From the New York Times. I Michael Varvara, this used it. Today, the altitude Crisis in the United States now rivals the Vietnam in how many Americans have been killed after a national emergency for months, the president declared it a public health emergency Stinkin The difference is Friday October. Twenty seven! In how old? Were you the first time that you used in over fourteen put in what kind of teenager rhythm described to me a little bit? I was a athlete applied, allows for up my back about football and Baseball Erin Pope leaves outside Lexington Kentucky. Now is not a bad kid. My dad always

my dad was a preacher he's. So you know he taught me to be well mannered in and well behaved in respect your elders and stuff like that and were you were happy kids? Would you say yeah yeah certainly, certainly so tell me about that first time. Well, we're on brown people set and hang out a parking lot school, and I had a friend we were sitting in his truck in the parking lot is hanging out with a bunch of people like teenagers. Do me this kid happen too, how to Kyoto. He was like hey man, maybe ever done before, and I would like now men. I have an ever really messed with itself. He busted up we crossed the deal open was like a yellow Travis, and there were so what, It made me feel excited like us, with both the new and

cool when and not only that, billing book building up up up your did so, which gave me this like. I have arrived moment and within maybe three months. I graduated to a heavier substance, and that was the one that really that really change things. I had another friend that had been doing painkillers for a while. We were just talking one night and he said you should try Oxy Kyoto and I was like what is that. What are those things- and he said- get thirty dollars now. Tell you about an hour into it. There were dear standing on the side of the road that we were driving down through extravagant in the back roads, and I remember, jumping out of the car then am, I would venture to say that there was still moving

little bit land chasing these dear through the field like you just made me like, I was just like the incredible hulk euphoria localities to describe, and that was the moment that I knew that these were the greatest thing: sliced bread. So how did you start getting? The that's a very interesting story. This was during the time where Florida did not have a way to track how many narcotics prescriptions people were obtaining from Saunders. So at this point in time, you ve got a photo and get a doctor to write you a prescription for three hundred and twenty thirty Miller, Grandma Dakota Pills, and yes- and you could do that three different times through dogma thousand pills

and then you could come back to Kentucky and seldom to thirty dollars. Apiece no problem is apparent, called doktor shopping bag, and this time it was actually told on the war back in those days you never had trouble fun in Africa or Africa. So what happens after that brown? Sixteen seventeen I started selling to my classmates at school. Then I dropped out of school about it was a faint ass, a guide he had just pretty much do this for town was again quite a bit of money. How much would use in, let's see, did becomes very.

A day you making different her dollars up to fifty dollars a day. Yeah yeah selling tells you that thirty dollars a pill, yes everything and the pound. Next, the next down over outside applauded this factory wipers second shift to come out and large ship to come in, and I would catch those guys. One of those backer workers were on pill. And would take girls to keep themselves up at night or or whatever they wanted to do, and I would just said outside of that Bactrian just kill it. They would ban asked of it. So pretty much. The large majority of people and this time were using a lot of drugs peels his pills. I think people just about it a lot easier than they would cocaine your hair. One thing just simply because they were manufactured

They were pills, numerous grabbed, a people every day. I think people use that justification to just about amusing. Isn't how you see yourself, it's like how different business than and taking in an anville are taking the pill that he added the doktor there's something about a pills. It feels hash, icons, yeah, I can see there. That it was just so normalized at that point in time for everyone, around me that was doing it. The streets were just littered with it. Maybe it was an epidemic and people that you would never think we're doing this we're doing it. This is parents are people parents of my friends, if not you know their brothers there or grubbing up their their sisters

Yeah everyone did some, even even people who didn't do drugs. Eventual did that some because it was so profitable. My mother of ensuring jump on that train and which trained in your mom jump on the distribution are complex and how did she become introduced to it? I would say I would say it was through me playing how profitable this was. She had a lot of things. The people of my grandmother was in poor health and there was a lot of being a financial strife there. So she did what she's always rational idea, which we, which we now know was not in she went afford herself in limbo. Brought narcotic back and an altar distribute them. So did she know your mother?

