Re: The culprit in the deaths of three Blue City Kansas City Chiefs fans was all too common

On 21 Feb 2022, Lefty Lundquist <[email protected]> posted some
news:[email protected]: 

> They were killed by Democrats who refuse to do anything about drug
> dealers. 

The deaths of three Kansas City Chiefs fans who froze to death captured
the attention of murder mystery fans. Three men in their 30s all dying
outside one home seemed implausible. Was it foul play? Poisoning? A
plot? 

The answer was simpler: They were killed, by a tragically usual suspect.

Autopsy results showed that each had fentanyl, the powerful synthetic
opioid, in their systems. 

The Kansas City men are hardly alone. The US Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention reported that the overdose death rate for 2023 was
112,000 people, a new record. According to the United States Drug
Enforcement Administration, fentanyl has driven the spike in fatalities. 

>From small towns to big cities, the illicit fentanyl market is creating
chaos in communities and filling morgues. Some who died weren’t aware
that they had taken fentanyl at all, since it was included in substances
that were tainted with it. Others deliberately took fentanyl but
ingested too much. 

It is important to distinguish between poisonings and overdoses, says
Gina McDonald, co-founder of the advocacy group Mothers Against Drug
Addiction and Deaths. 

Pure . . . and deadly
“One, you have a group of teenagers going online who think they’re
buying drugs like Xanax to get high but not intending to take fentanyl,
and their loved ones are finding them dead in their bedrooms,” says
McDonald. “What we’re seeing on the streets is people seeking the purest
form of fentanyl called Clean. They’re dying because it’s so strong.” 

San Francisco is not just a microcosm of the problem, it’s the epicenter
of the fentanyl trade. It’s unusually cheap and available in the city’s
open drug scene, where hundreds of dealers and users gather every night
in the Civic Center neighborhood. 

The result has been a staggering number of deaths. In 2023, 806 people
lost their lives from drug overdose and poisoning, a spike from the
previous year’s 647. San Francisco’s Department of Public Health
admitted that the majority of the fatalities were due to fentanyl. 

Unlike the men from Kansas City, the names and stories of most of these
San Franciscans have not been published or deemed a mystery. Instead, it
is a single massacre caused by the influx of illicit fentanyl, most of
which comes from precursor chemicals made in China, synthesized into
fentanyl in Mexico, then sold on the city’s streets by criminal
networks. 

The millions who have illegally crossed into the United States from
Mexico have magnified the crisis. In a Jan. 23 speech on the Senate
floor, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said the US government is aware that
cartels have been exploiting the open border, and have been working with
China to flood communities with fentanyl. 

Here’s the latest NYP coverage on the Kansas City Chiefs fans who froze
to death Kansas City Chiefs fan who hosted watch party where three
friends froze to death checks into rehab New video shows Kansas City
Chiefs fan Jordan Willis being cuffed moments after 3 pals found frozen
to death in yard Chiefs fan found frozen to death in backyard was
discovered in unusual position, victim’s brother says ‘Not a healthy
society’ 

On a local level, efforts at change are currently underway, which
include greater law enforcement and prosecution. In 2023, the San
Francisco District Attorney’s Office was presented with and filed the
most felony narcotics cases since 2018. Convictions are rising, and
there is an effort to replace the Superior Court judges who have been
lenient on drug dealers. 

But the fentanyl deaths continue, in San Francisco, Kansas City and
across the country. Harm reduction methods, from distributing foil and
straws to addicts on the street to bringing people back to life when
they overdose with hits of naloxone, are only maintaining the status
quo. Few are getting better or pursuing recovery treatment. 

To make a significant dent in the flow of fentanyl, McDonald believes
that young people need to be taught about the dangers of purchasing
substances online as part of school curriculum, but that ending the open
drug scene is essential. 

“It can’t be allowed,” she says. “They either need to go home, go to a
shelter, or go to jail. This is not a healthy society. When you’re
removed from your drug of choice, it’s harder to get, it’s harder to get
high. That makes it harder to die.” 

https://nypost.com/2024/02/02/opinion/the-culprit-in-the-deaths-of-three-
kansas-city-chiefs-fans-was-all-too-common/