Episode 97 - Opioids are Killing America

Opioids - they are killing America.  WE'll explore why on this episode of the hot zone.

 

Hi folks.  Nearly 800,000  Americans have died from drug overdoses since 1999.  Last year the level was six times what it was in '99 and more than 130 people are dying every day. 

 

It started out with prescription pills, then moved to heroin and lately the amound of synthetic drugs like fentanyl is killing more people than ever.  It's a nationwide epidemic that is affecting more than 2 million Americans per year.  

 

The demand for these drugs is a boon for Narcotraffickers, who are shipping more Fentanyl and Heroin into the United States now than ever before - they are taking advantage of the chaos on the US Southern border to drive convoys full of this poison into our country every day.  Last year alone, US Customs and Border Protection siezed enough fentanyl to kill the entire population of the United States.  AND THAT'S JUST THE STUFF THEY CAUGHT.  

 

The economic impact of the crisis is north of 500 billion dollars, enough to build the border wall thirty times over.  So this is much more than a National security crisis.  It's more than a law enforcement issue.  It's a cultural crisis that is rotting America from the inside out. 

 

Southern west virginia is one of the hardest hit areas of the country.  I've done a good bit of reporting on this over the years, and I'm going to show you some of that reporting today because it is every bit as relevant now as it was five years ago.  Only now the problem is even more pervasive and more urgent.

 

[frontlines west virginia]

 

I'd encourage you to go watch more of the Frontlines episodes we made over the past six years.  It's really well produced, and the NRA doesn't get enough credit for how much it tries to make America safer, even just by getting the word out.  

 

Same with this podcast.  Please share it with your friends.  If you subscribe over at Patreon.com/hotzone, you'll get access to a bunch of special features like free copies of my books, access to some of the paid content I've produced on church security, and more.

 

Okay, last year I went and interviewed my friend Leon Brush.  He's got some real skin in this game, and is working very hard to drag addicts out of that life and give them hope.  Take a look.

 

Well that's all the time we have today folks.  I'm in the jungles of Panama as you watch this, and I'll be bringing you some amazing content out of there later this week.  So stick around.  Please like and share this podcast with your friends.  It will really help us as we close in on our 100th episode this Friday!  That will be a great episode for sure.  So thanks for being a part of the Hot Zone.