You are using these drugs when this started for her. Yet if I had overdose a couple times by that point, so To do remember the first time that your mom talk to you about article on differently, when I mean it when she went from being your mom and and probably concerned about you in Europe and he added who hey, let's, let's make a lot of money stolen drugs right. I do remember her telling me that she was thinking about going to Florida, and I couldn't tell you how excited I was to hear that I just knew. I could manipulate my mother into giving

drug. You got no point where nothing about that troubled you, no, no, not at all, not at all. It was fantastic news was it was. It was great news he, but it is no fault to my mother because my mother was a fantastic mother. When I was growing up, she never missed a ball game that I had never many about. She was achieved. Their everything on holiday and then not to say that it was just ball games on holiday, like she was obviously there a lot. She would show at birth her for meetings with the school. She was. She was normal good mother and how do you make sense of people's parents doing, as did you go up in a community with a lot of friends whose parents needed money? Yes, I mean this is like the recession

This is to doubt made out nineteen eleven. Yes for sure this is absolutely essential for by an annual game in a thousand quantities, places soul, washing The visually? No possibility of anybody really running out of it, because now now now, until it wasn't until they actually shut, the porter down in an ambassador was implemented, which was the tracking of prescriptions. Narcotics really cut it in you didn't stop it buddy

And was in a big deal for everything that was a huge deal. A lot of people started, then just going to one doktor instead of multiple, but they were still going on the less there were still doctors, other women right description, and by that time the prices of pills had had jumped away up and they were forty five hours peace and then that's why heroines as popular as it is right. Now it's a direct result of oxygen in enacting cotton and oxen code on and methadone being the supply that being cut in half street value of bed. Jumping almost doubling and now here when cheaper and more potent bow in any drug attics man. That's the best idea ever switch the heroin soap, a bunch of people, including many of them in the town where you grab get addicted

What are essentially legal drugs, perhaps illegally acquired and get that gets taken away from them through the shortages and these changes in the regulations, and then they turn to this cheaper, but more potent and deadly illegal drug absolutely, but is extremely accurate. Characterisation of I would say that ninety percent of people- I know, that's their story. So can you tell me whether the overdose had started to be the beginning of the end? For you and I after these drugs, the night of my overdose, the last one I had. I was up all night, cocaine and heroin taken the last bit around

Seven this morning and drove to my dad's house, because I was gonna, go work with my dad that day and I walked in the kitchen had collapsed in winter, convulsions in my grandmother walked in and ass. She heard my body in the ground and my dad was there in the way you hear him describe. It was an unjust foaming we radically my grandmother's in the chair, and she screamed crying call novel. One in my brother comes out, and they are hold me in the kitchen floor, then, play. I know I'm on waken up the ambulance is there. It's got me in his lap muttered the big guy six Bob about two fifty he has. He has twenty two year old son in the lab just at Non accounts, justice, rock and

imports and then crying and then I have no idea what just happened and I looked and I was like what is going on it's the way. You just think you just overdose I'm still denying my you to my dad at this point. I'm still at that doesn't make any sense. I haven't used any drugs, though I had been using drugs it seems like it would have an impossible at this point for him to ignore our here. Oh yes, by that point, I had stolen everything that wasn't kneeled down. He began syringes. Pockets of monitoring dollar times when I ll stay there was just undeniable, but I would still try so what happens after that? After that, modern kicked me out and told me that I wasn't allow back the house. It was crippling the entire faintly. My my such injuries alone was krypton. Then her family

