Feb. 13, 2025

62 - Brian Townsend - Fentanyl Crisis Expert and Retired DEA Special Agent

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In this conversation with Brian Townsend, a retired Special Agent of the DEA, we dive deep into the fentanyl crisis in the USA. Brian shares his insights on the organizations and countries responsible for the production and distribution of fentanyl, highlighting the role of international drug cartels and nations like China. We explore how America's drug consumption, particularly opioids, has contributed to the crisis, and trace the origins of the opioid epidemic. Brian sheds light on the complexities of combating fentanyl trafficking and discusses the broader impact of the opioid crisis on American society.

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You are listening to a Funds Media Network production. Welcome

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world The Blaze. Listeners to episode sixty two. On today's show,

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I feature my very special guest, Brian Townsend. He's a

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twenty eight year law enforcement veteran and a retired Supervisory

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Special Agent and former Resident Agent in Charge for the

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US Drug Enforcement Administration, also known as the DEEA. Currently,

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Brian is the founder and principal of Legal six Training,

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where he provides consulting services and training to businesses and

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law enforcement entities worldwide. He also launched Only two Milligrams, Inc.

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A five oh one c nonprofit organization where he leverages

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his extensive experience and knowledge in the opioid field to

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raise awareness and foster a deeper understanding of the opioid

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epidemic and an illicit fentanyl crisis. We have a very

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eye opening and informative conversation, so let's keep going. Thank

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you for being flexible. I'm sorry to be fairly on

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time here. You caught my attention as I was looking

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and I was searching literally doing a show on the border,

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and one of the things I kept coming up, obviously

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and they keep talking about, is the fentanyl crisis. And

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all the drugs coming across the border. And then I

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came across your name and then saw that you were

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a DAA agent and I'm sure experience goes way beyond that,

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but involved in law enforcement, so I thought i'd reach

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out to you. And then I also saw that you

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train other law enforcement agencies still to this day.

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Is that correct? That's correct?

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So I wanted I wanted to talk to you because

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you are an expert on this and the problem I'm

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having that that we're seeing these days with social media

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is everybody has an opinion on something but doesn't have

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all the facts. And so that's the whole reason I

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wanted to talk to just like can we get some

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real inside information on what's really happening, what the realities

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are fact from fiction? And then also want to talk

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about like what you're doing now after you left the

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DEA and how you're still involved in all of this.

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Sure, yeah, perfect. So I was with the DEA for

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twenty three years. Prior to that, I was a police

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officer for five years, so twenty eight years in law

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enforcement in an active capacity, you know, wearing the badge

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and gun. But I still work with law enforcement post

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DEA in a training capacity.

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What's your involvement with training in law enforcement?

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Though?

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Like, what are you doing as force training?

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So I wear a couple of hats. I went to work. Well, Actually,

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when I retired from DEA in twenty twenty two, I

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started my own training and consulting business, Eagle six Training.

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And I don't just train law enforcement, but that's something

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that's the world I navigated in for the last thirty years,

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so I have a lot of contacts and it just

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was a natural fit and I'm doing quite a bit

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with law enforcement in that capacity. And then that led

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me to a risk center. Uh there's six ris centers

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across the United States, and there's one in Missouri that

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serves the Midwest and it's the Midwest Organized Crime Information Center,

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and they hired me as a law enforcement training coordinator.

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Started part time and now now I'm full time and

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I train law enforcement in the nine states that we serve.

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So I do Egle six training in the forty one

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states and MCIC and the nine States. And then I

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started a nonprofit organization of five oh one c three

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IRS recognized nonprofit to address specifically the fentanyl crisis, and

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we're actually expanding into more threats and trends and what

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we can address to make our community safer. And right

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now that focus has been illicit ventanyl.

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What what are you offering through your nonprofit in terms

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of training and awareness when it comes to feneral.

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So we have we have three classes that My flagship

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class is a four hour comprehensive class. It's it's it's

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under It's the Illicit Fentanyl Crisis Understanding, Awareness and Action.

