Montana Fentanyl and Meth. Mexican Drug Cartel Focus.

[Mallardsx2]

I had a close friend die from Fentanyl before anyone even knew it was a thing (circa early 2000's). It was ruled as an overdose/suicide. I remain skeptical to this day that he even knew that he had taken it because I knew him well and he was NOT suicidal.

Jeff died in his sleep and his parents found him on the porch swing in the morning deader than a doornail with bloody foam coming out of his mouth.

So, whatever we can do to get this crap off the streets we should be doing it in my opinion.

I miss my friend.

That is all.

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

I have spent the past ten years herding cats and a great majority of these cats were sentenced over drug use. Some direct like possession of CS and some indirect like larceny which was a way to fund addiction.

Drugs are bad. Don’t do drugs. This is your brain on drugs. School speakers and DARE. Spray glyphosate all over Central and South America. Take out Escobar and El Chapo too.

But that dog don’t hunt. No, we’ve been losing this war on drugs since 1971 and you know who started this? Nixon. Nixon I think we’ll all agree was a terrific dipshit. It was a grand idea then yet ever since has been a money pit necessitating greater LE involvement and expanded prisons.

We need to cut off the flow of money to the syndicates. One way to do so is to decriminalize. If we’re not sentencing the addicts to incarceration then we’re saving money to target the suppliers.
Consider this, a respectable member of society (judge, doctor, preacher) has a drinking problem. Sometimes “has a few too many” and gets in trouble. But he’s trying and been sober for a long time in the past. We support this person and care deeply for them because he’s a good man. Now you put any CS in the place of alcohol abuse and the response is different. People seem to shut out the drug addict yet care for the alcoholic. Addiction is addiction and what gives us the right to make these Puritanical judgments?

Here’s the thing, when you do that addiction judgement you support the cartels. Someone who’s not loved because of their addiction will be consumed by the drugs. Then what, we all say “thoughts and prayers” or some other hollow statement and that makes it better? No, the cartels made money and we lost a brother. We can do better.

 

[LuketheDog]

Plus , as a ex medical marijuana provider myself , growing weed does not produce toxic waste or poison the ground water .
Just let everyone grow their own weed , problem solved .

Sorry, going to flat out disagree with you there. I lived in Pueblo, CO when they legalized it, greenhouses and marijuana 'farms' started to pop up all over the place. Since it was a very arid environment the growers had to lean heavily on fertilizers and extra watering, plus imported topsoil. Then the growers got to experience capitalism and competition with the I-25 pipeline from Mexico going right through town, many of them went out of business because they didn't understand the business. Most (if not all, I didn't see any still growing last time I was down there) of the outdoor farms are just dustbowls now after only a few years, no native plants recovered, no reclamation, just poisoned dirt where people who didn't know how to farm decided to build farms.

 

[LuketheDog]

ICU nurse here. The vast majority of my job is managing the complications of alcohol use. Whether that’s an 18 year old that got hit by a drunk driver, or a 50 year old with end-stage liver disease that’s acutely withdrawing. I have dealt with one fentanyl overdose in 5 years of ICU nursing. Almost every shift I’m assigned a patient undergoing alcohol withdrawal. I don’t mean to undermine the problem here, and I’m not sure what my point is. But in my experience, alcohol is THE most devastating drug with regards to the health of our community. By far.

I'd bet your experience has more to do with the massive increase in alcohol consumption since 2020 (Covid) than anything else. I don't believe fentanyl ODs usually end up in the ICU, I think they skip past you and straight to the morgue.

 

[Sytes]

I also agree it’s hard to take border politics out of this conversation.

This thread would likely be an INSTANT lock if opened for such content. I'm a target for reports to Randy if I start a thread that presents political ramifications of the border "issue", especially as hot a political topic as it is.
I typically don't shy from sharing my opinion related to U.S. garbage politics and this is my field of work - it's my bread & butter.

That said, the implications this has on Montana itself weighs on the interest to share the article, discuss what HT will permit us to discuss, and keep the thread open long enough to alert this State AND others that hold the same potential.

Personally, I am silently stunned we've managed 85 posts w/o a political dick measure fest for border/political chatter. We all know it's there. We all know the flavor our Kool aid serves - however, other significant aspects are present beyond our registered liquid
Let's remain focused on the content we can discuss on HT w/o the above repetitive @#)(# measurements.
Best I suggest is focus on what may be done at the Federal, State, and tribal Sovereignty level outside border politics.
How to: Target addiction, enforcement, legalities, jurisdiction, etc...

This issue holds heart felt value for Montana. If we ignore this - I don't want to really say it this way, we ignore a hostile future our children will confront.

Meat and potatoes, This cartel, now in Montana, have years upon years of experience w/o a care in the world for human life none the less health. They care about $$$.
They will kill, brutally torture, and maim or simply bury/liquify people to set examples to keep quiet.
They have been intentionally targeting Montana Tribal reservations for the safe haven the sovereign land offers because of the enforcement conundrum.