Came to the point where I did have anywhere else to go, and I ended up sleeping anywhere that could, I have to say you're in your life at this point sounds its miserable videos on like that for a while. It gets to the point where I had sold the shoes off my feet: four, on four crack hours: shooting Crack Mohammed Dumpster Apartment, complex the norm, brown network that that worker petty finally stop doing these drugs. It sounds like

selling your shoes off the bottom of your feet and shooting a bind up against areas of version of rock bottom. Just remember thinking that I just want a break from this premise insanity. So there was a bed open, ended. He talks facility and the atmosphere this tuna thirty was, unlike any other treatments for me, that I had ever been in every one that was working on staff will recover Drogheda. Grandpa Pollack and, I would say the catalyst for this. Changing of events. Would be another guy looking at me and tell me how he had felt the way that I had felt and used the way that I do, but now, where he was homeless, he's now, homeowner,

and he's a contributing member of society. He shows up for work every single day and he is happy and he's borri how long's it been Aaron since your last mused August, seventy two thousand and fifteen. Congratulations! Thank you. I'm procedures that are used

I said, you're still lies absolutely bow by everyone standards. I should be dead and have you seen a lot of people have access to die from this can appear about once every six months, at least of the people that you were quit, that you grew up with near all around her dying left and right, a few months after Aaron stop using obsolete his mother tongue.

Him. She wanted help to air and took her to the same treatment facility that helped Amerika. He has been clean ever since we'll be right back. Support for the daily comes from tee in tee, presenting the aliens angel of darkness, the all new season of the acclaimed Emmy Award winning television series at the turn of the twentieth century uncover a dark and sinister trail of death and deceit as an intrepid team of crime, solvers reunite to hunt and elusive killer Daniel, brutal Luke Evans and Dakota Fanning STAR in the aliens angel of darkness, the honesty,

in premier, Sunday July, nineteen that nine eight central anti anti go to the aliens dot com for more. As you all know, from personal experience, families communities in citizens across our country- are currently dealing with the worst drug crisis in american history, and even if you really think about it, world history Julie, what did we expect President Trump to do Thursday? Well, President Trump has been talking for months about the fact that he considers the opium crisis. A national emergency Julie Davis covers the White House for the times, and so we expected for him to either announce or actually sign a declaration that this is a national emergency which would then on federal funding and all sorts of authorities for the federal government to deal with the crisis that skills tens of thousands of people in the West. Here we can be the generation that ends the opium, Lloyd epidemic. We

do so without mind what ended up happening on Thursday, so President term actually didn't declare it a NASH, no emergency in the way that people expected him to do. That is why, effective today, my administration is officially declaring the opium crisis, a national public health emergency under federal law. He directed his administration rather to declare at a public health. Currency, which is still a designation that is designed to have the symbolic impact of saying, hey guys. This is a big problem. We need to turn the resources of the federal government to solving it, but it doesn't have the same sort of impacts that declaring a national emergency would have in terms of urgent emergency federal funding that automatically gets unlocked. When that kind of a declaration is.

What are the big differences between these two kinds of declarations, and why is it significant that he chose one over the other so if you're declaring a national emergency, your basically saying This is an emergency that requires the government to spend emergency funds. In a rapid manner, to address this issue, if your instead calling it a public health emergency that, as a different legal authority? That essentially says you should allow the relaxation, perhaps of rules and regulations to be able to deal with this. You should direct existing grant programmes to deal with problem, but it doesn't in and of itself, provide any money and any money. That's gonna be and will have to be allocated by Congress in a separate action and wood no Julie about why the administration chose to do it. This way, you know when you talk to a White House officials about this. They all believe that

National emergency designation was actually the wrong mechanism for this particular crisis, because there are so many demands already on FEMA money, because storms and other disasters that have occurred the last several months, essentially we declaring a national emergency for hurricane or for a flood. Eventually, the hurricane. And the flood is over, but looking at the opium crisis it doesnt show any signs of ending anytime soon see whether that was a worry, that they were essentially signing themselves. Up for a completely open, ended commitment of federal resources. Now they would argue that

measures that will result from this public health secretaries and are actually going to be a lot more impact, for. I am directing all executive agencies to use every appropriate emergency authority to fight the opium crisis. So now that the present has declared this a public health emergency, what is he asking his administration to do about it? Urgent, he's asking all of the agencies to look. Their programmes and figure out ways in which they can help combat the opium epidemic. The? U S. Postal Service and the Department of Homeland Security are strengthening the inspection of packages coming into our country to hold back the flood of cheap and deadly fat. No, synthetic appeared manufactured in China and Fifth, the times stronger than heroin and into I will be in China with prison, and she- and I will mention this as a top priority and theirs.

