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You are here: Home / Politics / Proud to Be A Democrat / Saturday Evening Open Thread: An Underrated Miracle Drug

Saturday Evening Open Thread: An Underrated Miracle Drug

by Anne Laurie|  September 21, 20245:41 pm| 119 Comments

This post is in: Proud to Be A Democrat, Something Good Open Thread, The War on Your Neighbor, aka the War on Drugs

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Overdose deaths are plummeting, thanks to Biden making Naloxone available over the counter. If you want a better country, the Democratic Party is here for you. pic.twitter.com/zyWGmvqehP

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) September 18, 2024

I want more people to know Joe and Kamala made an overdose stopper available to buy over the counter and overdose deaths *immediately* plummeted https://t.co/HQpjctxACx

— Isaiah Martin (@isaiahrmartin) September 19, 2024

Seriously!

An @NPR exclusive: US overdose deaths plummet by 10.6%. "The trends are definitely positive," says SHP’s @KeithNHumphreys. "This is going to be the best year we've had since all of this started." https://t.co/0AH383pmsM

— StanfordHealthPolicy (@StanfordHP) September 18, 2024

Per NPR, “U.S. overdose deaths plummet, saving thousands of lives”:

For the first time in decades, public health data shows a sudden and hopeful drop in drug overdose deaths across the U.S.

“This is exciting,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute On Drug Abuse [NIDA], the federal laboratory charged with studying addiction. “This looks real. This looks very, very real.”

National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6 percent. That’s a huge reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses regularly increased by double-digit percentages.

Some researchers believe the data will show an even larger decline in drug deaths when federal surveys are updated to reflect improvements being seen at the state level, especially in the eastern U.S.

“In the states that have the most rapid data collection systems, we’re seeing declines of twenty percent, thirty percent,” said Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, an expert on street drugs at the University of North Carolina.

According to Dasgupta’s analysis, which has sparked discussion among addiction and drug policy experts, the drop in state-level mortality numbers corresponds with similar steep declines in emergency room visits linked to overdoses…

It’s a hard stat to brag about, because every story gets bombarded with comments about ‘spending taxpayer dollars to keep worthless addicts alive’ and ‘it wouldn’t be necessary if not for Demon-crat’s open border policy.’ But fewer dead community members is a good thing. And a lot of those ‘worthless eaters’ have family and friends who are also voters, so there’s got to be ways to point that out, yes?

Here is a whole list of things they did to address the overdose epidemic:https://t.co/6KeST1ei5w

— 🪷 She persists – I dissent! (@Cantkeepquiet3) September 19, 2024

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Reader Interactions

119Comments

  1. 1.

    Citizen Alan

    September 21, 2024 at 5:44 pm

    I wonder how many MAGAs are opposed to this because they get off on the idea of addicts dying as punishment from the vengeful god they worship.

  2. 2.

    caphilldcne

    September 21, 2024 at 5:51 pm

    @Citizen Alan: There’s a lot of folks that oppose things like harm reduction and overdose prevention centers (there’s no known overdose deaths at an OPC after 40 years of implementation in Europe and Canada) because it interferes with what people think should happen. The administration has been ok on these issues but could do more. It’s good that there’s a large drop but we still have more than 100k deaths a year (up from 60k about 10 years ago). It’s a consequence of fentanyl (easier to smuggle because it’s small). Anyway, I am pleased they’re moving forward. The Rs are pushing back on harm reduction and decriminalization hard and too many Ds will let them do so.

  3. 3.

    John Revolta

    September 21, 2024 at 5:54 pm

    Party of Personal Responsibility will oppose this. You do drugs, you should die, the way God intended

    ED: Great minds think alike! And so does mine.

  4. 4.

    Matt

    September 21, 2024 at 6:01 pm

    Vent: it’s infuriating that since even the MAGAts know they’re going to lose the popular vote, they’re working to ratfuck both Nebraska and Georgia’s electoral votes.

    Even more infuriating to realize that, despite watching them literally write out a “how to destroy democracy” to-do list over the last year, there’s a huge chunk of the Democratic party who will insist in 2025 that “we need to come together and reduce partisanship”.

  5. 5.

    Starfish

    September 21, 2024 at 6:01 pm

    Naloxone should not be given all the credit for overdose deaths dropping.

    They are not sure what has caused such a drastic drop.

    Sorry, i don’t have a gift link.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/21/us/politics/drug-overdose-deaths-decrease.html

    I imagine that people are not drinking and drugging alone like they were during parts of the pandemic.

  6. 6.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    September 21, 2024 at 6:09 pm

    Calvinist “thought” that permeates so much of our society, overwhelmingly on the right but not always, is such a sad, historical inheritance when it comes to efforts to help others less fortunate than us.

  7. 7.

    cain

    September 21, 2024 at 6:09 pm

    @Citizen Alan: seriously..

    They love punishment but whine like snowflakes when it is them that fucks around and finds out.

  8. 8.

    caphilldcne

    September 21, 2024 at 6:09 pm

    @Starfish: thank you. It’s not really clear what’s happening. Some of it is a lot more awareness by people who use drugs of the dangers and hopefully taking steps to prevent overdose.

