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This drug epidemic would not have occurred had xenophobes not been allowed to craft law and terrorize the public with fictional propaganda. These drug runners saw an opportunity and took it. It’s no different than what the sackler family did. Both are unjustifiable in civilized society.

https://drugpolicy.org/issues/brief-history-drug-war

Mixing cause and effect? Desperation (economic, social life, etc) leads to escapism, among them substance abuse, leading people to lose even more grasp of life and lose their homes?

There's an epidemic of loneliness, I wonder why, is it people having FOMO due to social media, reality TV, etc?

It would be very interesting to understand this part of the story in more detail, although I expect it’s more complicated than the statement above. But someone should really research this properly.