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It's a four hour class and it's it really is

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the kitchen sink. I mean, we talk about you know

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what fentanyl is, you know the fact that only two

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milligrams is enough to kill you if it gets in

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your system, The cartels, the border, social media, the dark web.

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I mean, we really really talk about everything. That presentation

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changes a lot. I keep up to date on a

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lot of the research I get. I have access to

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a lot of the bulletins. Still, I'm still involved with

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a lot of folks at THEA and so I'm quite

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up to date on what's going on in the illicit

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fentanyl world. And so I'm always changing that presentation and

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making sure all the statistics and informations up to date.

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And like I said, that's a four hour, very very

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comprehensive program. I've done ninety five or ninety six now

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across the United States. I have a shorter presentation that

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I call a lunche and learn. I've had a lot

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of executives and senior business leaders that are interested in

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learning more about Listit ventanyl, but they've told me they

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don't have four hours to spare, so they give me

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an hour and they kind of get the overview. That's

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gone really well. And then I have a program I

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called Chattering Dreams, which is for students, and I've done

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it for younger students, but my primary audience so far

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has been high school and college students, and that's really

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just giving them information and making them aware of the

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fentanyl crisis and the changing drug landscape.

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So two milligrams is enough to kill.

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Yeah, two milligrams, So a couple of granules assault or saan.

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Yeah, Okay, it's so potent in that dangerous that but

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there's got to be a max a huge amount of

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profit behind it, because for the cartels, for example, to

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take such a risk of using something that you can

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literally just come in contact with it if it absorbs

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in your skin, right and gets into your bloodstream. Is

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it that dangerous? Can it be that dangerous?

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No? And that that is I'm glad you brought that up.

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So in twenty sixteen, DEA put out a officer safety

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bulletin and then that went to the public as well.

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Is that you know that there was a risk of

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phtonol exposure, that it could absorb in your skin, that

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you know, just being around it could could make you overdose.

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And we now know that's that's that's not factual. We

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know that's that's incorrect, and it's a very dangerous drug

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and we should respect that. But just being around, merely

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being around it, you know, won't won't put anybody in jeopardy. Again,

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respect the drug use, use whatever ppe makes you feel confident.

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You know, I always wear naitral gloves and that's what

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I recommend, and that's what I wore when I was

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around it, and here I am. It has to get

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into your bloodstream. It has to get through a mucous membrane.

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You know, you're snorting it, you're injecting it, you're swallowing

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a pill. It's got to get into your body somehow.

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Just merely being around it or even touching it. It's

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not going not going to cause any harm.

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Is it always a case where finnyls being used to

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as something that's mixed into other drugs? Is it ever

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used just on its own, because I mean two milligrams

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is not a lot. Yeah, how is it being utilized?

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Yeah? So it got into our drug supply via heroin.

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It was when heroin took off. After the legal opioid

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crisis in the nineteen nineties that started with oxyconton, we

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saw an increase in heroin use and the traffickers needed

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to cut heroin, and fentanyl was the perfect cut because

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it is an opioid, so it has the same properties

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as heroin, and it's much cheaper. It's synthetic, and it's

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very potent and it's very addictive. So they started to

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put it into our drug supply via heroin and then

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it just took off and now we see it in cocaine,

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we see it methamphetamine, we see it in all the

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counterfeit pills. Do people use fentanyl alone, Yeah, but typically

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it's through other drugs, you know, the heroin, the cocaine,

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the methinphetamine.

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Uh.

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If you if you find someone who's struggling with substitutes disorders,

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you know, addiction, who is using just fentanyl. That's uh.

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I don't want say it's rare, but uh, I would

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more than likely if you were to follow their path,

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their drug use path, it probably started with another drug

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and then it led to the fentanyl.

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That's actually pretty infortive because I think I think there's

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a lot of misunderstanding on how it was being used

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exactly because uh, you see on the news lately in

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social media, they just talk about fentanyl by itself, and yeah,

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I think some people think it's just they're taking that

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on its own, which would be very dangerous to do.

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So it seems that it's in combination with another drug

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or used to cut another drug.