  9. 9.

    TBone

    September 21, 2024 at 6:14 pm

    So many friends gone, even more friends’ kids gone…I blame the Sacklers and the opioid pill pushers (although opioids actually saved my life when I needed them for pain so I could earn a paycheck).  The pills faucet got turned off suddenly, and led too many to the easy streets to avoid withdrawal.  Thank Dems for naloxone and whatever else is working!

    When withdrawal hits, many people do not have the ability for awareness of danger. A lot of people have never been that sick before in their lives, and they only know what will make it stop.

  10. 10.

    prostratedragon

    September 21, 2024 at 6:18 pm

    @Citizen Alan:  I think there are many such.

  11. 11.

    cain

    September 21, 2024 at 6:22 pm

    @John Revolta:

    But they aren’t the party of personal responsibility. They are the people of other peoples responsibility. Essentially, not their problem if it is someone else but absolutely love socialism for themselves .

  12. 12.

    prostratedragon

    September 21, 2024 at 6:27 pm

    @Starfish:
    Here’s a link through archive.ph

  13. 13.

    Fake Irishman

    September 21, 2024 at 6:31 pm

    ….just wait until we ban assault weapons and put speed governors on cars.

  14. 14.

    SW

    September 21, 2024 at 6:33 pm

    The “Opioid Crisis” didn’t become a crisis until it started killing white working class people.  That is the heart of the MAGA constituency.  Pretty selfless act for this administration to risk political blow back to save “those people”

  15. 15.

    noncarborundum

    September 21, 2024 at 6:36 pm

    @John Revolta: As my dad used to say, “Great minds run in the same direction. And so do heads of lettuce.”

  16. 16.

    3Sice

    September 21, 2024 at 6:40 pm

    Backing out of that debate is a bad look. OTOH the more MVP gets out there, the more her favorability goes up, so…

    Not a lot of moves left on the table.

  17. 17.

    Juju

    September 21, 2024 at 6:44 pm

    This is a nice story. It all goes back to being an actual human with actual human empathy.  President Biden is made of human empathy.

  18. 18.

    Princess

    September 21, 2024 at 6:49 pm

    Wow, Matt Stoller praising Democrats? This *is* a big tent.

  19. 19.

    3Sice

    September 21, 2024 at 6:53 pm

    I’ve been endlessly frustrated by junkie behaviors, and know folks who are doing great in recovery.

    I never wished death on any of them.

  20. 20.

    JaneE

    September 21, 2024 at 6:55 pm

    For decades the war on opioids consisted of efforts to make it more difficult for medical users to get pain relief.  If they had designed the programs to drive people to using street drugs and increase the number of overdoses they could not have done it better.  Making naloxone available was the first time anything was done to reduce deaths.

  21. 21.

    KatKapCC

    September 21, 2024 at 6:55 pm

    @Starfish: Not “all” the credit but certainly some of it. In the NPR article, some of the quoted experts do highlight it as part of the reason for the decline.

  22. 22.

    KatKapCC

    September 21, 2024 at 6:56 pm

    spending taxpayer dollars to keep worthless addicts alive

    Anyone, wherever they fall on the political spectrum, who says things like this has proven that they have far less worth than the people they are so eager to shit on. Substance dependency is an illness. Being a heartless jackass is the shitty personality you have chosen to inhabit.

  23. 23.

    sab

    September 21, 2024 at 6:58 pm

    @Starfish: Obamacare has mental health treatment reqirements.

    Before that, my oldest stepson had serious anxiety issues his whole life. He was attempting suicide at age 8. He started drugs soon after, self medicating. Alcohol, cocaine, heroin. He couldn’t find a doctor to seriously treat it until he was in his thirties. Two decades of his life wasted while he just tried to want to stay alive.

    We saw doctor after doctor write him off as just a drug user until he finally found a doctor who saw an underlying problem and treated that.

  24. 24.

    Parfigliano

    September 21, 2024 at 7:00 pm

    @cain: overdose deaths nowadays are white kids and fentenayl.  Lots of them from MAGA families.

  25. 25.

    prostratedragon

    September 21, 2024 at 7:01 pm

    Whatsaname has taken to talking about “remigration” of “Kamala’s illegal migrants🤬.” Here is an article about the use of the word “remigration” in fascist rhetoric. They’re making it real plain.

  26. 26.

    Matt McIrvin

    September 21, 2024 at 7:03 pm

    Wait, Stoller is supporting Democrats again? I thought he’d gone full horseshoe-MAGA.

  27. 27.

    JiveTurkin

    September 21, 2024 at 7:05 pm

    Just spent ten days in WY, MT and SD.  Amazing trip, Yellowstone, Badlands, Jewel Cave, Crazy Horse monument, Mt. Rushmore, Buffalo Bill Center of the West.  Politically, completely depressing.  Trump signs everywhere, even on businesses (good, because at least I know where NOT to go).  I opened my yap once when someone made a comment about how dumb Harris is (he was looking at a t-shirt that said “dumb and dumber” with pictures of Harris and Walz).  Ultimately I asked what he liked about Trump and he said with a straight face that Trump embodies “western values”.  I actually restrained myself and did not scream my response, which was something along the lines of he’s a con man, thief, serial adulterer, oh, and by the way, found liable for sexually assaulting a woman.  I got the he isn’t any of things, just the media making stuff up.

