Drugs that are psychoactive can make psychos active — but there are upsides, too. To sort out the heaven from the hell, here's some of the news on drugs from last week:
1. Fentanyl from pole to pole, as the super heroin is creeping like a vine. Some folks like it. But volunteers at the Harm Reduction Action Center in Denver (HRAC) told me that up to 30 percent of all the drugs they test have fent in them, including drugs that are not opioids.
2. At the HRAC, we're mostly talking about fenty-meth. But fent is also contaminating the cocaine supply nationwide, with up to three times as much coke this year being all fenty compared to last year in some places.
3. Debate rages on whether dealers are purposefully using fent to foul up the coke and the meth, to hook you on a new vice— or whether they're just not cleaning off their scales.
4. Fentanyl fentanyl fentanyl: so now fent test strips are coming to concerts, clinics and harm reduction sites, including places like HRAC. The Atlantic called fent test strips "The $1 tool that might curb the overdose epidemic."
5. For medically-supervised shooting up, HRAC is pushing for a safe injection site in Colorado, where users can shoot up safely. But safe injection sites won't be coming to California anytime soon after a veto from the governor.
6. You can affect the government by voting on Nov. 6, or beforehand by mail. Voting might seem like it's for old people, but voting is the most concrete power you have. More than Twitter, even. Four states are likely to free the weed by vote in November — if folks show up. The Democrat, Libertarian, Constitution and Green parties are the ones most likely to let you get high without busting your ovaries, while Republicans are the least likely.
7. Some heroin comes from the government. The British health service used to prescribe heroin to addicts. A few are still grandfathered in to the program and get gear from the state, Vice points out. One addict said easy heroin helps her live a saner life. A similar program in Louisiana a hundred years ago worked.
8. Some governments kill drug users, as in Bangladesh — death toll 200. Critics of the Bangladeshi government say the drug war is just an excuse to kill the opposition. America's Drug War started on a similar strategy: if you can't make it illegal to be black or a hippie, make their drugs blacks and hippies enjoy illegal.
9. Duterte admitted to being a murderer (again), as the Philippine president said that while he wasn't financially corrupt, "My only sin is the extrajudicial killings." At least 12,000 drug users and dealers have been killed since he took office (although many were more likely just part of the opposition). Duterte, in the past, swore he threw criminals from helicopters and shot them on the street.
10. Duterte is also a huge hypocrite, having once been hooked on fentanyl.
11. Doubt the power of the vote? Denver seems on track to vote on whether to decriminalize mushrooms, one of the physically safest and most widespread illicit drugs. A group is gathering signatures for the May 2019 ballot, and Rooster learned that a phone poll of Denverites found 39 percent support. That's way higher than any previous poll.
12. Medical marijuana is coming to Utah, one way or another. Either voters will pass MMJ on the November ballot, or lawmakers will bring med pot about afterward, according to a compromise worked out this past week. In a September poll, 64 percent of Utahns supported medical pot, even though the Mormon church has their magic underwear in a bunch about it.
13. Rec weed is coming to Boston, and "cannabis cafes" might follow in a few years.
14. And Nick Kroll and Joe Rogan agreed psychedelics like LSD and mushroom let you feel like you're seeing the underlying pattern of the universe. Then again, they were high when they saw it.
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