This is Montana, Next? Wyoming, Idaho... Guarantee you, it's in progress or has not been noted as directly tied to their (or a counterpart) crime operation.
They know the U.S. Government / State Government - and sovereign Tribal "nations", will maintain a muddied enforcement for a hell of a long time. It will take ages!
During this time frame, they will break tribal backs w/o care and fentanyl / meth will roll into towns and cities as dealers know no borders when it comes to $.

Tribal students may be ordered to enter Montana schools and universities - at threat of their family's lives if they don't sell their fentanyl/meth and bring home the $.
They will flourish the select youth's and relative's tribal family on the Res with better homes and cars if they do the Cartel good and if not...

This is a no joke Cartel specifically focused on Montana tribal reservations to increase demand for their supplied fentanyl and meth.

 

[corndog1]

The root problem is the demand for it.

This right here is so simple and gets overlooked all the time.

 

[Bigjay73]

This right here is so simple and gets overlooked all the time.

So simple? How do you simply dissolve the demand? Simple to bring up the obvious, not so simple to find a solutuon

 

[Stifler]

Jurisdiction most likely. The tribal officers closest to me are not state certified and thus only have jurisdiction over tribal members. Basically all they can do if they’re involved with a non member is ask for another agency to help them

Interesting I had no idea. That is wild.

 

[SAJ-99]

Oxycontin was legal. Opioids have a legit use, which complicates things a bit. I remember this news below from a few months ago. It was either ignored, dismissed, or forgotten within 24hrs. I hope it helps. I'm not sure there is a solution. We had a trend of people eating Tide pods not that long ago. Humans love to put chemicals in their body.

China's agreement expected to slow flow of fentanyl into US, but not solve overdose epidemic

China has agreed to curtail shipments of the chemicals used to make fentanyl, the drug at the heart of the U.S. overdose epidemic.

apnews.com

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

Oxycontin was legal. Opioids have a legit use, which complicates things a bit. I remember this news below from a few months ago. It was either ignored, dismissed, or forgotten within 24hrs. I hope it helps. I'm not sure there is a solution. We had a trend of people eating Tide pods not that long ago. Humans love to put chemicals in their body.

China's agreement expected to slow flow of fentanyl into US, but not solve overdose epidemic

China has agreed to curtail shipments of the chemicals used to make fentanyl, the drug at the heart of the U.S. overdose epidemic.

apnews.com

 

[corndog1]

So simple? How do you simply dissolve the demand? Simple to bring up the obvious, not so simple to find a solutuon

You don't simply just dissolve demand. I just never hear anyone on the north side of the border talk about Americans insatiable appetite for drugs. We just simply blame the cartels.

 

[brownbear932008]

I feel until our neighbors to the South are truly onboard which isn't going to happen anytime soon because of deeply rooted corruption we will never fix these issues. China also needs to be held responsible for what they are involved in as well with our neighbors to the South.
I know good work is being done at high levels but agencies hands are tied in many ways.

 

[Nick87]

Neighbors to the southa rent the only ones making bank off the drugs. Money it's always money.

 

[Sytes]

You don't simply just dissolve demand. I just never hear anyone on the north side of the border talk about Americans insatiable appetite for drugs. We just simply blame the cartels.

Reality - Cartels are extremely effective at creating the demand. They infiltrate - as in this specific thread, Montana Tribal Reservations where the enforcement lags and the vulnerability is present.

 

[sccritterkiller]

Neighbors to the southa rent the o ly ones making bank off the drugs. Money it's always money.

No the Sacklers made bank and they created the demand and they are just about to get away with it. Yeah they gonna pay a fine...that they will pay with the interest made from their billions.

Way too much money going around on all sides to stop it now.

 

[Hunter4Life78]

The late great Toby Keith sang a duet about dealing with things like this....
Hope I don't get the thread locked or booted from site.

 

[brownbear932008]

Secure the border. Stop the flow of chemicals from China, if China doesn’t want to help punish China. Then go after the cartels. Pull out all the stops. If the countries don’t want to help cut off all aid to them. Have every type of Operator go in and do a scorched earth policy for every cartel. In 2022 almost 74k people in the US died of fentanyl overdoses we’ve invaded countries for less “supposedly”.

If only it were this easy. Heck it's taken these two counties years to say there is even a problem with fentanyl production between China and Mexico. It's a complicated problem and the financial seizures are even tougher when it's ran through the black hole of China. These cartels are well oiled machines and they are well organized and have some impressive weaponry these days especially one of the main problem children.

 

[brownbear932008]

Neighbors to the southa rent the only ones making bank off the drugs. Money it's always money.

They are making most of the money trust me on that. But it's a wide reaching business structure with many handouts to make it tick. I'm talking billions not millions. I've have seen it first hand.

 

[BigHornRam]

Neighbors to the southa rent the only ones making bank off the drugs. Money it's always money.

Digital currency. That's the solution. What could possibly go wrong with that?

 

[Sytes]

$$$ is the purpose though cash is king over digital. Cash is a direct physical possession of funds. Digital is the same as banks. It can be seized.