    I’m convinced the only path to victory for Harris is turnout, especially women and young people.  White males are unmovable, they are toxic.  I say this as a white male, although I am Jewish so for many Republicans I’m not really white.

  28. 28.

    Matt McIrvin

    September 21, 2024 at 7:08 pm

    @TBone: I’m glad opioids exist because they kept pain from driving me out of my mind after knee surgery… but they’ve also wrought havoc in my town and I was really, really wary of even having those pills in the house.

    This is a welcome development.

  29. 29.

    KatKapCC

    September 21, 2024 at 7:09 pm

    @JiveTurkin:

    I say this as a white male, although I am Jewish so for many Republicans I’m not really white.

    Isn’t it fun? To many on the right, we’re not white. To some on the left, we’re the epitome of whiteness. Schrödinger’s Whites, I guess.

  30. 30.

    Citizen Alan

    September 21, 2024 at 7:10 pm

    @SW:  True. When “the Opioid Crisis” was entering media consciousness, I said then that I’d seen it all before. Except the first time, instead of fentanyl, it was crack cocaine. Instead of noble salt-of-the-earth white folx from the Heartland, it was black people in the inner cities. And instead of federal funding for treatment and heartfelt elegies for the dead, it was three-strikes policies and mandatory minimum sentences.

  31. 31.

    suzanne

    September 21, 2024 at 7:11 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    I wonder how many MAGAs are opposed to this because they get off on the idea of addicts dying as punishment from the vengeful god they worship. 

    Lots of MAGAts are addicts.

  32. 32.

    gene108

    September 21, 2024 at 7:13 pm

    I remember the opioid crisis being an issue in the 2016 election. Hillary said she had plans to try to address it.

    Once the Trump crime cartel was in the White House the issue seemed to go on the back burner.*

    I’m glad the Biden administration took initiative on their own to try to help on an issue that no longer made much news.

    *EDIT: I mean the chaos of the Trump administration took over the news, and the opioid crisis got less and less attention. In 2020, COVID was the biggest issue.

  33. 33.

    Citizen Alan

    September 21, 2024 at 7:15 pm

    @suzanne: So? Hypocrisy is a fundamental element of the conservative mindset. There are also plenty of anti-choice women who would not hesitate to get an abortion or procure one for their daughters. Or at least there were before the anti-choice dog finally caught the car.

  34. 34.

    suzanne

    September 21, 2024 at 7:18 pm

    @Citizen Alan: They want liberals (and racial minorities and gays and women) to suffer and die. White men with a drug problem are sick and deserve our help and sympathy.

  35. 35.

    suzanne

    September 21, 2024 at 7:19 pm

    I will note that a fair amount of the social conservative right blames liberals — of course — for “inflicting the opioid crisis on them”, and encouraging vulnerable members of their society to go off the rails. They think we did it to them to “humiliate” them.

  36. 36.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    September 21, 2024 at 7:20 pm

    @JiveTurkin:

    he said with a straight face that Trump embodies “western values”.

    I’m sure that clown, when he said “Western Values”, wasn’t referring to the general sense of “West” as generally defined in this Wikipedia entry:

    They are often seen as stemming from Judeo-Christian values and the Age of Enlightenment, although since the 20th century they have become marked by other sociopolitical aspects of the West, such as free-market capitalism, feminism, liberal democracy, the scientific method, and the legacy of the sexual revolution.

    I saw a great example of “western values” the week after Labor Day when on a 4-wheeling, truck camping trip near Tin Cup Colorado.  Both days, same party of 4 UTVs, white dudes flying American flags and this “5-30” flag (a Orange Fart Cloud reference), would flash white supremacists hand signs instead of the usual friendly wave when going past them on various trails to various passes.

    “Western Values” is a dog whistle for environmental pillaging, white supremacy, etc.  It’s Cleek’s Law on steroids.

    Anthrax and tire rims.

  37. 37.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    September 21, 2024 at 7:21 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    He’s still a horseshoe loon.  Just an example of a blind squirrel occasionally finding a nut.

  38. 38.

    TBone

    September 21, 2024 at 7:29 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: amen brotha!

  39. 39.

    TBone

    September 21, 2024 at 7:33 pm

    @JaneE: 👍

  40. 40.

    Shalimar

    September 21, 2024 at 7:36 pm

    @Citizen Alan: I don’t know many MAGAs.  I do know a handful of libertarian drug addicts who get very upset when their friends die but also oppose any government spending to do anything about it.  Very fucked up people who ignore one obvious example of their life philosophy not working in reality.

  41. 41.

    TBone

    September 21, 2024 at 7:40 pm

    Today, my friends whose (only child) adult son had a serious medical emergency that left him disabled, had a “reunion” fundraiser in DelCo.  They sent me photos of all the old gang of friends that are still standing.  Although it made me feel old (two exes have not aged well but they are still here), and sorta sad when I saw how many are missing from our group, to see the “survivors” standing together to help and lift each other was a real kick in the ass for my soul!  DelCo wasn’t an easy place to grow up in, sometimes.  So proud of my OLD friends!!!