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Yeah, absolutely, that that's how it's most likely taken and

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and in fact, that's how most people are why they're dying,

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is they have no idea that it's fentanyl in the

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uh in the drugs that they're taking. That's why the

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street drugs are so dangerous right now, is is uh

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you know, you think you're getting a pill, you think

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you're getting percoset or oxy here or know or even adderall.

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It doesn't have to be an opioid and then boom,

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you got fentanyl in it, or you think you're using

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cocaine or method fetamine. There are people using fentanyl, like

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I said, but but typically it's it's in combination with

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another drug.

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Understood, So what's what's driving what's driving fentanyl in its

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use in general? Obviously there's a need or demand. Right,

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We're looking at it from a market or capitalist capitalistic perspective,

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So this is obviously making drugs in general more profitable. Right,

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Who are the major suppliers of fentanyl? I mean, we

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always hear China thrown around, We hear you know, other

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countries and other other nefarious actors involved. But from your experience,

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who are the major players involved that really helped to

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supply this for what it's used for.

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So, so the chemicals, the major players and the chemicals

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are are China. India's number two, but China's number one

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and by far number one. So those chemicals are shipped

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from China primary early into Mexico and the drug cartels

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will take shipment usually at the ports, and then from

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there they're trucked into locations in Mexico where where they're

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you know, their chemicals are made into fentanyl. It's the

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same way they did or they just continue to do

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with methamphetamine. The chemicals come from places like China, they

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come into the ports, they get trucked into the different

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labs and the different locations, and then they make the

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methamphetamine and then they smuggle into the US. The two

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primary organizations in Mexico that are behind that are the

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Sinaloa Cartel, the CDs in the Jalisco New Generation, the CJNG.

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Those are the two primary drug cartels transnational criminal organizations

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that are manufacturing and smuggling fentanyl into the United States.

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So it is primarily China and the Mexican cartels or

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those two Mexican cartels that you mentioned.

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Yes, absolutely, you know, I think about how methanphetamine. You know,

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if if you follow the history of methamphetamine, you remember

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in the in the nineteen nineties and and even in

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the early two thousands, we had a huge meth problem

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in the United States and it's still a big the

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United States. I mean, it's the most c drug in

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the US. But we had a lot of these little

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labs that popped up everywhere, right, and so what do

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we do? We started to regulate the different the chemicals

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like a Federan And to this day, if you need

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like good pseudo fed the strong stuff, you have to

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go to the you know, prescription yeah, or or or

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behind the behind the counter, you have to you have

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to give your driver's licensing and fill that little thing out.

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And what what that did overnight is that it really

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slowed down the small metham fetamine labs in the United States.

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I mean we were getting gosh, we were getting several

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hundred a week to now you might get two a year. Right,

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So at that time the cartel said, hey, wait, this

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is this is a great opportunity. So they went to

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places like China and India. It says, hey, can we

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get these chemicals? Can we get these shipped to us?

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And that's exactly what happened. They started to ship these

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chemicals to them and they would make the meth and

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fetamie and that's where we started the super labs and

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things like that. And give you an idea. I worked

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down on the border from two thousand nine to twenty sixteen,

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and we were paying probably twenty one thousand dollars a

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pound for meth at the time. And they just took

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over and right now, you can buy a pound of

229
00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:20.759
methamphetamine for about anywhere from eight hundred to fifteen hundred

230
00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:25.480
dollars for a pound. It's incredible. So now fast forward

231
00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:30.200
ten twenty years, fentanyl becomes popular. They need, like I

232
00:12:30.200 --> 00:12:32.879
said earlier, they needed a way to cut heroin to

233
00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:36.519
you know, because you never sell a raw product. So

234
00:12:36.679 --> 00:12:39.519
the need for fentanyl grew. And it's such an addictive

235
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substance and it's very cheap, like said, completely synthetic man made.

