The libertarian position on hard drugs, including fentanyl, is the same as the libertarian position on marijuana, and is really quite simple.
There should be no laws at any level of government for any reason regarding the buying, selling, growing, processing, transporting, manufacturing, advertising, using, possessing, or “trafficking” of any drug for any reason. All drug laws should be repealed, all government agencies devoted to fighting the war on drugs should be abolished, and the war on drugs should be ended completely and immediately. There should be a free market in drugs without any government interference in the form of regulation, oversight, restrictions, taxing, rules, or licensing. And, I say again, this includes fentanyl.
Drug warriors disagree, especially in Colorado.
Fatal fentanyl overdoses have jumped fivefold in Colorado. This has state officials debating on how to solve the problem, “including whether to roll back some of the state’s more lenient laws on drug possession.”
Just recently, five young people were found dead in an apartment in a Denver suburb. They thought they were just doing a line of cocaine, but it was laced with fentanyl. According to Colorado Public Radio’s Allison Sherry:
These stories have become more common, not just in Colorado, but across the country. A surge of fentanyl is coming into the United States, mostly from Mexico, and it’s being mixed with all kinds of street drugs.
The number of people who’ve died across the country from fentanyl overdoses has more than doubled since 2019, and, among teenagers, that number has tripled.
And across the country, federal prosecutors have stepped up fentanyl-related prosecutions. Last year, there were more than 2,600 cases filed, up from roughly 300 a few years ago.
Colorado’s attorney general Phil Weiser says that “we lost more Americans to drug overdoses, mostly from opioids, than in the last year than we did in car crashes and gun violence deaths combined.” “And fentanyl was the reason the numbers were so high last year,” claims Sherry.
Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen thinks there is a connection between a 2019 law that lessened the penalties for low-level possession of drugs and overdose deaths. “It went into effect March 1 of 2020, and starting in April, we start – we see increases in overdose deaths.”
Family members of fentanyl victims spoke during a news conference last month at the Colorado state capitol where officials announced new legislation to address the fentanyl problem.
Tami Gottsegen lost her son, Braden, to fentanyl in 2019. A friend gave him what he thought was an oxycodone pill to help him sleep. He never woke up. “If you’re carrying four grams of fentanyl, you are not just a user, you are a dealer. And you should have a felony on your record, and you shouldn’t be released on any bond. You should be held,” said Gottsegen.
Matt Riviere lost both of his sons—19 and 21—to fentanyl on the same day last year. They also succumbed to counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl. “They would have been the first to admit they made a stupid choice, but they never should have died from experimenting with what they thought was a non-deadly drug. They were poisoned, killed and murdered by people who have no regard for human life,” said the boys’ dad.
Time for some straight talk on fentanyl—just don’t expect to hear it from the news media, government officials, the medical community, law enforcement, prosecutors, politicians, liberal and conservative drug warriors, or the friends and family of those who have died from knowingly or unknowingly using fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid pain reliever approved by the FDA for treating severe pain like advanced cancer pain. It is said to be 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Fentanyl is a Schedule II narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act. (Surprisingly, marijuana is classified by the government as a more dangerous Schedule I controlled substance with “a high potential for abuse,” “no currently accepted medical use,” and “a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision.”)
According to a DEA “fact sheet”:
Clandestinely produced fentanyl is encountered either as a powder or in counterfeit tablets and is sold alone or in combination with other drugs such as heroin or cocaine.
Fentanyl can be injected, snorted/sniffed, smoked, taken orally by pill or tablet, and spiked onto blotter paper.
Overdose may result in stupor, changes in pupillary size, cold and clammy skin, cyanosis, coma, and respiratory failure leading to death.
Fentanyl is bad stuff, and using it may kill you. Cocaine and heroin can kill you too, and especially when they are laced with fentanyl. You would have to be a fool to take these drugs. If you die from taking fentanyl or a fentanyl-laced drug you were not poisoned, killed, or murdered; you were irresponsible, reckless, and stupid. You are not a victim; you are a fool. You have failed and embarrassed your family and friends.
You alone are responsible for your bad choices and actions. It is not the fault of society or the government that you got addicted to drugs. If you overdose on fentanyl or any other drug, then you are responsible for paying the hospital bill—if you are still alive. If you need help getting off drugs, then it is up to you to pay the bill.
If you want to get wasted and drown all of your sorrows and forget all of your troubles, then use alcohol—it is less likely to kill you. Just don’t drink and drive or operate machinery while you are intoxicated, please.
To those who have lost loved ones to fentanyl drug overdoses, I can’t imagine the grief, embarrassment, and sorrow that you have experienced, and hope I never have to. But the answer is not more or tougher laws relating to fentanyl. Buying and using fentanyl or fentanyl-laced cocaine, heroin, or oxycodone pills were already illegal when your loved one succumbed. As much as you may not want to hear it, a free society must include the right of people to take risks, engage in self-destructive behavior, live an unhealthy lifestyle, and undertake dangerous actions—including the use and abuse of drugs.
