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Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective

Cross-posted to 5 groups.

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On Thu, 02 Nov 2017 21:57:26 -0700, Checkmate, DoW Numero Uno wrote:

> "Our people are dying. One hundred seventy-five people a day, every day,
> are dying in the United States from this (opioid) epidemic," said
> commission chairman Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, one of five
> politicians who served on (Trump's) six member panel.
> 
> "If a terrorist organization was killing 175 Americans every day on
> American soil, what would you be willing to pay to make it stop? I think
> we'd be willing to do anything and everything to make it stop. And
> that's the way we now need to see this, because this is an attack from
> within. We are killing ourselves."
> 
> Oh, really?

It's the old "war on drugs" surfacing once more.  And I don't think these 
characters can tell the difference between legitimate use and 
illegitimate and illegal use.  
 
> The NIH estimates that nearly 34 percent of U.S. adults can be
> classified as "obese," meaning they have a body mass index of more than
> 30. By this standard, a man who stands 5-foot-11, Christie's reported
> height, would be obese if his weight reached 215 pounds. While Christie
> does not disclose his weight, it appears to exceed the 286 pounds that
> would place him among the 5.7 percent of American adults whom NIH
> classifies as "extremely obese."
> 
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chris-christies-big-
> problem/2011/09/29/gIQAAL7J8K_story.html?utm_term=.26746c6da25d
> 
> 
> 
> "According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity and overweight
> together are the second leading cause of preventable death in the United
> States, close behind tobacco use. An estimated 300,000 deaths per year
> are due to the obesity epidemic."
> 
> https://www.wvdhhr.org/bph/oehp/obesity/mortality.htm
> 
> That's 822 per day... almost FIVE TIMES as many as all opioid users...
> both legitimate and illegal, and Chris Christie is in that group.

Indeed.
 
> Would it not be equally fair to use the Governor's own words to refer to
> the obesity epidemic, by merely changing the number of "victims" from
> 175 to 822?  Let's try it:
> 
> "Our people are dying. Eight hundred twenty-two people a day, every day,
> are dying in the United States from this (obesity) epidemic,"
> 
> "If a terrorist organization was killing 822 Americans every day on
> American soil, what would you be willing to pay to make it stop? I think
> we'd be willing to do anything and everything to make it stop. And
> that's the way we now need to see this (obesity problem), because this
> is an attack from within. We are killing ourselves."
> 
> Is there anybody in Trump's Whitehouse who can see the flaws in this
> thinking?  Even if you take the 175 people a day who are allegedly dying
> from the "opioid epidemic," how many of them do you suppose are long
> term chronic pain sufferers who have a long history of successfully
> managing opioid usage in a responsible manner, and how many are likely
> to be junkies making Fentanyl tea, injecting heroin, or buying
> legitimate opioids illegitimately on the street with no medical
> supervision?  Even if chronic pain sufferers had to choose between a
> long life of constant misery or a shorter life with at least enough pain
> reduction to remain functional rather than bedridden, how many people
> would choose a longer, more painful life?  I think all of us who have to
> live this way know the answer to that one.
>
Again, indeed.

> 
> ALSO according to the CDC:
> 
> "Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year
> in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from
> secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or
> 1,300 deaths every day."
> 
> YES!  1,300 people die every day from smoking cigarettes, but Chris
> Christie thinks we need to go to war over 175 people dying every day
> from opioid use, yet tobacco use is legal, and merely an optional
> lifestyle choice that has absolutely no redeeming value, like relieving
> the chronic pain that legitimate opioid users need to alleviate just to
> have something close to a normal, functional life.
> 
> https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/
index.
> htm
> 
> 
> ALSO, 241 people are dying from alcohol abuse every day, 30 people are
> dying from alcohol-related car crashes... every day, and 1315 are dying
> from tobacco use... every day.  Is it too much to ask, to choose our
> battles a little more wisely?

I would think so but then *they* don't listen to the likes of us.

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Thread

The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective "Checkmate, DoW Numero Uno" <ricksabian1@gmail.corn> - 2017-11-02 21:57 -0700
  Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective pandora <pandora@peak.org> - 2017-11-03 15:33 -0500
    Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective % <persent@gmail.com> - 2017-11-03 13:39 -0700
    Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective "Checkmate, DoW Numero Uno" <ricksabian1@gmail.corn> - 2017-11-03 15:48 -0700
      Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective pandora <pandora@peak.org> - 2017-11-04 00:56 -0500
        Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective "Checkmate, DoW Numero Uno" <ricksabian1@gmail.corn> - 2017-11-04 00:04 -0700
          Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective pandora <pandora@peak.org> - 2017-11-04 10:56 -0500

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