236
00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:47.559
So they when they were making those phone calls to

237
00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:51.159
the Chinese suppliers and the suppliers in China, they said, hey,

238
00:12:51.559 --> 00:12:55.840
by the way, we need the chemicals to make fentanyl now,

239
00:12:56.440 --> 00:12:59.200
and of course those relationships were already established because of

240
00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:03.000
the meth and fetamine. They're like, yeah, perfect, So yeah, absolutely,

241
00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:06.039
that's that's the pipeline right there, China to the two

242
00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:10.080
main cartels in Mexico, and then it's uh, it's transported

243
00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:12.799
into the US the same way that they've successfully transported

244
00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:14.919
other drugs into the US for decades.

245
00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:19.519
So when politics aside, I'm just going to say, when

246
00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:22.240
so when President Trump says the cartels are a problem

247
00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:24.759
and this is why, and and people think he's being

248
00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:29.559
whatever racis, naphone book, however you want to label it.

249
00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:31.759
He is telling the truth. The cartels are an issue

250
00:13:31.799 --> 00:13:33.919
when it comes to this. Sorry, am I right?

251
00:13:34.519 --> 00:13:38.159
Yeah? And absolutely, and both parties have I have said that,

252
00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:44.159
said that, and I know Trump's a very polarizing figure. Definitely,

253
00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:46.840
but what he said is is not It's not original

254
00:13:46.919 --> 00:13:50.240
or it's not unique. This has been a shared feeling

255
00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:52.720
from from politicians on both sides of the aisle. I

256
00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:55.679
mean one hundred percent. I mean, now the approaches are

257
00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:58.919
a little different, but but yeah, these two and that's why,

258
00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:00.960
you know, for the last gosh, for the last couple

259
00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.960
of years, the strategic focus of DA has been these

260
00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:07.320
to these two cartels. You know, before I retired.

261
00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:09.679
What has been the hurdles Because I know you have

262
00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:12.320
some connections. You can't talk about current investigations, but at

263
00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:15.200
the same time, from your experience and what what you know,

264
00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:17.279
what happened in the hurdles and trying to stop this.

265
00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:21.240
A lot of it has been well, I'm a lot

266
00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:23.879
more freer to speak now since some some no longer

267
00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:26.320
with TA. But along with lot's been the corruption and

268
00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:32.559
the problems in Mexico. Is we have the information. The

269
00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:37.240
pipeline of information, how it flows into Mexico to the

270
00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:39.759
law enforcement and to the folks that are supporting us

271
00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:43.879
is very restrictive now, especially within the last five years,

272
00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.600
very very restrictive. Where we had vetted teams throughout Mexico

273
00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:49.519
and we still do. There's a lot of you know,

274
00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:51.960
Mexico's beautiful country, a lot of great people who really

275
00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:55.600
trying to make it safer and and and and you

276
00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.159
know better, and they want to get rid of this garbage.

277
00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:01.039
But the problem is that the option and the controls

278
00:15:01.080 --> 00:15:04.000
they have really make it hard for us to disseminate

279
00:15:04.039 --> 00:15:06.960
information to the people that can really use it. You know,

280
00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:10.000
I think earlier this year, or actually earlier twenty twenty four,

281
00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:13.759
Rutgers and a couple other organizations were looking at numbers

282
00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:16.480
just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

283
00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:19.159
They wrote, they wrote, you can google this, They wrote

284
00:15:19.159 --> 00:15:21.799
a couple of things on it. We were giving them

285
00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:26.360
information on labs, fentanyl labs, and it was like eighty

286
00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:29.000
some are almost not almost close to ninety percent of

287
00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:32.080
the labs that we gave them information on when they

288
00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:36.039
actually went to go get them were inactive I can

289
00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:40.679
tell you we the US law enforcements not giving bad information.

290
00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:44.320
You know, sometimes you know, informants or information gets stale.

291
00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:47.440
I get it, but it just doesn't make any sense.

292
00:15:47.480 --> 00:15:49.720
I mean, almost ninety percent of the information we're giving

293
00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:52.639
them is no good. No, we wouldn't be wasting our

294
00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:53.159
time like that.

295
00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:55.720
So what does that mean there's someone leaking info? Or

296
00:15:56.039 --> 00:15:58.000
as you said, just there's the corruption.

