Dr. Rahul Gupta on the fentanyl crisis

Born in India, Dr. Rahul Gupta has treated addiction patients, run West Virginia's Bureau for Public Health, and worked for the March of Dimes. He became director of the Office of National Drug Policy Control, the first physician to serve in this role. He talks with "CBS Saturday Morning" co-host Jeff-Glor about addressing the nation's drug scourge, especially when it comes to fentanyl.
#fentanyl #drugaddiction

"CBS Saturday Morning" co-hosts Jeff Glor, Michelle Miller and Dana Jacobson deliver two hours of original reporting and breaking news, as well as profiles of leading figures in culture and the arts. Watch "CBS Saturday Morning" at 7 a.m. ET on CBS and 8 a.m. ET on the CBS News app.

[ltmdf]

We here in West Virginia were glad when Gupta left. His idea of handing out syringes to addicts did not sit well with the vast majority of West Virginians. Why help those addicts? They made their choices and taxpayers should not be forced to but them syringes. What acruallt happened under that program was that cities and counties used lawsuits and other methods to stop this. Many cities and towns at the urging of their good, law abiding, tax paying citizens passed laws and ordinances that outlawed possession of drug paraphernalia including syringes without a legal prescription (use for Illegal drugs was not included). Citizens did not want the addicts appeased but rather run out of their communities. My brother in law chose to be an addict. He has held his parents and sisters hostage over his choices. We have paid twice for for him to go to rehab. No more. He was also banned from his parents and sisters property. He made his choices and now he gets to deal with them. The family gives him nothing. No money no nothing. I have no sympathy for a drug addict. I dealt with them as a police officer and in my own family. Appeasing them only leads to more drug use and other crimes that they commit. You cant treat drug addiction with appeasement or other drugs to get the addicts hooked on. You stop it by securing the border that we know the drugs cross. Where we used to go searching for pot fields and meth labs we no longer do since the pot and meth along with heroine comes from Mexico. We know that for a fact. So you secure the border, harsh prison sentences for first time offenders (both dealers and addicts) and unleash endless pain on addicts.

[diegoaviles]

Honestly, I have no sympathy towards drug users. If they’re idiotic enough to buy pills from random strangers, they deserve to suffer the consequences.

[Jay-hrrh]

There's no profit in treating drug addiction.

[johnwick-iiil]

Doesn't the money spent on fighting drugs / overdoses help support the economy ?
The results gained may be less than desirable, but it's still the same injection of money into the economy...good or bad.
Kind of like how famine and disease are required to controll the earths population.

[shaheedabdulazeez]

Fentanel is a control substance. Which means it's accounted for. Somebody knows origin of the drugs.