Waiting to be interesting Lee, and we ve seen this in the past with drug problems this country has experienced a big advertising campaigns. This was an idea that I had where, if we can teach young people not to take drugs, just not to take em when I see friends of mine that are having difficulty. Not having that drink. At dinner, words. Literally almost impossible for them to stop. I said to myself: I can't even understand why would that be difficult, but we aren't. We understand why it is difficult. The fact is, if we can teach young people and people generally, not to start its really really easy not to take, and I think that's going to

that being the most important thing. Really tough, really big, really great advertising. So we get to people before they start, so they don't have to go through the problems of what people are going through presidency to suggest that personal restrain was possible and could keep people from succumbing to this epidemic, but is that's the way. People on public health see it and talk about it not at all. This is part of the reason that there were a lot of critics of the president's announcement, because There are many in the advocacy world and in the medical field who say that Nothing is going to change with regard to the opium crisis when you're dealing with substances that are so so highly addictive until we get to a place where treatment is paramount and your during all of your resources towards that show. What happens now is the

in a position to actually addressed this crisis or one of the reasons it took so long fur president Trump to make this declaration he talked about it four months is that he doesn't actually have the people in place. You craft or frankly, carrying out I hope your strategy, the nominee who he had chosen to be the drugs. Are the head of the Office of National Drug control policy? Had you withdraw last week because it was revealed that he had sided with basically the pharmaceutical industry on a measure that was designed to beef up law enforcement ability to keep opiates off the black market in that came just a few weeks after Tom Price, the Secretary of Health, inhuman services resigned over his use of private jets, funded by the taxpayers, to take both official and personal trips, and President Trump has yet to nominate someone for either position and of

when he does, it could be months before there ever confirms its unclear who's going to fill that void and who actually is going to be in charge of carrying out what the President not as his vision for this today Julie. Thank you very much pressure. Thanks for having me Here's what else you need to know today. This was an enormous step in the direction for getting comprehensive tax reform and tax cuts for middle class families. Over the line in the law on Thursday congressional Republicans passed a budget deal that allows them to move forward with a plan to cut federal taxes by as much as one point five trillion dollars. Without a single democratic vote. The measure opposed by every day, The crowd in the house contains language that would shield attacks bill from a democratic filibuster, meaning it could pass the Senate with just fifty one votes in a chamber where Republicans control fifty two seats, democratic.

House, minority leader Nancy Policy, described the republican characterisation of the plan as being for the middle class as a con. Let the republic did today was to give open tat to this assault. On the substance of the report, shakedown, alluding of the middle class, we want to do tat. Perform? We want to do it in a way that is fair. That has simplification, that has growth that reduces the deficit, creates with paying job and keeps America number one. Instead, we have a budget that they put but that does not do that. The deal is produced by feel welcome, Lindsey, Garrison, Rachel question, any brown and emails Christopher, worth an extreme colorado with anything?

from the recent Henderson LISA Tobin is our executive producer the Hennig is our editorial director. Brad Fisher is our technical management are theme. Is by Jim One Borg and Ben Lansford of Wonderingly special thanks to Peter sale. Sam like an Mikhail who shot. That's it for the microbes Sue Monday. Do you avoid tough problems and shy away from a debate? Do you think uncertainty limits potential? Neither do we have a university of Chicago Booth, school of business. We believe in asking questions and questioning answers with campuses in Chicago London and Hong Kong. The booth MBA is for people who see challenges

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