And Mug Club can survive!
And then last year when the Vox thing hit, they tried to make me a hippie.
Stephen Cotter is YouTube's ideal creator.
He makes cheap, long content.
We were at 40,000 people watching on YouTube, and then ABC decided to hit us with the copyrights today.
Everyone's an idiot, asshole.
I apologize, cause mug club can't survive.
Cause mug club can't survive.
Everyone, idiot, asshole, fat, hard, stupid!
No, you can't knock us down and we ain't gonna run.
No matter what you try, you know we ain't done.
If it's a new police officer, that ain't a man.
If they don't like that, we don't give a damn.
But you should respect women.
I'm sorry, I am a woman.
And in the end we decided that it was not violative of our policies for harassment.
This guy's a fascist.
He said we abided by, and a mug club can survive.
This guy's a fascist.
I don't know about that.
A mug club can survive.
Oh, f***.
You're gonna say I'm even proud of you?
Yeah.
I didn't f***ing want a piece of meat for a long time.
Now I'll log into YouTube and what do I see?
Want to scroll past Noah and Samantha Bean My YouTube page is re-monetized
Cause Mug Club can survive A5 fun!
And Mug Club can survive!
We're going to call the police.
Leave my restaurant or I'll call the cops.
No you can't knock us down and we ain't gonna run.
No matter what you try, you know we ain't done.
Hold on you're ****ing me.
We say sir and ma'am.
Yeah, why not?
Good, good.
You're a very violent and dangerous fellow!
If you think this will soften us up, then YouTube's got them a new lap of...
Nope!
Don't worry, we're a big surprise, cause Mug Club can't stop us.
You're here to shut me down.
We've been remonitized The lies we let our brothers hear
My club can survive You quit, what's that?
My club can survive I'm here to shut down your club
You're here to shut me down Who the hell lets you back on this team?
Thanks for watching!
FRIEND OR SCAR?
Stop!
dot com.
This is a test.
our dad
dad dad
dad dad
dad and cut
uses what i do it I do this for you.
I try and subject myself to the sippage, because the ASMR freaks get really into it.
Do they?
And then, unfortunately, there was too much... Like, with wine, you're supposed to bring air in with it, right?
It's called turling, though.
It's not sipping.
Oh, well, that's affected.
So my point is that I inhaled, and I did it wrong.
It went down the wrong pipe.
Glad to be with you!
It's the sound of Tuesday, I suppose.
We'll be talking about a lot today, and...
Brian Stelter makes an appearance, as does Second Lunch.
Real journalist, right?
Yes.
So, Second Lunch.
Second Lunch is?
Not quite linner, not quite lunch.
Don't even get me started on dinner.
That's way, way, way.
Dinner is right out!
We're talking about Second Lunch.
And then there's Third Lunch, and then there's linner, and then there's a two mimosa brunch, but we're talking about that.
But another thing that I really wanted to talk about is the opioid crisis.
So first off, A lot of folks don't consider, again, the collateral damage, the unintended consequences of keeping the borders open or allowing more people, of course, to come into this country, record numbers.
The fentanyl issue, right?
This is something we say that we're doing it out of empathy because people want to come to this country.
They're not actually asylum seekers.
They're just leaving a country that's crappier than the United States.
That's it.
That's not a reason to be able to enter here illegally, but that's a subject for another day.
Fentanyl has increased dramatically, and unfortunately that's been conflated with what has now been coined the opioid
crisis.
And I will tell you, it bothers me. Just hear me out.
I have some unpopular opinions on this, especially having just gone through some major surgeries.
There is a huge difference between street drugs and what people consider the opioid crisis,
but it's a third rail that no politician wants to touch.
So my question of the day is, first off, do you know anyone who has been affected by the opioid crisis?
I'd like you to comment below.
We'll read some of those comments here probably next week.
I know some people who have been affected by it, not in the ways that you may think, and it's tragic.
But then my question to you also is, what is your opinion on the prescriptions Of opiates, of actual prescription opiates to people who are, you know, actually suffering from pain or have been through major surgery.
So we'll be talking about that a little bit because I think the pendulum may have swung too far the other way before we get to any of that.
Oh, I should let you know.
There's no show this Thursday.
So I'm telling you, there's no show on Thursday for good reason, and I'll be in Michigan, Royal Oak.
Those tickets are sold out, but the people in Royal Oak, we are going to see you this Saturday.
No show Thursday.
Every other day, though, if you miss a show and we have not told you, if you don't see it here on YouTube, Go on over to Rumble.
Go to Mug Club.
We're still streaming live, Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m.
Eastern.
Just because we're not here on YouTube doesn't mean that the show is not streaming.
Nothing would make me happier than you guys leaving the tube that is you and going over to the Rumble.
Because Rumbles bounce!
All right, Gerald A. is here.
How are you?
I am well, sir.
How are you?
I'm okay.
Doing all right?
Yeah, I'm okay.
Got a little bit of sleep, which was nice.
Well, that's...
Every once in a while.
It's a rarity.
It is, yeah.
It's hard to come by.
By the way, he's addicted to opioids all the time, right now.
He's just literally, when he walks, he sounds like Dan Maracas.
I did do the show one time on opioids.
Yes, of course you did.
After surgery!
And by that, you mean you one time did a show not on opioids.
No, no, it was back surgery.
You should just see what he does in the alleyway for a bottle of Percocet.
And we have in third chair, Dave is not here with us today, but it is Porter Black Garrett!
Wait.
It's, uh, it's not Black History Month.
No, I know, we just thought we'd do it for you.
Yeah.
With you, every month is Quarter Black History Month.
I see what you did there.
And you work, of course, now on the YouTube channel.
He's not here anymore.
We miss him, but, uh, Nerd-Rotic?
That's right, Nerd-Rotic.
And also, I have a YouTube channel.
Right.
Where I play video games and talk about movies, so.
Ah, nice.
Right, yeah.
For people who want to watch someone else have fun.
That's right!
Play video games.
It happens a lot!
Do they pay you, like, to eat cheeseburgers?
Like, the Tess Holiday stuff on webcam?
Or like, yeah.
Like a mukbang.
Have you seen that?
