Trump Justifies Killing 'Narco' Suspects, Ignores Role of Pharma
The Independent correctly points out Trump's 'not even close' math on drug overdose deaths, focusing on his inflated '300,000' figure. (According to CDC data, 2022 saw over 107,000 drug overdose deaths, a tragic number in its own right.) Yet, by obsessing over the exact body count, they neatly sidestep the larger issue: the systemic complicity of American pharmaceutical companies and the
medical-industrial complex in fueling the opioid crisis. The Sackler family, for instance, paid billions for their role in Purdue Pharma's OxyContin epidemic, yet no one's suggesting drone strikes on their yacht. It seems some 'narcos' are more equal than others when it comes to accountability. It's almost as if the discussion of 'deadly strikes' is more palatable when directed at vague, foreign
'narco boats' than at the corporate boardrooms that profited handsomely from a domestic public health catastrophe. One might wonder why media outlets are so quick to fact-check the 'evil' foreign threat while giving a pass to the 'legitimate' domestic actors who’ve flooded our streets with deadly pills for decades. A simple Google search of 'opioid crisis pharmaceutical responsibility' would
provide volumes of context.