Doctor Explains What We’re Getting Wrong About Fentanyl

The opioid epidemic is a public health crisis. We don’t need criminalization and stigma, we need treatment.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed walks us through why fentanyl is so dangerous, the mistakes that policymakers have made in the past, and what we need to do instead to address this dire public health crisis.

00:00 - Opioid epidemic intro
00:29 - Why fentanyl is so dangerous
01:02 - How did we get here?
01:43 - How policymakers approached the crack epidemic
02:52 - Why criminalizing drug use isn’t effective
03:48 - A word from our sponsors @MargueriteCaseyFoundation
04:10 - What we’re doing wrong
04:41 - What we need to do instead: treatment and training

[tayzonday]

I get NASTY withdrawal from plain-old Tylenol-codeine or Vicodin. 24-48 hours of bawling and feeling abandoned like my life is falling apart. When I’m on them, I do feel this warm, zen-like confidence that comes with the pain relief. I can’t imagine how tough a stronger opioid is to manage, and I am generally resistant to Substance Use Disorder.

[waynedexter]

There’s profit in “jails, laws and incarceration”, and this is the problem.

[angiebear]

I take an opioid for chronic pain. I have MS. I take it and store it responsibly or my life wouldn’t be worth living as my pain is constant and severe. I don’t and won’t take fentanyl but some people actually need help at that level. The fear based “epidemic” coverage has hurt people with serious illnesses like me and we are often forgotten. No I don’t think it should be prescribed Willy nilly but I feel forgotten, am treated as an addict and criminal by some people and I am neither.

[glenwithonein]

Treatment instead of punishment for drug use is the correct choice. But I have no problem with jailing people for selling them and profiting off of people's addiction.

[Shaggacedeuce]

Michigan just got a huge Walgreens settlement. They should use the money to set up and train people to staff treatment facilities. It's an emergency.

[vegasmandie]

And don’t forget the chronic pain patients that can’t get pain meds anymore so they go to the streets and get fentanyl pills.

[markgamble]

In my criminal justice thesis back on 2009 was a writ about this drug use vs drug abuse… Real for honest chronic pain patients need relief from use of regulation while helping those abusing to stop… Was used in federal and our state judiciary committees in 2011… Recidivism isn’t the way to help anyone… Appreciate the video here…

[JemDreamz]

I agree, proper treatment would help the country so much.

[SidewalkCitizenLA]

There's all this talk about how little fentanyl it takes to OD, but so many of the people I know didn't OD on fentanyl alone. They had unknowingly taken a cocktail of fentanyl, meth, and something called Tranq. I don't think it's JUST the fenty...

[Nobody-dltm]

My boyfriend BTC sent me. Great video!

[misinformationwars]

Thank you for explaining that addiction cannot be cured by the judicial system. It can only be solved by treatment and understanding. Why\How did this person become addicted? What can we do to help them overcome this addiction? We don't convict and incarcerate people for being in a cult, or consistently dating people that hurt them. Why do we do it to people that have an addiction to a substance? Should we start convicting people addicted to caffeine and sugar next?

[hwhernandez]

Kinda agree but I think focus on the treatment aspect is overly simplistic.

I think there needs to be a trifecta approach. Avid prosecution of illegality of the drug business because the treatment side is NOT enough to address the criminality of what happens in”Daycare” like settings where innocents are killed…

Treatment that are holistic and address the physical addiction and the psychiatric disorders that are inevitably coinciding or created during the physical addition.

There is not enough societal resource to combat the willful aspects of the problem including free-will.

[thface]

The precursors for fentanyl used to mainly come from China, but India has been taking the leading this sphere. Most fentanyl manufacturering is across the border in Mexico.

[BashoStrikes]

Approximately 20% of the population is addictive. Everyone else doesn't have a problem using anything responsibly. That is that.

[toddsteinert]

Getting people to accept treatment means making them do something they don’t want to, which means violating civil rights. What’s the solution for that? Cleaning up camp cities, where the addicts live, is not a lack of shelters problem. It’s a problem of the unhoused not willing to accept any help with strings attached.

[edwardschneider]

Fentanyl is awesome, if you've never done it I had it before a medical procedure... it was fed into my iv drip and described as "I'm giving you a Fentanyl cocktail", .... I see how it's so addictive. It's nice
Read up about rat park, ... it has a wiki page

[L.A.]

What are the stats and science (ie odds) on those who become addicted being able to become normal or un addicted? In a world where there are billions of people and growing, individualism must take a backseat to survival and quality of life for the majority. If industry refuses to pay for treatment (they created opioids for prescribing so make them) you can’t expect taxpayers to bear the cost alone of individuals who choose yes choose to take stuff they know is addictive and dangerous. Decriminalizing didn’t work in itself in Portugal or Denmark. If a person decides to stick their arm into a fire and that fire burns off their flesh and they then can’t use their arm, it is still a decision that is irreversible! That’s how I view this. Opioids if they don’t kill or maim they destroy lives that most likely change your neurons in your brain and becomes lifelong damage. (And damage to everything and everyone around you) So you might as well drink gasoline! It’s a decision in my mind to end your life (and disregard those who love you) right there. YOUR decision not someone else’s. There are too many good people on this earth that don’t deserve to live next to that or deal with your bad decisions. Life is too short for all of us. If you don’t value it (your own life) then consequences are inevitable. Sad but real. It’s natural selection of a species to survival in the big picture. We have to value and help those doing the right things not those doing all the wrong things. Don’t punish the majority. And if it truly is “disease” then nature will eradicate it from the population of billions. Harsh but true like a virus. With climate change happening resources will be limited like just water!