The use of fentanyl will not be stopped just by law enforcement. In the middle 80s, I formed a group called “ Getting Drugs out of Broward County. It involved the judicial system, law enforcement, and social services. In fact, I got a congressional record where the congressman stated he hoped that this would become a snowball effect across America. Did we win the war, no we did not, but it opened my eyes….

We need to have the need for fentanyl reduced by the users. Not just reduced but branded at the same level of “Operation Warp Speed” that President Trump branded the vaccines for COVID. I do not care for Trump that much, however, this was a great thing he did and this man will never forget he made a great decision on the speed of vaccines. You must be fast-paced and create something out of the box to reduce the need for FENTANYL. Again WE MUST REDUCE THE WANT AND NEED FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED FENTANYL. NEED FENTANYL, what, that’s crazy. I am here to tell you that once addicted to fentanyl getting off of it is almost impossible. It is like being on your death bed with COVID and the Doc says, “ Take this pill you will be all better in 20 minutes “ Would you take the pill? The same goes for Pain meds and of course Fentanyl. They are so sick they would sell their own child to feel better. Yes, that has been done too.

We can’t forget the fact that not all people on Fentanyl just want to get high. Some were created by the system. They were created because they were injured and given powerful narcotics to control the pain. Then the government got strict on prescribing narcotics to people in pain. They had good reason but it did leave many people in severe pain. So where does a person go to get their pain meds? Well, that’s simple buy Fentanyl off the street or buy the pain meds that you normally take but that becomes dangerous because these scumbag dealers lace it with Fentanyl. That gets to the next person who dies. Some people were just experiencing their first party pill, yes our kids. Then they died just like that. People on drugs are not our token scumbags.

Yes, there are some who just want to get high and some other reasons such as mental health issues. I have been doing this for 40 years, it is a sickness no matter how you look at it. It is out of control and we need to respond like we did with COVID and set up shop fast.

We would need to create massive detox facilities. That will never happen because of the cost and the strict licenses for detox centers. They need to create places other than our current detox facilities because as it stands now, we never have enough beds to combat normal drug addiction, let alone putting Fentanyl into the mix. You must have beds available right then and there when the person wants to be detoxed, and not be put on a waiting list.
If you look at the great state of Florida, we will see that FLORIDA led the country in 2021 in deaths. Some political leaders believe it is the border. Yes, it does allow some to get into the country, but more comes in from legal crossings at borders. Florida has fewer refugees than California, yet Florida has more deaths than California when it comes to Fentanyl and the current governor has not fixed the problem in Florida. Why? Because the needs and wants are here in our state. Florida did not even want to pass a law allowing people to test for Fentanyl because they said that would encourage drug use. Not passing this law, encourages death. Again this is the ” Party Pill ” for kids when they experiment and die because the pill they thought was a pain pill was laced with Fentanyl.

We must have massive centers for people to detox and it does not need to be a hospital. We Have to treat it like a war or a disaster where many great things happen when getting the job done to help people. For instance, the great chef Jose Andres the founder of World Central Kitchen does not have a license to serve food to millions of people. But we let him feed when it is a disaster. You need a place that will allow the person to be treated with other meds to detox, you need some doctors and some nurses and people that will help the person get through the detox. It does not have to be a hospital at $6,000 a day. You need to have more places to help people and not all of them need to be licensed. This is done at home all the time where a person is prescribed meds for the detox and the family takes care of the person. The person has to have a clear head to make the decision to get off of Fentanyl. Once they get off of it they can make a decision if they want to stay clean.

You could even take warehouses and set up cots and service 200 people at a time for a third of the cost of our current centers. You may say to yourself what the heck am I talking about? Do you know that this is done in Jail all the time where people are addicted to methadone because they go to a treatment program every day to get their fix of methadone but they won’t get anything in jail but blood pressure meds? It is so hard to watch. So why can’t we offer more beds but be more compassionate than jails? If a jail can detox someone with no licenses why can’t other agencies do it with minimal requirements and even have the ability to do it for free?
There is something called a street detox or cold turkey and it works but it is very sad to watch. But it can be done. You can offer over-the-counter meds to the person who is detoxing and hold their hands for about three to five days and then follow up with support groups. It is not as hard to watch if you support the person who is doing it cold turkey. I am sure if some agency wanted to do this for Fentanyl the licensed places would cause all kinds of reporting to get the person in trouble because it interferes with their programs. I have thought about testing my theory and waiting to be arrested for doing this. Then I could test the system. It will heal some, and some will leave as soon as the detox starts but some will stay and go cold turkey. In fact, this can be done at home with any doctor but the state in most cases requires a license to detox. This is why people have to wait on a list.

Law enforcement must have the tools such as special acts where they can put a person in front of a judge and force them to get help. Dealers need to be arrested and the police must have the ability to go after these pushers. Judges and lawmakers must make laws where people can get help by reducing some of the regulations on these detox centers. We must treat it like an emergency and loosen restrictions.

In the past, we have helped people on the street detox by giving them an action plan and it was free of charge. If we did it, it can be done by others as well. It works, not all the time but it works and it is free. When I opened up my shelter, I did it overnight, I did it with my own money at first and it worked. Yes, I got threatened with getting arrested, and I spent almost a half million in legal fees. However, we became the largest provider in the county in a matter of months for emergency beds. The county was opening up shelters for about 4 million a year and we were costing about a half million a year and we were much bigger. No taxes were used for our system, it was funded by the clients we served. In fact, my theory was to give them a permanent home and I was made fun of. However today this is being funded by Hud in the billions across America it is called Housing First. We were doing “Housing First” in 1998. … For we were the first to do this.

Should we use our Department of Defense to combat the labs making this FENTANYL? Yes without a doubt. In the past, we did it with Cannabis Crops overseas so why not do it now on these more powerful drugs? I would be the first person to push the buttons. Nowadays we can do this from here with drones.

This government does not think about using resources we already pay for each and every month. Everyone says this is a war, it is a war against our people. Why not let the doctors who serve in the department of defense serve the addicted people in America. Let us not forget many of the people addicted to drugs are US Veterans. They can run these make-shift detox centers. The nurses can also participate as well.

All the experts have tried to take care of this Fentanyl problem, let’s go back in time and think out of the box, and if we did, we may make a dent in this issue and prevent death. Hey if I can open up a shelter overnight, then many people smarter than me can solve this issue.

Addiction Drug Use Fentanyl