297
00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:00.799
Yeah, I mean that's the concern, right, I mean, yeah,

298
00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.320
it really is, because because now when when when information

299
00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:06.960
goes down and it gets funneled a certain way, there's

300
00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:09.600
certain offices in Mexico that take that information and they

301
00:16:09.639 --> 00:16:13.039
decide how it's going to get disseminated. And the problem

302
00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:16.200
is is we can't trust that process. You know, I'm

303
00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:19.000
not saying every bit of it's corrupt, but but there

304
00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:22.879
are people who we know have been compromised. So when

305
00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:26.720
that information is just thrown down earth is generalized and

306
00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:29.120
then people get to decide what gets disseminated and where

307
00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:32.279
it gets disseminated, we lose control of that. And when

308
00:16:32.279 --> 00:16:33.960
we lose control that, what do we get? We get

309
00:16:34.039 --> 00:16:37.120
ninety percent inactive labs. That's crazy, right, And that's just

310
00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:40.320
one example. I mean, there's that that's that's been part

311
00:16:40.360 --> 00:16:41.960
of the problem. That's and that's why it's going to

312
00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:46.080
be interesting really to see how Trump deals with Shimbam

313
00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.440
and you know, the tariffs and all the different talk.

314
00:16:50.519 --> 00:16:54.879
You know what, what leveraged can that possibly give the

315
00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:58.480
US to be more effective and have them target there.

316
00:16:58.759 --> 00:17:01.320
Well, what's more, it's more interesting, since you brought that up,

317
00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:06.440
is the current labeling all these cartels as actual foreign

318
00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:11.279
terrorist organizations, which now can involve the military, right Department

319
00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:13.839
of Defense. So that's where it's going to be very interesting,

320
00:17:13.880 --> 00:17:15.359
is how far they want to go to chase these

321
00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:18.240
people down and treat them as true terrorists. What's your

322
00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:18.880
opinion on that.

323
00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:23.359
I'm actually excited for that, and it really I think

324
00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:26.319
it just again it leverages. It gives us some leverage

325
00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:29.799
on our options. I mean, obviously, Mexico's a sovereign nation

326
00:17:29.880 --> 00:17:31.400
and we have to respect that. And I think that's

327
00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:33.680
concern is that, you know, we're just going to let

328
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:35.599
our military run while out in Mexico and I don't.

329
00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:37.519
We've got to figure out that partnership in that, right.

330
00:17:38.119 --> 00:17:40.279
Yeah, there is absolutely a partnership in that, and I

331
00:17:40.279 --> 00:17:43.279
think that's what this does. It enhances our ability to

332
00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:48.480
broaden that partnership and actually get some work done. You know,

333
00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:51.720
their position seems to be, at least publicly as hey,

334
00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:54.079
we're going to take care of this problem, and we're

335
00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:56.119
going to be more aggressive on this. And actually I

336
00:17:56.599 --> 00:17:58.640
just read in the Intel bullets in this morning they've

337
00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:01.680
they've certainly ramped up their enforcement efforts in Mexico over

338
00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:03.920
the last couple of months. And you got to wonder

339
00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:06.759
if that's because of the the fear of the tariffs

340
00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:09.160
and and some of the other economic pressure.

341
00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:09.400
Uh.

342
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:11.640
I mean, for those of you who don't for those

343
00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:14.160
people who don't know, I mean Mexico, their number one

344
00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:16.480
trading partner is the United States. It used to be China,

345
00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:18.880
it's now the United States. So you got a lot

346
00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:21.039
of big companies, a lot of people that are calling

347
00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:23.759
the president and calling their politicians in Mexico saying, hey,

348
00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:26.079
you need to figure out how to play ball with

349
00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:29.039
with Trump rand or the US government because this this

350
00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:32.359
impacts our bottom line and and and that's the reality

351
00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:32.599
of it.

352
00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:35.039
Yeah, it can literally economically crush.