That's what it's called.
You've seen that though, where like the people like the green ladies?
I try not to see it.
I'd like to avoid that.
Right.
Well, you know what?
It's gonna cost years of therapy.
Also, lotofconda.com slash tour.
We are going to be in Colorado Springs June 18th.
There's still some shows left for the second show.
Tickets left.
Tulsa?
I don't know if it's... I think it's kind of sold out.
I don't want to... I think it's... basically it's sold out, Tulsa, so I apologize.
But Colorado Springs, the second show.
Go to livewithcolorado.com slash tour.
We have a big fall tour that we'll be doing.
But first, before any of this, time to react to something.
New Jersey just created a new... what they refer to as model school instruction materials.
I don't like where this is going.
Oh, I have seen this video.
They asked me to not watch, but I have seen this video.
What?
I haven't.
So, if you have children, they should leave the room, even though these materials... They should leave the house.
They should leave the country.
Even though the materials are designed to be presented to kids, which again, the whole grooming thing is a conspiracy, so here's just one video from the Amaze.org website.
Again, if you have kids, they should leave because they'll just see this in their public schools.
Watching porn doesn't make you a bad person.
What?
It means you're curious.
It's normal to want to know about sex and naked bodies.
I mean, look at this guy's penis.
Isn't it just unreal?
Yeah, we blurred it.
We blurred that.
Whoa!
What?
Hold on.
Why is his Johnson so, you know, large?
Wait, what are you talking about?
That's more of a you problem, Gerald.
Here's another topic we're going to discuss.
A college freshman.
Just take the L. Last week, the University of Chicago.
You comment below.
Does that seem abnormal to me?
I have that problem.
I have to worry about being knocked back.
And just stick it up like a flagpole.
Sometimes you raise it up like it ponches.
Yeah, and at the end of the level, if Mario hits the top of it, you get double points.
That's right.
Look at video games, Gerald.
Listen, it's not at all.
That was for your neurotic people, the video game.
That's a little old school for them.
Last week, here we go to Brian Stelter, which I just, I want him to be on the air forever.
Please, give him a lifetime contract, CNN.
On Lifetime.
And if not, we will give him a Lifetime Cutter.
We'll pay you, CNN, just to host his show.
There you go.
We'll pay for the show.
It's free airtime, and I'll pay for it.
We'll start a GoFundMe if we have to.
Yes.
Crowdfund this.
Keep Stelter on the air.
Stelter's like, me?
GoFundMe.
Fund F-U-N-D.
GoFundMe.
Well, I guess.
I think he's still looking at that previous little video we just watched.
I can just wire transfer it to the guy.
He's like, do I get to watch this every day?
And by every day, I mean me in the mirror?
Oh my gosh.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to start it this way, but we live in a horrible culture.
So last week, the University of Chicago and the Atlantic, they hosted a quote, disinformation and erosion of democracy conference.
It's ironic that they hosted it.
Boy, this is where I just- It's on the nose.
This is just really where I wish I just did cocaine.
It'd be easier to process this.
And of course, so it's the Disinformation and Erosion of Democracy.
Was this a panel about how to do that?
By the way, Chicago.
Yeah, Chicago.
How to.
Yeah.
It should have been How to Disinformation and Erosion of Democracy for Dummies Conference.
And of course it featured CNN's heavyweight champion Brian Stelter.
I mean, assuming he makes the cutoff weight, or he still has to cut.
He has to spend some time in a sauna.
That's true.
So, a freshman student, Christopher Phillips, lobbed this final question to Stelter, and I think it's worth watching.
Hi, thank you for coming.
My name is Christopher Phillips.
I'm a first year at the college.
My question is for Mr. Stelter.
You've all spoken extensively about Fox News being a purveyor of disinformation, but CNN is right up there with them.
They pushed the Russian collusion hoax, they pushed the Jussie Smollett hoax, they smeared Justice Kavanaugh as a rapist, and they also smeared Nick Salmon as a white supremacist, and yes, they dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop affair as pure Russian disinformation.
With mainstream corporate journalists becoming little more than apologists and cheerleaders for the regime, is it time to finally declare that the canon of journalistic ethics is dead or no longer operative?
All the mistakes of the mainstream media, and CNN in particular, seem to magically all go in one direction.
Are we expected to believe that this is all just some sort of random coincidence, or is there something else behind it?
Too bad, it's time for lunch.
Of course it is.
You have 30 seconds.
There's a clock that says 30 seconds.
But I think my honest answer to you, and I'll come over and talk in more detail after this, is that I think you're describing a different channel than the one that I watch.
But I understand that that is a popular narrative about CNN.
I think it's important, when we talk about shared reality and democracy, all these networks, all these outlets have to defend democracy.
And when they screw up, admit it.
But, when Benjamin Hall, the Fox correspondent, was wounded in Ukraine, the news crews at CNN and the New York Times stopped what they were doing, and they tried to help.
They tried to help him get out of the country, they tried to find the dead crew members.
That's what news outlets do.
That's how they actually do work together, to your question about sharing those kinds of connections and trusts.
We don't share that reality about how that happens.
It's just a maid.
In regards to the regime, I think you mean the President Biden?
The President Biden?
The last time I spoke with a Biden aide, we yelled at each other.
So that's the reality of the news business.
No, come on.
The people don't see, the people don't hear.
That was just dirty talk.
They imagine that it's a situation that simply is not.
They were listening to Screamo.
But I think your question, it speaks to the failure of journalism to show our work and show the reality of how our profession operates.
We have a lot of work to do, I think.
Okay, well... I've got a blinking red eye.
I know, you keep doing it, but there's lunch right out in the hallway!
I know, it's lunch time.
There's lunch right out in the hallway.
I can smell it!
I'm flying to it!
There's the craft table for everyone else, and a trough labeled Skelter.
One of those giant, full-bodied bits.
Don't go bacon my heart.
Don't get close to him.
He gets aggressive when you get close to his food.
Oh gosh.
Look, he ignores all of the claims.
This is actually a perfect example of, you know, I hate to use the term mainstream media, legacy media, because they have a platform.
They have a platform on television, and it's one-way.
