Week 5: Drugs in America

"The popular belief isn’t always the correct one."

In today's market, some drugs are deemed dangerous and illegal ​while others are considered ​safe and legal. Despite warnings and fearmongering from the media and the Government's so called "War on Drugs," many legal drugs cause more deaths than the illegal ones. In this week's Tuesday Drop, I have sent you 4 different videos to watch that explore the markets and dangers of Opioids, Fentanyl, and Tobacco.

1. Opioids: In these two episodes, John Oliver explains how the inception of opioids and how pharmaceutical companies transformed it from a drug used by critical surgery and cancer patients to an everyday pain medication. He then explains how this fueled the opioid epidemic and how the parent pharma company is trying to shield itself from blame.

Watch Opioids & Opioids II by John Oliver

2. Fentanyl: Often called the "third wave of the opioid crisis", Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid also originally used by critical surgery and cancer patients. During and after the first opioid crisis, pharmaceutical companies helped ease its regulation. This, in addition to its frequent use in heroin, caused a rise in fentanyl overdoses and led to the production of naloxone, a medication that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose.

Watch Fentanyl by Hasan Minhaj

3. Tobacco: The United States government has fought hard to heavily tax tobacco products, raise the legal age for tobacco consumption, and require packaging labeled with the long-term side effects of smoking. As Big Tobacco companies continue to fight these regulations, they have started to infiltrate international markets with less restrictive tobacco laws.

Watch Tobacco by John Oliver

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