I have just a few more observations on opioid abuse. In the New York Times article that sparked this line of inquiry by me, the editors cited Vermont and Massachusetts as examples for other states to follow. The most recent state report on opioid abuse in those states are here and here. Both have seen very small year on year decreases in prevalence and/or death due to overdose from 2017 to present—not statistically significant. I’m not pooh-poohing the steps taken by those states. It is simply too early to tell whether they have actually accomplished anything or the decrease is just random variation. Under the circumstances it’s hard to tell whether the NYT editors are reasoning from facts to conclusions or the other way around.
One last word. The entirety of the increase in opioid-related deaths in the U. S. could be attributed to fentanyl which our friends, the Chinese, are dumping in enormous quantities on the U. S. Sort of the reverse of the opium trade of the 19th century except it was Britain that was dumping opium on China. Wars were fought over it.