You know what I mean?
It's a one-way platform where there's no interaction, where they can just go on there and they can spout their information, and they get to ignore all of the actual claims, all of the actual criticisms, and they just act as though they don't exist.
For example, we saw this at CNN with Cuomo and his brother.
Only when there were actual legal ramifications did anything happen.
And it's the same thing with Stelter right here.
You're just seeing it happen in real time.
He's so ill-equipped to deal With, not even really accusations, just factual claims about inaccuracies in the media, what does he do?
He ignores it, he points to the chambermaid saying, your question?
Kay?
Your question?
And then he uses the appeal to emotion fallacy, right?
He's saying, well, journalists are still good because they don't let fellow American from Fox, they didn't let him, like, bleed out one time.
Okay, that's good.
Yeah, good.
I'm glad you answered the question.
Yeah.
You're a human being.
Right.
Thank you very much.
Oh, and then you actually went the opposite direction, and oh, by the way, I yelled at someone, too.
It's like, see, okay, we help, and then we yell, so we can't be bad.
Yeah.
Like, well, that didn't answer any of the questions.
And right away, he's scanning the room.
Yeah.
He's scanning the room for allies.
Yeah, exactly.
It's like Tom Hanks in Punchline.
Like, someone help me!
Help!
He's like, allies, allies, allies.
And even his ally on the right is like, okay, even for me, that was pretty bad.
I think we should all do better.
Lunchlop!
Brian, do you want to fix that?
No, there's lunch.
There's lunch!
It's right out the hallway.
I can smell it.
It's second lunch.
When they're calling him for lunch, it's just the Taco Bell gong.
By the way, I have a bit of an update for you.
The guy who asked that question actually tweeted out, I just saw it before the show, and he said, I mean it's been out for a little while, but I just saw it, he said that Brian did talk to him afterwards, but failed to answer any of his questions still.
Yeah, he just asked for his phone number.
You see him scanning the room for allies.
Yeah, and by the way This is also why we've been in legal battles to one degree or another with CNN.
That's Turner Broadcasting, ABC Disney, NBC Universal.
I don't know if it's CBS, Fox, because what happens is once they get
into the kinds of platforms, you know, we're like, you guys do,
there's two-way communication to some degree.
They can't compete.
And so then YouTube changes their algorithms to favor legacy media
because they spend more money on advertising.
They can't compete on the playing field, not only of ideas, but of quality of content.
And so that's why they want more government control, regulation over YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify,
because they want to have an unfair playing field, just like big banks with never-ending bailouts.
So anytime you look at the behemoths, you look at the Goliaths,
you look at the mojos like Stelter, you do see people who you have to take into account
that they're not looking out for your best interest.
So he's scanning the room, anyone gonna help me?
Who's going to help me?
Let's contrast that with Stelter, the who's going to be my friend body posture in this clip.
Time to listen up you silly liberal fruitcakes!
I came out here, I wanted to tell some jokes.
Let's do some reality checks here.
Do you have any idea, sir, how pathetic it must be to be you?
These people wanted to come out and have a good time, hear a few jokes, some thoughtful discussion, but your head pops off the pillow in the morning with, oh, how can I be a professional victim today?
Let me go in and screw with their act just because, oh my God, your parents didn't tell you that your opinion wasn't worth that much.
Look, look, they're confused.
They're confused.
You know why?
Because I'm not your gender studies professor who has to cater to your trigger warning, microaggression, safe space bullshit.
Oh, well, that wasn't Brian Stelter.
Oh, no.
You guys fit that one in.
That was the classic.
Thank you for subjecting me to having to watch myself.
No, Brian was in the audience.
Yeah, yes, he was.
He was eating, so he was happy, though.
Totally fine.
That's the only time he's silent, is when he's gorging.
Are you making fun of an immutable characteristic?
Nope.
No, it's an entirely immutable characteristic, just so you know.
By the way, you don't have to.
You can just get Richard Simmons' calorie counter and it would go a long way.
Mojo reference.
That was okay.
I mean, it's a bad Marvel character, but, you know, I got it.
Yeah.
As evil.
Yeah.
He's a good Marvel character.
But a remarkable, striking similarity to Brian Stelter.
Hey, before we move on too, it's birthday time for a super straight, white, cis, hetero male, who's, well, not necessarily white, Token Owen's birthday!
Happy Birthday Toka Dalan!
Yeahh!
hahaha hohoho
Told ya, talented man....
He was dancing earlier to that.
You get nothing!
Yeah, well, that's true.
I just have one comment.
That's hot.
That's hot.
A little teaser for later.
That's hot.
No.
I don't know what we'll be discussing on Mug Club, but I don't know if I want a teaser.
I'm scared now that that's the teaser.
We showed the village people and he said, that's hot.
I'm a narcissist.
I was talking about myself.
He's like, what's worse, saying the village people are hotter?
Wait, the village people were in that?
Yeah, the village people.
You are the village people.
He's very focused.
The village people are yours now.
They belong to you.
So here's another story before we get to the opioid crisis and the epidemic right now.
Really, the problem is what's happening at the border with fentanyl.
And I don't know if you know this, the cartels, not really looking out for your best interest in the cartels, big fans of the Biden open, not open border, but you know, more open border policy, super open border.
But before that, this is important, last week, a man was arrested, uh... I'm trying to think of how to... A man was arrested for servicing himself...
on a Southwest flight from Seattle to Phoenix four times.
Southwest, makes sense.
Well, no, for context, that's only a two-hour, 48-minute flight.
Wow!
We actually, and by the way, I think we actually have a picture of the man in question.
We have the exclusive, yeah.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
He just backdoors it in with the asexual.
That's not it at all.
Let me read a quote for you.
It says, the man in question is accused of masturbating four times in the seat next To a female passenger.
The woman took pictures of the man while he was asleep and gave them to Phoenix Police when she landed.
I mean, she's lucky that she caught him when he was sleeping.
I mean, after what, a 20... He had time to sleep?
Yeah, after a 24 second refractory period.
That's so terrible.
He had time to sleep, guys.
Everything is connected, just so you know.