  42. 42.

    TBone

    September 21, 2024 at 7:43 pm

    @sab: 💜 hugs

  43. 43.

    Starfish

    September 21, 2024 at 7:51 pm

    @KatKapCC: I was talking to a nurse about nasally-applied narcan like a decade ago, and she was so pissed at junkies and did not want to help them. On a local reddit, there was a person who works in a convenience store looking for free Narcan because he didn’t want junkies overdosing in the bathroom.

    I feel like there has been a big shift in awareness and acceptance.

    It’s just ashame that we don’t have proper treatment facilities for folks who need in-patient programs.

  44. 44.

    Matt McIrvin

    September 21, 2024 at 7:51 pm

    @Shalimar: So there are the moralists who would prefer people to die to “send the right message”, and the libertarians who would prefer people to die rather than have the government ever do anything. Two seemingly opposed sides of the same coin.

  45. 45.

    Starfish

    September 21, 2024 at 7:52 pm

    @sab: Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of insurance is limiting the scope of how much time therapists can spend on their patients, and some therapists are starting to opt out of insurance because they don’t want to fight insurance over spending more time with a patient who is in crisis.

  46. 46.

    Geminid

    September 21, 2024 at 7:54 pm

    Autumn is coming in with a bang in Central Virginia. A thunderstorm just crashed through, the leading edge of a cold front. The Harrisonburg radio station said the temps would hit 90° today, 74° tomorrow.

  47. 47.

    KatKapCC

    September 21, 2024 at 7:59 pm

    @Starfish: May I gently note that part of that shift should be NOT using terms like “junkie”?

  48. 48.

    Matt McIrvin

    September 21, 2024 at 8:06 pm

    @Geminid: Here in MA we had our city’s annual free outdoor music festival, “River Ruckus”, and it rained on us all day long, temps in the high 60s. One of the headliners was KT Tunstall and she said it was just familiar Scottish weather.

  49. 49.

    Starfish

    September 21, 2024 at 8:07 pm

    @KatKapCC: That word is there for a reason. The reason is that it expresses the nature of the conversation a decade ago. “Hey, Narcan should only be administered by nurses using needles” and that the people who receive it are not deserving of help.

  50. 50.

    BethanyAnne

    September 21, 2024 at 8:15 pm

    It’s great that the Biden administration has stood behind harm reduction orgs. So many politicians won’t support them at all.

  51. 51.

    Bill Arnold

    September 21, 2024 at 8:19 pm

    @prostratedragon:
    Yeah.
    Here’s another rundown of alternative hypotheses. The Xylazine one is horrifying. (It is also linked in the NYTimes piece, I see.)
    Are overdoses down and why? (Nabarun Dasgupta, Sep 18, 2024)
    Includes evaluations of all these hypotheses.

    Eight Hypotheses Why
    (also meaning we’ll piss everybody off with this post, ha!)
    – Removing barriers to drug treatment
    – Increased distribution of naloxone
    – Law enforcement operations at US-Mexico border
    – Cartel arrests and fentanyl shipment restriction
    – Depletion of susceptibles
    – Marijuana legalization
    – Xylazine reducing overdose severity
    – Transition to smoking & price

  52. 52.

    caphilldcne

    September 21, 2024 at 8:23 pm

    I’ve spent the better part of my career working on this issue. One thing that criminalization does is drive the problem much further underground. A criminal conviction additionally makes it more difficult to dig out of the hole a person who uses drugs is in by making it harder to get a job and reintegrate into society. To me this should be thought of as a safety issue. It’s if instead of telling people to wear seatbelts and drive more slowly and defensively, we installed a spike on the steering column to make it more dangerous (so people wouldn’t risk it) and further hid information about how to drive.  The use of naloxone originated with a Chicago harm reduction program. Syringe services originated pre-HIV but became more widely adopted because of it. It took years even for knowledgeable public health officials to adopt it. It’s a big step that the Biden administration moved forward. I hope they will eventually adopt OPCs (edit – overdose prevention centers) and finally get congress to end restrictions on syringe services programs that originated with Jesse Helms. We’re still fighting that bastard 30 years after he descended to hell. And Gavin Newsom and Merrick Garland (and Biden deferred) have actively stood in the way of overdose prevention centers. It’s the politically safe thing to do after all. But I will not look a gift horse in the mouth. They are 10 times better than the next Trump administration will be. Biden’s folks  do support syringe services programs and have tried to act on it. Incidentally, Trump’s former surgeon general Jerome Adams and HHS Secretary supported states adopting syringe services programs do credit where it’s due to them. I don’t expect a future trump administration to do so.

  53. 53.

    caphilldcne

    September 21, 2024 at 8:28 pm

    @BethanyAnne: this is true. They were the first administration to publicly acknowledge and budget for harm reduction but they’ve been very careful to set up boundaries.

  54. 54.

    West of the Rockies

    September 21, 2024 at 8:29 pm

    @JiveTurkin:

    My sister and BIL just finished a similar trip.  Yup, lots o’ knuckleheads in those parts.

  55. 55.