353
00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:37.720
Them absolutely, and and that's a concern. And I think

354
00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:40.599
and that's the leverage we have, and and and again,

355
00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:43.400
not to be political or but because I know again

356
00:18:43.400 --> 00:18:45.920
I know he's a polarizing figure, but but that's I

357
00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:48.119
think that's what he's doing. And I don't want to

358
00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:51.920
speak for him, but that's that's my sense. So that's

359
00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:54.000
that's that's the advantage some of the things that that

360
00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:54.599
he's doing.

361
00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:56.400
I agree with you. I think that's what he was

362
00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:00.279
using the tariffs for was literally a negotiation tactic. You know.

363
00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:02.240
I'm sure he's well aware that we do need our

364
00:19:02.279 --> 00:19:05.279
partners in our allies. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing

365
00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:07.119
a real partnership between Mexico and the United States to

366
00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:10.279
try to stamp this issue out because if anything, it

367
00:19:10.279 --> 00:19:13.079
would help us align with Mexico and helping our ally

368
00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:16.279
eliminate the corruption within and that that would be what

369
00:19:16.279 --> 00:19:18.319
I would hope for, is to see them actually truly

370
00:19:18.359 --> 00:19:21.319
have the ability to live a life out under the

371
00:19:21.319 --> 00:19:23.720
thumb of, let's be honest, a terrorist organization.

372
00:19:24.119 --> 00:19:24.319
Yeah.

373
00:19:24.519 --> 00:19:27.039
I know people from Mexico that have family in Mexico

374
00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:28.279
and that you know, I get a little insights to

375
00:19:28.359 --> 00:19:29.960
what goes on and how the streets and certain towns

376
00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:32.880
are controlled, and it's no way for anyone to live really,

377
00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:35.400
isn't it's a sad state, one.

378
00:19:35.319 --> 00:19:38.079
Hundred percent agree with you. In such a beautiful country,

379
00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:40.279
and there's so many people down there who really truly

380
00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:44.240
do want to, you know, make a positive difference. But

381
00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:46.680
it's a struggle when you live in a you know,

382
00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:49.799
look at the number of politicians that are have been attacked,

383
00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:51.400
you know, look at the number of police officers you've

384
00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:54.640
lost their lives. I mean, it's it's it's scary, it is,

385
00:19:54.680 --> 00:19:57.119
it's a sad state of affairs, and it's unfortunate for

386
00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:57.680
the people there.

387
00:19:58.920 --> 00:20:03.039
Let's shift to the northern though, because how much, how

388
00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:06.680
how serious is the trafficking through through the Canadian border.

389
00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:11.240
Trafficking of fentanyl into the US from Canada isn't, from

390
00:20:11.319 --> 00:20:15.039
my perspective, a huge problem, certainly, not like it is

391
00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:20.519
from our southern border. Canada has some issues itself because

392
00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:24.039
of they've been very progressive in their drug laws, and

393
00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:25.680
it really is starting to bite them in the butt.

394
00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:27.599
You look at the super labs and the amount of

395
00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:31.400
fentanyl seizures in Canada and the problem that they're having

396
00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:36.160
in Canada, uh is, gosh, it's it's it's getting out

397
00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:37.880
of hand, just like it is in the United States.

398
00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:42.480
As far as that those drugs being smuggled into the US,

399
00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:46.039
I haven't seen any significant numbers, certainly, not like we

400
00:20:46.200 --> 00:20:47.200
do on the southern border.

401
00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:48.960
The most of it is staying in Canada.

402
00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:52.640
Yeah, they they they're I mean Mexico has a problem

403
00:20:52.680 --> 00:20:56.279
with with fentanyl as well. I mean, I think of

404
00:20:56.359 --> 00:20:58.599
report just came out like Tijuana is losing like ten

405
00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:01.759
people a day to over is just Tijuana. I mean

406
00:21:01.799 --> 00:21:06.200
that's just one little city, right and Canada is having

407
00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:10.079
a tenfold that problem. They're they're really really struggled.

408
00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:13.160
I know they went through a crazy, uh crazy problem

409
00:21:13.160 --> 00:21:16.160
with methamphetamines too, with meth in general. Once the Hell's

410
00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:18.680
Angels took hold of that area up there for a

411
00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:21.480
long time and a couple of other biker gangs were

412
00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:23.960
dug in and starting to get in, you know, expand

413
00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:26.359
that market out there. So I know that that happened

414
00:21:26.440 --> 00:21:29.640
years back. Is a lot of the drugs though, because

415
00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:31.880
is this true? Is a lot of drugs getting there?