You can't have men beating women in NCAA swimming competitions, and videos like you just saw being a part of a school curriculum, and not expect serial masturbators on your JetBlue flights.
He just has flying anxiety, and this is the only way.
The only release he has.
Get some sleep.
His penis was his therapy dog.
Look, it has a vest!
Now, here's the thing, of course, that guy should have been punched immediately.
Just like, remember the Detroit fire crotch bomber?
I don't know if you remember, right when Barack Obama became president, there was a terrorist who tried to blow up Detroit, which is hysterical by the way, and he had a bomb in his pants.
The underwear bomber.
The underwear bomber!
I'm gonna blow up Detroit with my underwear!
And what happened is, he only ended up blowing up his nether regions, and a black guy, he got punched in the face.
So he went, he thought he was going to die in a glaze, a glaze?
Back to Stelter.
In a blaze of glory for Allah and instead he blew off his penis and was punched in the face.
Is he still alive?
I don't know.
Poor eunuch.
He'll never show his face with Isis again.
Oh my gosh.
Just laugh him out of the room.
Strip off his patch.
Now he can be a female in sports.
Break all them rules.
He wouldn't be able to do the swimming though.
You can't trim the body hair enough.
Too much drag.
Yeah.
Now, of course, look, I get it.
This would be a traumatic experience for the lady, and we feel badly for her.
Our heart goes out to her.
But the woman has been gracious enough, the woman in question, to share her story with us.
I believe we have her on deck.
Skyping into the show here.
Oh yeah, here she is.
Oh, nice.
Yes.
There she is.
Hi, Steven.
Hello!
Hey, can you hear me?
First off, we don't want you to be doxed, but thank you for calling in.
Where are you now?
Oh, yeah, sorry.
I actually just boarded another flight, so I'm sorry for the noise, but I'm happy to share my story and maybe just, like, be a source of courage for other ladies out there who have also been seated next to masturbators.
It's gross.
Yeah, well, I can imagine.
Can you, um... Can you tell us about that a little bit, your, you know, your incident?
Yes, yeah, of course.
So, I was flying from Seattle to Phoenix, and maybe, like, I don't know, like two minutes into the flight, I start hearing this really weird, like, sound, and I...
Oh my God.
Guys, look.
What's going on?
Is that the same guy from before?
That's the same guy.
That's the same guy.
Yeah, I'm not flying Southwest again.
Okay.
I'm only flying American from here on out.
This is ridiculous.
Yeah, well, you know what?
We'll pay for spirit.
Thank you for dealing.
I appreciate it.
Goodbye.
Goodbye.
Thank you very much.
Yeah.
I feel uncomfortable.
It gets so fast.
I don't know.
That's service right there.
Ma'am, can I get a blanket, please?
Cover myself right away.
That better have been economy plus.
Extra leg room.
Yeah.
It's true.
Otherwise I get a toe cramp.
There are trade-offs.
I'm still amazed that he had time to sleep in a two-hour flight.
Four times and he slept.
Like a baby.
That is some skill.
What in the world?
Okay, so look, saying one time would have been like enough to blow my mind, right?
That's enough.
Somebody sitting there, four times.
If I say the words.
And a nap.
If I play Bomberman on my cell phone, they ground the flight.
A guy can service himself four times and... We're good, keep going.
You don't just at least get the air marshal to lock him in the bathroom?
Well, he was, in all fairness, still wearing his mask.
So that was, you know, it's totally fine.
Does it count as Mile High Club?
No!
Not with yourself it doesn't!
No, I think at four times it crosses over.
Is this a dare?
Like, is this a bet?
Like, alright, I bet you could do it three times, but you can't possibly do it four times.
You've got two and a half hours.
How many can you crank out?
Let's go!
Guys, you know what?
Comment below, uh, wouldn't you just, wouldn't you just strike him as hard as you can?
Yes!
Can't we create a law, like, we'll give you the, we'll give you what we call the grace masturbation.
One time.
No!
In the air.
But time number two or three.
You gotta experiment, you never know.
Did the flight attendants come over, like, sir, excuse me, we're gonna have to ask you to stop.
The fasten seatbelt sign is on.
Sir, would you like a Diet Coke?
Or maybe some water?
You're gonna need water.
That being said, if he grabbed a vape pen, if he grabbed his Juul, they would have kicked him off and grounded the flight.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh, gosh.
Okay.
So let's move on here to... We live in a weird, weird world.
We live in a sick...
Sick world with sick people!
Name that movie line.
Also, smash the like button if you're watching on YouTube because that helps with the algorithm.
Especially, you know what, if you want more Change My Minds like yesterday, if we don't get 50,000 likes, I'll never do another Change My Mind as long as I live.
50,000 likes.
Do it.
I'll never do it again.
I don't want to pressure you, threaten you, but...
Well, it sounds like a threat, though.
A little bit of a threat.
Let's talk about the opioid crisis. And this is something that I've wanted to discuss for a while,
and I know that I'm going to get crap for it. So let me be very clear in separating
the issue that we do have that we need to address that a huge portion of those in the swamp don't
want to address because they want to conflate these issues and have more control over medical
practitioners. And it goes back to the DEA. And this is important because a lot of people who
are against the drug war, and I understand that, I agree, a lot of people who are pro-medical
legalizing all of marijuana and I certainly think that it should be
removed from the scheduled substance list and states should be able to do
what they want with it but a lot of these same people are then advocating
for another drug war only it's on prescription painkillers that are being
given by physicians and I think that that is a problem. I think it's a problem
if you now give the government the authority to pressure physicians and
pharmacies into not being able to provide care to people.
And in some instances, opiates are appropriate.
In some instances, I just want to be clear.
That being said, we do have a serious problem right now going on.
As discussed, I think we discussed it briefly last week, you know, the Biden administration.
They're ending the enforcement of Title 42, which is during a health crisis, they're able to actually deport people.
There are certain parameters that if they meet, it gives them more control over handling immigration at the border and being more stringent.
He decided, no, we're not going to do that.
So the daily arrivals at the border have tripled up to 18,000 per day.
Now, keep in mind, this comes at a time when seizure of fentanyl is already at record highs.
So there is a direct correlation.
