Almost 6k dead in 6 years: How Baltimore became the U.S. overdose capital | Hacker News Reader

Almost 6k dead in 6 years: How Baltimore became the U.S. overdose capital

thebaltimorebanner.com

33 pointslaurex16 comments

Highly recommended read on how China managed to wage a covert war with USA with help of Fentanyl (and other such nefarious supplies).

Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans

https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Money-Powerful-Blind-Americans/...

Oh the irony, unless it's deliberate vengeance.

Oh man, it's so mean of China to get millions of Americans hooked on legal opioids and then just yank away the legal routes when it was finally impossible to ignore how hard Oxycontin had been pushed on average people and how destructive that was.

Oh wait, that's not what you are talking about.

The opioid epidemic would still be an epidemic without China. They are certainly doing their best to help it hurt, but we put ourselves into this mess.

Yeah I was wondering exactly this when reading this article. Are we ever going to investigate whether this is an intentional act by the CCP to surreptitiously weaken parts of our population?

If so, that would be egregious.

More egregious than the CCP deliberately stealing American companies intellectual property? Or monitoring the activity of our citizens via social media? Or manipulating American citizens via PsyOps campaigns?

Don't forget threatening and even kidnapping Chinese people inside the US

No... I never suggested that. But all those other instances are getting the right amount of press coverage (and more).

This makes me sad. I lived in Bawldamer, B.C. (Before Crack). It has always been a tough town, but back then, I could walk my skinny white ass through the toughest neighborhoods, and not worry. Truth be told, I looked pretty scruffy, back then (student daze). I really enjoyed the town.

These days, the town is pretty scary. Even in the nice parts of downtown, you can turn a corner, and it's The Wire. I have heard Vegas is similar, if you go even a block off The Strip.

When it comes to drug policy, everyone has their axe to grind, pet theory, or scam going. Very, very few folks in actual positions of authority have a clue (or even want to know the real deal). It's great for politicians, because it gives them something to use as a talking point, without them having a fix.

In B.C. (British Columbia), there were over 2500 overdose deaths just last year. ~85% involving fentanyl.

> [The chief coroner] said almost 14,000 people have died since the province declared toxic drugs a public health emergency in April 2016.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-sets-gri...

Is Bawldamer local slang for Baltimore, or is it auto correct run amok?

It's phonetic for a local pronunciation.

You hear Balmer Merlin a lot.

It’s a joke.

That’s how they pronounce it.

It's more common to see this written (and pronounced by locals) as "Bawlmer".

edit to clarify: the pronunciation varies across demographic/racial/ethnic lines, with "Bawlmer" being common among blue-collar white natives, but that's a minority of the population of the city proper.

> From 2018 to 2022, Baltimore’s fatal overdose rate far exceeded that of any other large American city.

The overdose death rate is double the next worst city. Is Baltimore really that much of an outlier? Does that giant gap show up in other drug use statistics compared to other cities? Because given the dominant role Fentanyl plays in overdose deaths, my first thought is that there must be a suspiciously disproportionate amount of Fentanyl flooding that city to account for the difference.

Interesting that the article make no mention of gangs, China, or the supply side of the Fentanyl problem.

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