    Splitting Image

    September 21, 2024 at 8:38 pm

    I saw my first cybertruck in the wild today. It was covered with a matte black wrapper that made me expect to see a Batman logo somewhere.

    It had Tennessee license plates, so if anyone here is from Tennessee, one of your villages will be missing its idiot for awhile.

  56. 56.

    eclare

    September 21, 2024 at 8:40 pm

    @Splitting Image:

    I hope the idiot stays missing.  Unfortunately our villages have plenty of idiots left to step up.

  57. 57.

    Jay

    September 21, 2024 at 8:49 pm

    @Starfish:

    I am on my 4th Narcan kit. They are free, kept behind the counter at any pharmacist’s. Sadly, none of the workplace First Aid kits had them, even though epi pens and defibs are required if you have either x amount of staff or x amount of customers a day.

    I keep a full First Aid kit in my backpack. Once, at the Orange, I had to use it on myself because they did not have the right dressings in the Work Kit for my wound.

    OD’s used to happen at home or in the streets and parks of the Downtown East Side, but since fentanyl arrived, they happen everywhere as dealers use it to “boost” the high on everything, even pot.

  58. 58.

    Prescott Cactus

    September 21, 2024 at 8:52 pm

    It’s doctor month and their offices are attached to the hospital. They have one of the old newspaper vending boxes filled with Naloxone.  A half a century ago those may have come in handy in my world, but still, what a great idea to make them readily available.

  59. 59.

    Lyrebird

    September 21, 2024 at 8:57 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Oh wow!  KT Tunstall live, I am envious!

     

    Hope your party came well prepared with whatever you like to wear in the rain.

  60. 60.

    Brendan In NC

    September 21, 2024 at 8:58 pm

    My response to anyone saying the government is ‘spending taxpayer dollars to keep worthless addicts alive’ is to retort “Well, it’s als o spending taxpayer money to keep your worthless MAGA a$$ alive, too”. And yes, I’ve used it at least twice…

  61. 61.

    Lyrebird

    September 21, 2024 at 9:00 pm

    @caphilldcne:

    massive credit to YOU Cap Hill !

    All those years pushing uphill!

  62. 62.

    Splitting Image

    September 21, 2024 at 9:02 pm

    @eclare:

    I hope the idiot stays missing. Unfortunately our villages have plenty of idiots left to step up.

    I was thinking that if Tesla has developed its own GPS system, it might be awhile before he gets home. His guidance system is likely to route him through Norway.

  63. 63.

    Starfish

    September 21, 2024 at 9:04 pm

    @Jay: Sorry. I forget. Are you in Canada?

  64. 64.

    cain

    September 21, 2024 at 9:05 pm

    @Matt:

    Who would that be? It’s not the younger democratic voters. It’s probably rich democratic donors.

  65. 65.

    suzanne

    September 21, 2024 at 9:05 pm

    I am seeing The National, The War on Drugs, and Lucius tonight, at an amazing venue in OH. Wish this wasn’t a fucken red state.

  66. 66.

    Jeffro

    September 21, 2024 at 9:06 pm

    OT but I caught up with my favorite normie, Mrs. Fro, about Mark Robinson.

    She actually said, “all of that cannot be true…you’re pulling my leg!”

    Next up: Nuzzi/RFK Jr, Hovde, Gaetz.  You can only cover so much ground in one day, though!

  67. 67.

    Starfish

    September 21, 2024 at 9:06 pm

    @Brendan In NC:

    the government is ‘spending taxpayer dollars to keep worthless addicts alive’

    Yup, they rescued W after he choked on that pretzel.

  68. 68.

    Jeffro

    September 21, 2024 at 9:07 pm

    @suzanne: that’s awesome!  we had The War on Drugs come to town a year (or was it two?) ago and they were phenomenal

  69. 69.

    suzanne

    September 21, 2024 at 9:08 pm

    @Brendan In NC: I’ve had a similar thought….. they keep making noise about deporting immigrants. Fuck, I’d much rather deport our homegrown criminals. I should tell them so.

  70. 70.

    lowtechcyclist

    September 21, 2024 at 9:09 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    In either case, it’s the elevating of abstract principles over the welfare of flesh-and-blood human beings.

  71. 71.

    Rusty

    September 21, 2024 at 9:12 pm

    @Citizen Alan: The admin for our unofficial town page likes to occasionally stir the pot.  A few weeks ago he posted something about Narcan.  I saw the post early and commented, asking if anyone knew of any organizations that  might distribute and give training for free.  I’m almost 35 years in AA and I work next to park in a city where drug addicts regularly shoot up.  Some kind souls gave me good suggestions I need to follow up on.  There were many comments however, which gained lots of likes, that it would be better for these people to die, they weren’t worth saving.  So yes, there are plenty of people against Narcan because they would prefer for addicts to drop dead.  This is world in which we live.

  72. 72.

    BR

    September 21, 2024 at 9:17 pm

    I’m seeing signs that the horseshoe left is amping up its antics because they’re desperate and being ignored. I expect to hear a lot more noise from them in the coming weeks, and a lot of attacks and protests as a result. A few are sincere and deluded, focused entirely on Gaza, but many were never going to vote for Dems anyway. I think my plan will be to:

    1. Direct them to what Uncommitted said. They said while they aren’t formally endorsing Harris, Trump would be far worse and a third party vote would also be far worse because it will help Trump.