In 2019, we had 2,800 pounds of fentanyl.
2020, that went up to 4,800 pounds.
2021, that went up to 11,200 pounds.
So you're basically talking about a doubling year over year.
We don't have the 2022 numbers because, you know, we only have half of the numbers.
And of course, you know, they make their killing during the holiday season.
It is a season.
I think we're already over 2020 numbers for this year.
I don't know the exact numbers.
They're not fully reliable because they report end of year.
And again, it's one of those businesses, you know, it's feast or famine.
During the holiday season, that's when it's the holiday season.
And by the way, I just want to make sure we understand this.
That little grain of rice of fentanyl is enough to kill you, right?
Yes, it's enough to kill you.
A pound of fentanyl could kill all of Chicago.
Yeah, it took care of a big...
Big guy, recently.
Yes.
Kind of a big deal.
Yeah.
I'm trying to remember.
Seems like it was in the news.
Yeah, something about... I have no idea.
It'll come to us.
There's a mural somewhere.
So, where does most of fentanyl come from in the United States?
Take a wild guess.
It's not a trick question.
Look, I'm not doing this to try and trick you.
There you go.
Speedy Gonzalez?
Arriba!
On a slow news day, who would have thought that discussing something everything is on board with, fentanyl being bad on the street, is what gets us banned.
I never knew.
So it mostly comes from Mexico.
And it's mostly made in China.
Of course.
Keep in mind, the fiscal year of 2021, South Texas, of course, they reported a 1,066% increase in fentanyl seizures.
Those are just the seizures.
So you now have the numbers of how much is being shipped across the border.
You now have the numbers of the seizures that they've increased.
And we have more references available, all available at LatterEarthCounter.com.
And I would highly recommend today that you look at the references because I'm going to hit you with some
facts that most people don't know. Three key facts on the opioid crisis that may
change your point of view
on how it's been presented and I will say Republicans have failed us just as
badly as Democrats have because it's one of those issues where it's for political
clout if anyone goes out and says the opioid crisis, the opioid crisis, we have
to stop the opioid crisis with these sort of general, these vague platitudes.
People go, well, that's great.
I know someone who is addicted to painkillers.
Good.
This person's going to stop it.
Three key facts that may change your point of view.
May not like to hear them.
But first, let's start with fentanyl bad.
Drug cartels bad.
Open borders bad.
We've had a dramatic increase in seizures just in Texas in the last few months.
There have been major busts all across the southern border.
The DEA has actually been working in Arizona, in this area of Arizona, for the past couple of months, addressing a surge in fentanyl drugs that have been found in this area.
They say that all the drugs found in recent months could have saved, all the drugs that were found that we mentioned here earlier this week, could have saved 700,000 lives.
This is not a recreational drug.
This is death.
1.7 million fentanyl pills seized in a drug bust.
The largest on record.
Looks bigger than a grain of rice.
These drugs, in this form, and fentanyl, which is... Smaller than a bread basket.
It's what is driving our opioid crisis, not just in Arizona, not just in this region, but across the country.
So, fentanyl related, they're getting so bad that the DEA actually sent a letter out to law enforcement agencies warning of mass overdose events.
So you don't even need to join a cult anymore, just have mass overdose events.
Fentanyl is killing Americans at an unprecedented rate.
Tragically, many overdose victims have no idea that they are ingesting deadly fentanyl until it's too late.
Yeah, they're lacing it into cocaine.
Yeah.
That was one of the busts that we had.
Oh man, where do you get some of that?
I just want to test it out.
No, but why would you do that?
I get it off the streets.
You just killed your clients.
It's a bad business model.
I mean, normally you kill them over time.
This is doing it really quickly.
Well, I just don't think, I don't think so much as that they want to kill off their customer base.
Just they're not very good at math.
It's made in China, but it comes through Mexico.
There's a middleman who's not doing, he's not carrying the one.
They're not cutting it right.
Right.
Uno.
Yeah.
So 2021 uh there's a record number what was it a hundred and um see I'm almost as unprofessional sir I'm looking down at my this is my prompter as I look down at my iPad to make sure I have the numbers right she's sitting there she's like and there have been Ten!
I gotta scroll.
I gotta find it.
It's... I mean, nine!
It's here somewhere.
Journalism is dying because of Trump.
So, uh, 2021, a record.
Just do your research.
Just have the number.
Have you seen us do a change?
I might have to remember so much crap.
105,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2021.
Huge amount of which, most of which involved fentanyl.
For example, in Milwaukee, Well, I guess all of Milwaukee County, they set a record for ODs.
80% involved fentanyl.
Jeez.
And last year, this shouldn't be surprising, but this is just for, you know, if you're watching and you're a liberal, you're a leftist, and you still think that COVID is the...
I'm not allowed to say what it is.
Still think COVID's a thing.
Meaning a thing as far as an actual threat right now.
In the Bay Area, more people died of fentanyl overdoses than COVID.
Also died from hate crime attacks against Asians than COVID.
Yeah, that's a rise.
It's terrible.
Also, more people died from toasters than COVID.
Vending machines falling on people.
Those last two I can't substantiate.
But definitely more people died from fentanyl than from COVID.
And fentanyl has gotten so bad in San Francisco that it's actually it's become now a part of just the tourist experience.
These mothers have a message, and they want everyone to read it.
So it's writ large in billboard form, looming over Union Square.
It says famous the world over for our brains, beauty and now dirt cheap fentanyl.
We're frustrated and that's why we're doing this.
It's bad.
Pressure where we think it might be helpful.
Pressure because they want what they call the open-air drug markets shut down.
Jackie's son is a fentanyl addict on the streets of San Francisco. So is Cory's
and so are dozens of their son's friends. Gotta love lawless cities. There's Tyler, there's Kyle,
there's George, there's Chris, there's Sarah. Ringo. The list goes on. They all wish they
had their mother come to see them. The problem, they say, fentanyl is too
affordable and too available.
Why don't you just get him?
Just like the Southwest Masturbator.
He's buckled.
He's not going anywhere.
He can't get anywhere.
and not get no consequences here.
Just like why don't you just get him just like this just like the Southwest
masturbator. He's the Southwest masturbator. He's already he's buckled.
