Any politician who claims to care about the drug overdose deaths sweeping the nation, but does not demand that we build a wall, deport illegal aliens and end the anchor baby scam, is a liar.
In 2014, more people died from drug overdoses than any year in U.S. history: 47,055. That's more than die in car accidents -- and it's not even close.
This is a huge, horrible problem -- and it's a problem caused entirely by the fact that Mexico is on our southern border.
The diverse, hardworking people of Mexico manufacture the majority of heroin in the U.S. and import "nearly all" of it, according to a 2014 Washington Post report.
The media and political class respond to this fact by asking themselves: How do we blame this on Americans -- preferably white males?
Even as Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the head of Mexico's largest drug cartel, is all over the news boasting, "I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world" (The New York Times, Jan. 10, 2016), we're informed, Hey, don't blame Mexicans! It's America's appetite for drugs that's driving the narcotics trade!
Mexicans aren't at fault for dumping these poisons on our country because ... it's the 14-year-old American kid's fault for getting addicted! Hucksters of cigarettes, subprime mortgages and fake weight loss pills should try that argument. We're just selling what Americans are buying!
About the time President Bush threw open our southern border -- followed by Obama rolling out the welcome mat for illegal aliens -- Mexico aggressively moved into the heroin business. In 2007, U.S. authorities seized 367 kilos of heroin on the Mexican border. In 2013, authorities seized 2,162 kilos. During that same time period, heroin use nearly doubled in the U.S.
As a result, in the last decade, half a million Americans have died from drug overdoses, mostly heroin and other opiates. That's ten times more than the number of Americans who died fighting the entire Vietnam War.
Mexico is pumping drugs into our country, but to blame Mexicans would be "xenophobic." They're poor and brown! We can't blame the Mexican drug cartels, and we certainly can't blame the corrupt Mexican government that is paid off by the cartels.
Instead, pandering politicians give fiery speeches about drug addiction being a "disease." However that may be, drug addiction is the only disease that you absolutely can't catch if you never take drugs. (I also don't see anyone getting rich by giving people the measles or pneumonia.)
As Donald Trump has said, the best way to avoid becoming addicted to drugs is never to start.
It's harder to stay away from drugs when Mexico is flooding the country with them. But no politician -- except Trump -- would dare suggest that we keep the drugs out.
Carly Fiorina talks about how she "buried a child to drug addiction," on her way to saying "the war on drugs has failed." Her main objective is to ensure that "families that are suffering through this know that they should not feel ashamed or stigmatized."
How about not making them suffer through the hell of a drug-addicted child in the first place by keeping drugs out of the country?
Marco Rubio thinks we need government programs to "teach students skills to avoid gangs, violence and drugs."
Yes, it's American kids' fault. While we're teaching them about drugs, how about a government program to teach people skills to not to give all their money to scammers like Bernie Madoff, instead of criminally prosecuting scam investment firms?
Chris Christie gives passionate speeches about drug addiction being a "disease" that "can happen to anyone," before demanding that we "start treating people in this country, not jailing them."
Why is the only choice: a) Blame the addict or b) Don't blame the addict? How about option c) Blame the drug dealers? Oh I remember! We can't blame the drug dealers because diversity is a strength!
Not one Republican presidential candidate, other than Trump, has any intention of going after the Mexican drug cartels operating freely in our country. Absolutely none but Trump would consider building a wall on our border. Only Trump has denounced the anchor baby racket. Did I mention that El Chapo's kids are American anchor babies?
Instead, the other candidates twist and turn to find some way to blame Americans for the fact that the country is drowning in drugs -- brought in by innocent Mexicans.
The New York Times' response to the heroin epidemic is to express smug satisfaction that white Americans suddenly care about drug addicts now that their kids are the addicts.
I'm sorry, but with 50,000 Americans dying every year from drug overdoses, could you put away your "racism" hobbyhorse for five minutes, New York Times? It's stupid, it's not helpful, and it's not true.
The recent surge in heroin overdoses is hitting black and white Americans about equally. According to the CDC, heroin overdose deaths from 2013 to 2014 (the most recent years available) increased by 8 percent for non-Hispanic whites, and increased 8.2 percent for non-Hispanic blacks.
Curiously, heroin deaths of Hispanics increased by 0.0 percent. They aren't the users; they're the pushers.
But don't play the old "blame the perpetrator" game! That would be nativist.
Hillary proposes that the federal government spend more money -- a billion dollars a year -- to fight drug addiction. Unless that billion is spent on building a wall, her policy prescription is nothing but a government-worker full-employment plan.
Bernie Sanders gets chesty about "the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it."
If only we could see a little of that righteous anger directed toward the overwhelming source of illegal drugs in the U.S.: Mexico.
It's true that overdose by prescription drugs is the leading cause of overdose deaths, but that's a trick: The CDC classifies all opioid pain reliever deaths as "prescription" opioid overdoses -- whether or not an actual doctor or "prescription" was involved. Guess who's moved into the "prescription" drug business in a big way? That would be Mexico.
But instead of blaming grimy, soulless criminals like El Chapo, who brags about his "fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats" -- bought with drug money -- let's blame American pharmaceutical companies doing God's work by trying to ease the pain of dying cancer patients.
The CEOs of pharmaceutical companies are mostly Americans -- probably white men! -- so they're safe to hate.
Only Donald Trump has made the inarguable point that the most effective way to avoid catching this particular disease is never to start taking drugs. Only Trump would make it a lot harder to start by building a wall and sending Mexican drug dealers and anchor babies home. Only Trump doesn't blame America first.
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