    2. Remind them that Biden is dug in on foreign policy with his 50 years of experience and views on it. He’s going to do what he’s going to do. And Harris can’t take a stance that differs from Biden without making the entire campaign turn into a “Harris fighting with Biden” media storm that would drown out important issues like abortion rights.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    September 21, 2024 at 9:17 pm

    @Splitting Image

    Several “out there” examples. Numero uno — Numero dos — Numero tres.
    :)

  74. 74.

    Jay

    September 21, 2024 at 9:18 pm

    @Starfish:

    Yes, Canada, Vancouver BC.

  75. 75.

    Rusty

    September 21, 2024 at 9:19 pm

    @TBone: This is the hard part, people’s children.  I’m a suburban living professional,  and I’ve had a neighbor, a work colleague, one of my daughter’s friends, and several acquaintances through other social contacts that have lost young adult children to overdoses.  Much of the rise in overdose deaths have been with groups that historically had very low overdose deaths.

  76. 76.

    Frankensteinbeck

    September 21, 2024 at 9:21 pm

    Abusive thought is fundamental to conservatism.  Abusive thought says that kindness doesn’t work.  You can only help people by hurting them.  The phrase used to make that sound not utterly evil is usually ‘tough love’.  The same people are usually looking for someone they can put a label on that lets them hurt whoever has the label guilt-free.

  77. 77.

    eclare

    September 21, 2024 at 9:23 pm

    @suzanne:

    Where would you deport a homegrown criminal to? I don’t disagree with the sentiment, but I don’t see any other country accepting them.

  78. 78.

    Matt McIrvin

    September 21, 2024 at 9:25 pm

    @Lyrebird: It was fun! As well as singing a bunch of her own songs, she did some surprising covers–Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” and Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down”.

  79. 79.

    Matt McIrvin

    September 21, 2024 at 9:27 pm

    @suzanne: Sounds like an awesome night!

  80. 80.

    lamh47

    September 21, 2024 at 9:28 pm

    Ayeeee…I found the SD cards my photos from my trip to Japan early last year!!

    Woo hoo…photo dump coming all week!

  81. 81.

    Matt McIrvin

    September 21, 2024 at 9:34 pm

    @BR: I think a lot of those people have in common with conservatives what Frankensteinbeck just mentioned, a dedication to the idea that you can only help people by hurting them–in this case, by hurting all of society as a kind of punishment for its sins. Accelerationism is really abusive thought in the collective sphere.

  82. 82.

    BR

    September 21, 2024 at 9:40 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: ​

    Great points. Yeah, some of the horseshoe left is just accelerationists / people who want to see everything burn.

    But there is definitely a young, idealistic, holier than thou segment that isn’t about that. They’ve been told that they are making an immoral choice if they vote for Harris, and they believe it. What I think can be thrown back at them when they say “I’m voting for Jill Stein” is “I can’t believe you’re voting for the genocide candidate” and when they are in disbelief their morality bubble can be popped about “oh, I can’t believe you support the genocide candidate who supports the dictator who caused the million+ deaths in Syria and 7 million injured or refugee, and the other dictator who caused million+ deaths in Ukraine and the 7 million injured or refugee.”

  83. 83.

    Jay

    September 21, 2024 at 9:45 pm

    @BR:

    Jill Stein

    In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American politician, Jill Stein (@DrJillStein). She’s best-known for her visits to Moscow, bids for the US presidency, blaming of NATO for the war in Ukraine, and for her inability to condemn Vladimir Putin as a war criminal.

    https://vatniksoup.com/en/soups/306/

    Receipts were brought.

  84. 84.

    Baud

    September 21, 2024 at 9:46 pm

    @BR:

    Save who you can, fuck the rest.

  85. 85.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 21, 2024 at 9:47 pm

    It’s a hard stat to brag about, because every story gets bombarded with comments about ‘spending taxpayer dollars to keep worthless addicts alive’ and ‘it wouldn’t be necessary if not for Demon-crat’s open border policy.’ But fewer dead community members is a good thing. And a lot of those ‘worthless eaters’ have family and friends who are also voters, so there’s got to be ways to point that out, yes?

    Cruelty is the point with Rethuglicans. On the other hand, there’s this disgusting ad.

  86. 86.

    Steve in the ATL

    September 21, 2024 at 9:48 pm

    @eclare: at the very least,  bus them to Texas.

    In other news, Oklahoma sucks.  And they’re bad at football too!

  87. 87.

    suzanne

    September 21, 2024 at 9:51 pm

    @Jeffro: This venue is resonant and it sounds so good. I swear, Adam Granduciel’s guitar sound feels like it has become this tangible thing that I can hold in my hands. It sounds amazing.

  88. 88.

    John Revolta

    September 21, 2024 at 9:51 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: @Matt McIrvin: You’ve Got to be Cruel to be Kind!

  89. 89.

    eclare

    September 21, 2024 at 9:52 pm

    @lamh47:

    Yay!  You take the best vacays.