He's not going anywhere.
He can't get anywhere. Come on.
So okay we've gone through fentanyl.
All right, so you understand that now, and that's a real problem.
And yes, they're lacing a lot of things with fentanyl because it's cheap, it increases the high, it's something that you can't really monitor because it is so, so potent, and you don't know what street drugs are incorporating fentanyl.
Now, that brings me to something.
And again, my question to you guys was question of the day.
What is your opinion on prescription opioids, and how have you perceived the opioid crisis?
Fentanyl is a crisis.
The drugs coming over the Mexican border are a crisis.
I just want to be clear about all of this.
But what you think is the opioid crisis, for example, how it was presented in the show Dope Sick, and it made me sick to watch just the dishonesty that was taking place.
What you probably believe to be the opioid is not the actual opioid crisis.
So we've heard about this everywhere in the media and even from politicians, the opioid crisis ad nauseum.
I'm an emergency physician and I'm going to talk to you today about the opioid epidemic Last night we told you how the risk of dying from an opioid overdose is now greater than dying in a car crash.
But in 2016, there were 42,000 opioid-related overdose deaths.
That is 115 overdose deaths every day.
But also important for the country to see that the opioid crisis affects everyone, even Michael Keaton, even one of the biggest stars in the world.
Okay, so, Let me present this to you in a way that maybe is...
Let me be as reductive as possible, and then I'll substantiate it with some other facts and some clips.
Many of you believe that the opioid crisis, and this is how politicians have presented it on both the left and the right in the media, is little Johnny went in for a toothache, he got some Vicodin, and then he got hooked on opioids, and then it leads to an overdose.
And doctors were just prescribing opioids left and right, and people are now dying in record numbers of opioids.
I'm going to give you three key facts that tell you the opposite is true.
I just want you to think about this for a second.
Does this change your point of view?
I'll go through them, but okay.
The facts that you need to know.
Opioid deaths have skyrocketed since prescribing has gone down dramatically.
Nearly all opioid deaths that are taking place are from illegal drugs like fentanyl, like heroin, and the vast majority of people who even did abuse prescription opioids were people who already had long storied histories of drug abuse.
Those three facts.
Does that present a little bit of a different picture?
And especially to people out there who are against the drug war.
Is there an appropriate place for opiates, for opioids?
And just so you know, the difference is basically opiate means this sort of naturally occurring, and opioid is a synthesized version, but I'm going to use them relatively interchangeably because the media has irresponsibly.
Those three key facts.
The vast majority of deaths right now, the opioid crisis, are fentanyl and street drugs.
It's only increased as prescribing has gone down, and the people who abuse the prescriptions were not just people who walked in and happened to get painkillers, these were people who were seeking out painkillers because they had a drug addiction problem to begin with.
Now, if you know those three facts, does that mean we need to stop all opioid prescriptions?
Because I also know many people who, for example, I know someone who's been in a car wreck, who will never be without pain for the rest of their life.
And now they've been turned into What would be, they actually have a good doctor who's like, well I don't care what the DA wants to do, but they would be turned into a street drug addict.
So, if you're against the drug war because you're saying then people will get it on the street, we don't want to falsely present what the opioid crisis is.
So let's go first through those key kind of claims, and I'll explain to you why they're incorrect.
The first claim you hear a lot is the opioid crisis is a result of what?
What?
Doctors over-prescribing the drugs.
Addicted to a combination of prescription drugs for seven years.
One woman says her doctor helped get her hooked.
Two investigator Pam Zachman reports the state is cracking down on doctors who use their medical license as a license to deal.
Whether it's wisdom teeth or a c-section, over prescribing opioid medications to control pain after surgery has fueled the opioid crisis.
For so many opioid addicts in this country, the addiction begins with a prescription from a doctor.
One of the most important ways to slow down this epidemic is to slow down those prescriptions.
Look, everyone has been touched by this to one degree or another.
Right?
Overdose or just someone with a drug problem.
But what they just said isn't true.
I know that people, I don't work for Big Pharma, I don't have a sponsorship from Pfizer like Stephen Colbert, it's just, that's not true.
You're gonna break into song?
Right, yeah.
Pfizer!
Needles!
We didn't write any of their lyrics, just buy Pfizer, buy Pfizer, buy Pfizer, buy Pfizer, and Sketch.
So, first, the vast majority of overdose deaths, they come from illicit street drugs.
Fentanyl and heroin.
Okay?
They're not coming from prescription painkillers.
Just to be clear.
And also, the DEA is not even being accurate in how they track opioid deaths.
It's sort of like death with COVID is just COVID death.
Someone could have 15 drugs in their system.
Yes.
So here's another one.
Opioid deaths, like I just said, they've actually skyrocketed.
Skyrocketed!
And that's true.
They have skyrocketed.
As prescribing has taken a nosedive.
Wow.
It's almost like the gun issue, right?
So you say criminals have guns and they kill people.
Then, okay, let's take the guns away from society.
Right.
And it doesn't work that way because the criminals still have the guns.
Right.
You do the exact same thing with opioids.
You're saying doctors can't prescribe them to people that have actual medical reasons.
Yeah.
And a prescription is a specific way to use the drug.
Right.
And then... People abuse it.
You're taking it away from them It's not going to take it away from the criminals that are on the streets in San Francisco.
Or it turns people into criminals because they're like, well, I've got a shattered hip and I have a broken face.
You know, a chimpanzee ripped off my face on a red wine and Xanax bender and my doctor is afraid of the DEA so they go to the street to get some kind of a pain relief.
By the way, these same people are often pro-legalization of marijuana.
They are the same states that want to ban kratom, which is a tea that has naturally occurring opiate agonists.
So, and again, I'm not encouraging people out there to go use any type of supplement or medication.
That's not what this is about.
But as prescribing has gone down, the deaths have gone up.
To be very, very clear.
And another thing, like I just said, but the references are available.
I'll expand upon this a little bit.
The vast majority of people who did use the prescription drugs, they already had extensive drug histories.
You've heard of doctor shopping.
Most of the time, the people who were abusing a prescribed drug, they were doctor shopping.
