A discussion of the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade will be held in Watertown over two evenings.
The event is hosted by State Rep. Steve Owens, Tiffany York, Elizabeth Peck, Daniel Pritchard, and Wayside Youth & Family Network.
Organizers provided the following information:
You are invited to a two-part conversation on Monday, July 18 from 6:30-8 p.m. and Wednesday, July 20 from 7-9 p.m. focused on Watertown residents ‘ feelings, questions and experiences while building resilience in Watertown around the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Instead of a discussion on Roe vs.Wade …how about one on the local media that stokes hate, fear and division on practically every local newscast?? Or one on prescription pills that could be laced with fentanyl??? COME ON PEOPLE
Those sound like topics you are very interested in. I suggest you put in some work (like the people hosting this discussion did) to organize those in the community that share your opinion and/or those that want to learn more and you host an event covering the topic.
Like you, I will wait patiently for such a forum to be organized.
Just to be clear are you saying that the pharmacies that distribute medications are sneakily lacing the prescriptions they sell with an extremely potent (and expensive) drug, just for fun? Fentanyl is an extremely powerful painkiller, and anyone with a supply of it, whether licit or illicit, certainly knows this. That means that they’re naturally incentivized to be extremely careful with where and how much they put it, because nobody wants to be responsible for an overdose death; if it’s an above-board pharmacy then they’re liable for legal action, and if it’s a grey/black market seller then 1) they’re at risk of that overdose being traced back to them 2) they’ve lost a client and revenue stream 3) they’ve just killed someone, and nobody wants to be the proximate cause of someone’s overdose.
If there is an issue with drugs being laced with fentanyl (and I completely grant that that issue may well exist! I would just like to see proof one way or the other that the problem exists and what prescription pills are found to be laced with fentanyl), it seems to me that investigating the reasons why people are prescribed it is a more effective way to reduce the harms that members of the community have to endure. Are people genuinely in pain, or are opiates just the simplest and most profitable option for a doctor to prescribe when a patient is in the office with them? Is the pain physical, or is the prescription also helping to manage psychological pain or loneliness? Are people able to afford their prescriptions, or are they forced by physical dependency to go to less-regulated vendors in order to meet the need of that dependency? Granted, these are much bigger questions than can be easily solved in a community discussion like this one, but establishing common consensus and understanding of the problems that the community faces will certainly be useful in determining how to solve them.
Joe, the problem isn’t real pharmacies dispensing pills laced with fentanyl. It is drug dealers creating fake pills that are supposed to be oxycodone, but are actually made with the much-more-potent fentanyl. So it makes it easy for someone to overdose if they think they are taking oxycodone but actually end up with fentanyl.
Same thing with fake ADD pills (e.g. Adderall) that are counterfeit and actually contain methamphetamine. And other prescription pills too.
Here is a recent press release about this:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/lawrence-man-arrested-fentanyl-distribution-involving-multiple-large-pill-press-machines.
And more:
https://www.dea.gov/onepill
https://cchd.maryland.gov/alert-counterfeit-street-pills-and-fentanyl-related-overdoses-in-carroll-county/
https://gov.alaska.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/Fentanyl-Bulletin.pdf
https://governor.iowa.gov/press-release/gov-reynolds%C2%A0and%C2%A0officials%C2%A0warn%C2%A0iowans-of%C2%A0dangerous-fentanyl-and%C2%A0fake%C2%A0pills%C2%A0
https://www.che.sc.gov/CHE_Docs/executivedirector/Bulletin_Pills_Higher_ED_October_2021.pdf
A whole bunch of states have advisories about this. But drug overdoses don’t grab headlines like some of the other more divisive stuff so the media doesn’t talk about it.
Why? RvW decision has ZERO impact on Watertown or Massachusetts other than making abortion more available here and more common. After all that’s what everyone wants….more abortions.
So why not tackle the opioid catastrophe that is infecting Watertown instead?
When is your forum on that issue being held?
Wow there are always people who don’t want discussions of controversial issues where they disagree with the point of view being presented. I agree with those who advise holding your own forums. More information is always better, as long as it’s rooted in fact and not fear.