  90. 90.

    eclare

    September 21, 2024 at 9:54 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Hehehe…so far so good, but I won’t relax til the game is over.

    My fave cheer:  run, clock, run!

  91. 91.

    caphilldcne

    September 21, 2024 at 9:56 pm

    @Lyrebird: thank you. It’s been interesting. Sometimes we win.

  92. 92.

    suzanne

    September 21, 2024 at 9:59 pm

    @eclare:

    Where would you deport a homegrown criminal to? I don’t disagree with the sentiment, but I don’t see any other country accepting them.

    England used to ship criminals to Australia. So I am not the first person to have this idea.

    I don’t actually want to “denaturalize” or make stateless citizens. But I grew up around a lot of undocumented people. I get actively offended when people talk about them badly.

    I also have a special loathing for people who use drugs but also speak ill of immigrants from Mexico. Fuck you assholes. The reason there’s a drug problem in this country is due to demand. Not poor people who want to work hard and make some money. You don’t want drug trafficking in your town or city? Americans can stop using. Until then, get bent.

  93. 93.

    caphilldcne

    September 21, 2024 at 10:01 pm

    @Rusty: these deaths in part are because they are taking a drug that is adulterated with fentanyl or other drugs for which they don’t have tolerance. This is due to the lack of regulation of the illicit drug market. We could literally prevent all of these deaths. But we don’t because people think that the very use of drugs is so immoral that they are willing to countenance death. They think it’s the just result. Instead of finding ways to prevent this outcome. It’s maddening to me.

  94. 94.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    September 21, 2024 at 10:01 pm

    @Lyrebird:

    I saw her and Martin Sexton on a Monday night in Lincoln NE about a year ago.

    Both are great live.

  95. 95.

    caphilldcne

    September 21, 2024 at 10:03 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: yes. So true. Tough love is an excuse for abuse.

  96. 96.

    Jay

    September 21, 2024 at 10:18 pm

    @caphilldcne:

    We have “Safe Supply” here and monitored injection sites, where they will test your drugs. Pot is legal here.

    We still get people dying, in part because there arn’t enough services, because of NIMBY’s, because people don’t use the services, because recreational users and kids are “experimenting”, etc.

  97. 97.

    prostratedragon

    September 21, 2024 at 10:20 pm

    @Jeffro:

    “What a terrible day to be literate.”

  98. 98.

    laura

    September 21, 2024 at 10:20 pm

    @Citizen Alan: All of them until their wife, son, daughter, family, friends, coworkers, grandchildren, dearest of loved ones and friends all die and then maybe, but don’t get your hopes up.

  99. 99.

    BR

    September 21, 2024 at 10:20 pm

    Who do I call to ask the Harris campaign to overwhelm the country with good vibes starting in mid October? Basically I want a cross between what we had in early August combined with Obama ’08. Harris and Walz and team have it in them.

    Lots of viral videos / interviews. Fun events. Massive stadium rallies every day. Lots of mockery of Trump and Vance as weird — yes we need to bring back that word — and constant mockery of them through videos and press releases. The Obamas out there mocking Trump every day. No more fear of the bad things the GOP might do, just joy and winning.

  100. 100.

    rikyrah

    September 21, 2024 at 10:23 pm

     

    Protect Kamala Harris ✊ (@DisavowTrump20) posted at 7:00 PM on Sat, Sep 21, 2024:
    This is Montana GOP Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen. Her office just left Kamala Harris’s name off ballots sent to thousands of Montanans living abroad.

    RETWEET if you think @SOSJacobsen should be investigated! https://t.co/bNlrEPYl84
    (https://x.com/DisavowTrump20/status/1837643191455035666?t=24B-EJlcjX4pP7qdrEwTIw&s=03)

  101. 101.

    Scout211

    September 21, 2024 at 10:42 pm

    @prostratedragon: Ewwwww!  I just had to click on that link.  Ugh! Give us a little warning next time.  🤣

    But JD Vance has now made a strong* statement in support  of Mark Robinson.  NBC

    *And by strong, I mean weak and nonsensical.

     

    “The allegations are pretty far out there, of course, but I know that allegations aren’t necessarily reality,” Vance said of Robinson’s reported comments on a porn site.

    In Vance’s interview with NBC Philadelphia, he said that it is “ultimately up to Mark Robinson and North Carolina whether he’s going to be their governor and whether he wants to stay in the race.”

    . . .

    When asked whether Vance believes Robinson’s denial that the comments were made by him, Vance said that the situation needed to “play out.”

    “I don’t not believe him, I don’t believe him — I just think that you have to let these things sometimes play out in the court of public opinion,” Vance said. “He’s going to make whatever arguments he wants to make. I’m sure the news media and others are going to investigate these comments further.”

  102. 102.

    prostratedragon

    September 21, 2024 at 10:51 pm

    @Scout211:  Now there’s a pole to anchor your tent!

  103. 103.

    BR

    September 21, 2024 at 11:01 pm

    Glad to see more videos about the implications of the SAVE act. While I know it won’t pass, the narrative and firing up our base is useful:

    https://www.tiktok.com/@theempresscjj/video/7417159090465525034

  104. 104.