Now, let me give some credence to the fact that late 1990s, early aughts, there was an overprescription problem, specifically of a drug, OxyContin.
And this was, people just like to blame Purdue Pharma.
Now, they were dicks.
Kind of like Pfizer, AstraZeneca.
They're very dishonest.
Far from me to trust, you know, Big Pharma, Carte Blanche.
But Purdue, what they did was they actually got the FDA to create a label based on inaccurate or incomplete research that said oxycontin, which is just a time-released form of oxycodone, which is very common, right?
Percocet is oxycodone.
You can get oxycodone in a multitude of ways.
Oxycontin said, since ours is time-released, it's less addictive than other Opiates.
Doctors before that all knew that there was addictive potential to opiates, and so they were very careful in prescribing them, and they would taper people down.
What happened is one company, in bed with the FDA, got an inaccurate label, and so there was.
There was an overprescribing problem.
Sales grew from 48 million, I think in 1996, to 1.8 billion by 2000.
That's a bit of growth.
Prescribing pills.
By the way, 80 milligram pills is what they were up to prescribing.
When I had surgery on my back, I think they gave me 10 milligram pills.
Was it Oxycontin or was it, no, it was like Percocet.
It was something, I don't remember exactly.
I don't think they prescribe Oxycontin anymore.
Norco, it was like Norco or something.
Norco is, that's hydrocodone, that's like a Vicodin.
Okay.
Yeah.
So I think this is a little higher.
Yeah, well, it's because it's supposed to be time-released.
So if it's 80, that's supposed to be 20 milligrams and it's released slowly.
The problem is they didn't really take into account that people would crush it, snort it.
Again, that's the problem with the pill.
People were crushing it, snorting it, getting rid of the time-release.
Again, you can't, you can blame the company and you can blame the FDA for creating a label saying there's, you know, little to no addictive potential.
And if you've watched Dope Sick, you know this story, but they just sort of skim over the fact that the FDA did it.
They're like, Oh, it was just Purdue lied to them.
Wasn't that the job of the FDA to make sure they're not lied to?
Their only legitimate purpose should be to tell you, should be to inform you of the risk.
If you believe in complete drug legalization, meaning you don't believe in the drug war at all, right?
You're anti-abolitionist.
If that's your point of view, the FDA's only job should be to let you know what's on the label.
That's what I believe.
In other words, I don't think the FDA should be able to tell you, well, you can't take this because it hasn't gone through our process.
They just need to be able to inform you as to the risks.
That's their job.
That's how they protect you.
Not to be a babysitter.
So after this, what happened is the DEA went after, not just doctors, pharmacists in 2011.
They arrested over 22 doctors.
There were 40 pill mills, is the term that's been used, that were closed.
Now, um, I'll, uh, tell you this, too.
This is something that I experienced recently.
I went through a, uh, a major surgery.
I think we have some just B-roll from, uh, um... That's not me.
I can't show my actual surgery.
This is just the general procedure that I went through, where they actually, you know, they went in, they had to turn my ribcage around and put in three titanium rods.
That last part where they turn it upside down.
I might be able to get the actual footage of my surgery at some point.
Put your hand up.
I just want to see.
Come on, pull them out.
I want to see it.
What?
Come on, you got the titanium in your chest and not in your hands.
Come on.
I asked for the adamantium, but my insurance wouldn't cover it.
It's an upgrade.
Yeah.
Something about a deductible. So, that happened. Okay. And then I ended up in the emergency room
and overnight because what happened is, and this was my fault, I pushed too hard too quickly to
try and come back to work, where they had to, I don't know if you call this a surgery, but certainly
They had to drain about a gallon and a half of fluid from my lung.
My lungs collapsed.
I think this is something you guys can actually... And I warn you, if you're squeamish, maybe... I don't know when a needle becomes a pipe.
This is going through the back of my ribs.
What you're seeing is it has to go through the back of my rib all the way to the front of the lung area to drain my thoracic cavity.
Here you go.
Lots of pressure.
That's not pressure!
Look at this.
It looks like it's a disappearing trick.
Like a knife.
It's like a fake knife that you stab.
Watch, watch.
That whole thing is about to go in.
Watch.
Oh.
Ow.
Ow.
Uggggghhhh!
Ow!
Ow!
Fudge!
But you see me trying to fight off the choke at the same time trying to pop it off.
Yeah for oh, that's right that was the last day of fluid three days
And the reason why was because there was so much fluid that built up that after the first day they removed too much and I was like, I was like a noodle because it creates this pressure in your body cavity that you get used to.
So yeah, that happened.
It was very unpleasant.
And again, this is why I would advise to everyone, listen to your doctor's advice.
It's partially their fault.
It's entirely my fault.
The people at Mayo Clinic were unbelievable.
If you ever have something wrong with you, go to Mayo.
There's nothing even close.
But what happened is they told me, I said, how long until I can start working?
They said, 12 weeks before you even look at working.
I said, OK.
How long before I start walking?
You're like, what about three?
Yeah.
I think I did it in eight and came back and said, hope you like those shows.
So I said, I said, how long before I can walk?
They said, you can walk, like, probably, you know, as soon as you leave the hospital, a couple of days.
Then they call me to check up on me.
They go, how are you doing?
I go, I'm getting pretty, you know, tired.
Like, when I was at Costco, I had to sit down.
And they go, what, you were at Costco?
Like, wait a second.
Are you out of your mind?
I said, you said I could walk.
I said, we went from, like, the bathroom to the kitchen.
You were at Costco?
I walked.
Were you by yourself?
I was like, I got a cart.
So.
Those huge carts at Costco?
I tore some stuff and it created fluid, but here's my point.
Went through that, what you saw, that major surgery, then ended up in the emergency room.
Seven days.
Prescription painkillers.
Ah!
Seven days.
Nowhere throughout the history of mankind, going back to the Shootist days with John Wayne and Gregory Peck, would they give you tincture of opium for just seven days.
It typically would be a couple of months because, you know, I wasn't even able to prop myself up on my bed.
Yeah.
And just for reference, you can actually see here hair follicle testing that I did within 90 days of having been in the ICU, and it came back mormon, as you can see.
