My first thought was rich kids. I went to high school with the rich kids. When everyone else was smoking pot, they had the money for cocaine. Trips to Mexico to buy heroin to sell at school is a common occurrence among the country club kids or they sometimes steal from their trophy wife stepmother's stash.

So with Trump wanting to sentence drug dealers to death which CEO's do you think he'll begin with? HA LOL

From what I hear on NPR, most opioids are manufactured by legitimate drug companies, but make their way onto the black markets. Because the drug companies make huge profits, the problems are pretty much ignored. It is the right wing principle that profits are more important than people at work.

Big Pharma has always been the biggest culprit. They put all the drug cartels to shame.

How about we place the blame squarely on Big Pharma, where it belongs..greed as usual is driving it..

TLDR: My original intention for this post is to highlight's Trump's rhetoric of "...they're bringing in the drugs..." Admittedly, it was abstracted by my listing of statistics from the ArsTechnica article.

Let me change tack. The direction of the discussion towards the "consequences of the drug war", "personal responsibility to drug use", etc. is unintended.

My actual intention is to highlight the U.S. president's rhetoric of "...they're bringing in the drugs...". Do you think the U.S. president will try to prevent the flow of drugs from pharmaceutical companies with the same enthusiasm (and propaganda) as from actual drug cartels? I'm not stating that the drug cartels are not the problem. Both sources of drugs are equally responsible.

Also, because I highlight the problem caused by big pharma, doesn't mean that i'm absolving the individual (and their communities) from responsibility of the epidemic.

We will never solve the Drug Problem until we solve why some people feel a need for drugs as a recreation. But this is easy for me, I am resistant to addictions. How, other than through gene therapy, can we do this for those that are genetically predisposed to addictions?

who knows really?

...Big Pharma..?

-- it appears so… Here in SW Virginia they call it ‘Appalachian Gold!’ ...but if it’s not moonshine, or meth, it’s opioids.. I’m new to the region, but don’t see life or conditions being so bad that folks need a constant escape. Soaked in religion, nothing appears to work

Nig Pharma is most responsible.

I have heard of the synthetic cannabis and how it was killing people on skid row. Also that the last administration made it harder to get painkillers and how this is driving heroin use up. As well as people taking smuggled homemade pain meds causing more deaths.

If I could tell you what I know about the 1970's but I will keep my mouth shut.... for now.

Follow the money