    BR

    September 21, 2024 at 11:10 pm

    I’d love to be a fly on the wall when someone does this:

    “I was gonna vote for Trump, but then Taylor Swift changed my mind.”

    https://www.tiktok.com/@ahimsa__/video/7416835009325174047

  105. 105.

    Jackie

    September 21, 2024 at 11:13 pm

    Goooo Obama!

    “Barack Obama headlined his first solo fundraiser for Kamala Harris in Los Angeles on Friday night, bringing in $4 million for her campaign as he framed the election as a struggle against radical forces in America that want to take the country backward,” the Washington Post reports.

  106. 106.

    BR

    September 21, 2024 at 11:20 pm

    I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but Harris is inspiring a level of creativity and communication that I haven’t seen in a long time. Here’s a short music video — posted today — that uses a line everyone will find familiar:

    https://www.tiktok.com/@paytra/video/7417138893931154731

  107. 107.

    prostratedragon

    September 21, 2024 at 11:34 pm

    Next stop on the remigration tour:

    Has anyone noted Trump’s rally was held in the town where the only successful coup d’etat in American history occurred?

    Wilmington [NC] massacre of 1898.

    🎼🎶 Another sundown town
    Another sundown town
    To get his message through
    The man is going to
    Another sundown town.

  108. 108.

    2liberal

    September 21, 2024 at 11:45 pm

    is lower case suzanne the same person as upper case Suzanne ?

  109. 109.

    MinuteMan

    September 21, 2024 at 11:47 pm

    @noncarborundum:

      And so do heads of lettuce.”

    What’s Liz Truss got to do with this?

  110. 110.

    MinuteMan

    September 21, 2024 at 11:54 pm

    @JaneE:

     For decades the war on opioids consisted of efforts to make it more difficult for medical users to get pain relief.

    Seems like this happened the last time there was a surge in drug use back in the 60s or 70s? The system starts out handing the drugs out like Halloween treats and when things get bad, they start taking them away from legitimate users. Used to be there was no problem getting mildly narcotic pain killers after a dental procedure but now they really try to talk you out of filling the script; the problem is if you wake up in the night with a splitting pain headache there’s not much you can do if you don’t have the pills to hand. I would hate to see how people needing more serious drugs for more painful conditions are faring under this new puritan regime.

  111. 111.

    eclare

    September 22, 2024 at 12:04 am

    @2liberal:

    Yes, just on different devices.

  112. 112.

    suzanne

    September 22, 2024 at 12:04 am

    @2liberal: Yes. Upper-case Suzanne is my tablet, lowercase suzanne is my phone.

  113. 113.

    wjca

    September 22, 2024 at 12:27 am

    @rikyrah: Her office just left Kamala Harris’s name off ballots sent to thousands of Montanans living abroad.

    OMG! The only reason for her to do that is if she thinks Montana is (or at least very well might be) in play.  Perhaps she knows something, being on the scene and all.  Wouldn’t that be fun?

  114. 114.

    NotMax

    September 22, 2024 at 2:02 am

    @suzanne

    2/3 of the way to our own raven, Raven and RAVEN.
    :)

  115. 115.

    StringOnAStick

    September 22, 2024 at 2:12 am

    @rikyrah: What legal relief is possible here?  I hope Marc Elias is getting after this.

  116. 116.

    Matt McIrvin

    September 22, 2024 at 6:19 am

    @wjca: Or it’s to keep Democrats from voting so they won’t vote for Tester for Senate.

  117. 117.

    Starfish

    September 22, 2024 at 7:03 am

    @rikyrah: That Tweet is a mess encouraging people to target their secretary of state instead of helping people find out what is wrong and how to fix it.

    This article had more details, but what we truly need is a guide to “How do you fix the problem if you experience this?

    Shorter: Yes, what @StringOnAStick said.

  118. 118.

    lowtechcyclist

    September 22, 2024 at 8:19 am

    @Brendan In NC: ​
     

    My response to anyone saying the government is ‘spending taxpayer dollars to keep worthless addicts alive’ is to retort “Well, it’s als o spending taxpayer money to keep your worthless MAGA a$$ alive, too”. And yes, I’ve used it at least twice…

    Being the old Jesus freak I am, my response would be “Are you a Christian?” and since practically all the right-wingers I’d be likely to run into would say Yes, I’d follow up with “so you want them to die and go to Hell rather than save their lives so that they might someday save their souls.”

  119. 119.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    September 22, 2024 at 9:50 am

    @Jeffro: That’s good, but not as good as Shiv Ramdas’s account of his conversation with his aunt, which he shared on Bluesky.

     

     

    Aunt: explain this north Carolina scandal

    Me: no

    Aunt: now

    Me: do I have to

    Aunt: you think I am a child tell me now

    Me:*starts*

    *30 seconds later*

    Aunt: Stop

    Me: enough

    Aunt: never speak of this under my roof ever again

    He noted that he hadn’t even got to the Black Nazi part yet.

    (If you are a Bluesky user, you can follow him at @nameshiv.bsky.social—sometimes he comments on sports, sometimes it’s movies, and other times it’s politics. Funny & insightful.)

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