Uh, because I wasn't able to take anything.
And what ended up happening is, do I think that was more productive?
I was just in excruciating pain for a very long time.
Well, you had to travel too, and that was one of the reasons.
And then people are so scared to prescribe this because of all the information that's out there and all of the focus from the DEA that they are like, no, no, no, you have to come in.
We have to go through a whole thing.
It's like, look, can you just call Mayo?
They will tell you I had this surgery seven days ago.
Please.
I'm just in pain.
Yeah.
Right.
That's the reasonable thing to do.
And they did.
They did.
Mayo did go, and then doctors were like, well we're just afraid because if we didn't pour him the surgery, you know, the DEA will be on our ass.
And I'm like, can you, can you see I'm not faking it?
Can you, can you see the scars?
I'm not, this is almost a year removed.
Let alone, I have a, I have a, I have a pockmark on my back.
Oh.
From that.
They're like, what did you have, did you have body acne?
No!
They put a metal pipe, they put a Super Mario sewer in my back!
sick. And my point here is I've experienced this personally but you did
you obviously on the flip side you did say that you took some painkillers. I did yeah
and it made me feel like I'd always had back pain and like difficulty sleeping
and so when I would take this it actually after surgery I was like oh man
I can actually sleep and rest it was really really nice to be able to do that
and then I realized that I was supposed to be tapering down a little faster
based on what we wanted to do not my doctor's recommendations.
Right.
And then I was like, I actually started, like, not telling my wife that I was taking more.
I was like, no, no, no, I'm tapering down to, like, half, and I was actually taking a full pill.
And then I told her, I was like, hey, I think I need to stop, just like a week later.
Wait a second, this might be a problem.
And I was like, wait, Gerald, are you on pain pills again?
No, she was just encouraging me, like, hey, those are addictive.
No, no, I am not.
I'm not.
So, so happy, right?
Why are you listening to Pink Floyd?
I don't know.
It just makes so much sense to me now.
No, I actually cut completely off, and I started having some jitters and some other stuff.
I was going through withdrawal symptoms, and she noticed it because she's obviously this incredible nurse.
And she goes, hey, you can't go completely off.
You have to step down.
And so I did over the next week, week and a half, two weeks, and it was fine.
But I could very easily have seen like, man, this makes me sleep so much better without that pain.
And it wasn't just surgical pain.
It was just uncomfortable.
Doctors can be, like you said, it's on you that you tapered off.
It wasn't the doctors.
Doctors can be careless.
My grandfather, he had chronic severe back pain for basically his whole life.
And they were giving him so much Yeah.
narcotics and opioids to deal with it and then whenever this kind of came
around whenever everybody started turning around and saying no we're not
gonna give you this anymore they started treating him like a crackhead yeah it's
like what you put him in this situation and let me guess saying hey take all
these pills for a long time and not take Yeah, your body gets used to it.
And then whenever you decide, oh, well, you know, we're not going to give it to you because you're a crackhead and all you want is opioids.
It's like, well, he's 88 and he has a severe back problem and you've been doing this to him for 20 years.
So like, what are you going to do?
Let me guess.
Still has back pain.
Still has back pain.
So that's the problem, is does he live the rest of his golden years in pain?
Or, you know what, do you provide some relief?
I do think that there is a relief approach to dying.
Especially if you're in your 80s or 90s.
I would just do all the drugs and steals.
Let's get actual crack in here.
Yeah, it's like if you're a drug addict, well it's because of you!
But here's what I do want to say, and I'll leave you with this.
We're about to go to Mug Club.
We need to separate, I think, in this country.
And let me know if any of this has changed your opinion.
I'm not going out here saying that everyone should be taking opioids, and I'm not saying that doctors should be over-prescribing them.
But I do think we need to separate.
Addiction, physical dependence, and habit.
They're different things.
Someone can be physically dependent on something and that doesn't necessarily mean that they're an addict.
For example, if someone has a shattered spine and they have a choice of lifelong pain or pain management, I think that pain management should be an option.
And you obviously should too if you think, by the way, marijuana is not going to work for that.
Marijuana will work for neuropathic pain.
It doesn't work for that kind of pain.
It's actual tissue damage.
I believe that CBD and low amounts of THC, yes, there is medical legitimacy.
There are certain uses, of course.
But someone like that, it's not going to fix it.
So you're telling me there's a chance.
They're telling you there's a chance.
Get granddaddy thunderscrewed.
What's the dosage?
I don't know.
Just smoke this.
Whatever you want.
See what happens.
So we need to separate between addiction, physical dependence, and habit.
These are different things.
And again, the final three facts.
You believe that there's an opioid crisis.
Now there is a problem right now with drug overdose deaths.
And the reason that the left certainly wants to make you think that it's the doctor problem is because they don't want to acknowledge what's happening in the border.
And the reason people on the right don't want to actually address the problem is because this does affect a lot of red states.
For example, a lot of red states where people are in rural areas and they do have drug problems.
Fentanyl has ravaged these areas.
But the three key facts you need to know.
I want you right now to picture in your mind what you believe the opioid crisis to be.
Someone went in, was given painkillers unbeknownst to them, then they became an addict, then they died.
The three key facts to know.
Almost all the deaths come from illicit street drugs.
Fentanyl and heroin.
They're coming over the border from Mexico, largely made in China.
As prescribing has gone down, like you just discussed, and like I experienced, because doctors are afraid to, deaths have gone up dramatically, and the people who actually did abuse prescription painkillers were drug abusers, by and large.
They had a long history of abusing substances when they were doctor shopping.
So understanding all of that, do we think it's responsible to just throw out the term opioid crisis and crack down on doctors and pharmacies so that they can't provide this medication when appropriate to people who need it?
I actually think that it's cruelty, I think that it's medical malpractice, and I think if we're going to say end the drug war, we need to take a balanced approach to all of it and we've gone too far the other way.
But that's just my opinion, I know a lot of people are going to be pissed off.
You let me know what you think, smash the like button, share it with me.
Nerd Roddick, thank you so much Quarterback Garrett for being here.
Hey, I miss you guys.
We're going to Mug Club.
▲
Export Selection