416
00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:33.559
Like the cartels if they're supplying US, why are they

417
00:21:33.559 --> 00:21:35.400
not supplying casts or are there are they coming through

418
00:21:35.480 --> 00:21:40.400
America and smuggling stuff across our border into Canada. Is

419
00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:42.880
that is that a true statement? Is that's what that's happening.

420
00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:46.200
Yeah, there there are There are cartel involvement in Canada

421
00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:50.839
as well. Absolutely, and they also have a problem with

422
00:21:50.920 --> 00:21:54.400
chemicals coming into Canada. And and like you said, the labs,

423
00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:57.400
we're seeing more manu the most manufacturing of fetanyl's O

424
00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:01.440
curring in Mexico. We've certainly seen an increase in Canada.

425
00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:03.680
But yeah, I mean they're they're they're having the same

426
00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:08.000
issues and challenges that we are not at the scale

427
00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:10.359
yet that that we have. I mean, it's unprecedented in

428
00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:12.920
the US. Durd demand for drugs is out of hand here,

429
00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:18.039
but they are certainly are having problems as well. Unfortunately.

430
00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:22.119
Yeah, sod one of those drug issues really become big,

431
00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:23.720
was it pretty much like in the mid to late

432
00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:26.880
eighties with the cocaine craze.

433
00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:29.759
Well, it really depends on I mean, if you if

434
00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:33.559
opioid specific was really the nineteen nineties opioids, Yeah, I

435
00:22:33.559 --> 00:22:35.880
mean we we we had an opioid problem in the

436
00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:39.240
in the eighteen hundreds in the United States following the

437
00:22:39.240 --> 00:22:43.160
Civil War, and if if you really dive into our

438
00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:46.160
history that was the first time we saw widespread addiction.

439
00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:49.920
I mean, we were using morphine and opium for for

440
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.279
everything during the Civil War and and and that caused

441
00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:56.960
widespread addiction. And after the war, those soldiers took that

442
00:22:57.079 --> 00:22:59.400
back to their you know, their homes, their communities, and

443
00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:02.640
we never anything like that before, and we continued to

444
00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:05.000
use it because there wasn't any regulation. There wasn't any

445
00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:09.200
you know, there wasn't it wasn't anything preventing that that

446
00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:12.400
widespread abuse, and it just got worse and worse and worse.

447
00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:16.000
And the early nineteen hundreds we started to we started

448
00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:20.640
to clamp down on that. In fact, the first federal

449
00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:23.559
ban of drugs was opium, first time our government ever

450
00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:27.079
did that. And so from the year and then and

451
00:23:27.079 --> 00:23:29.720
then because of what happened during the Civil Civil War,

452
00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:33.599
we really turned away from pain management. I mean, we

453
00:23:33.720 --> 00:23:37.799
used opioids for pain. But if you had an opioid

454
00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:42.880
prescription from the early nineteen hundreds to nineteen ninety six,

455
00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:47.160
we know the date you were probably dying. I'm not

456
00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:50.039
saying there wasn't some exceptions or people that you know

457
00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:52.559
that that fooled the system. But if you had an

458
00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:56.480
oploid prescription, it was. It wasn't subjective. It was probably objective.

459
00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:58.279
I meaning like the doctor could look at you and

460
00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:00.279
see that your arm was an eight different direction, that

461
00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:01.960
you were probably in pain. You couldn't just go in

462
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:04.519
there and say my back hurts and walk away with

463
00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:07.680
a thirty day script of hydrocodone. Again, I know there's

464
00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:09.519
some exceptions, but for the most part, that's how we

465
00:24:09.559 --> 00:24:13.000
treated pain management. And there was this big, big push

466
00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:15.000
in the United States to change that. And we now

467
00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:17.799
know that that was the pharmaceutical industry was behind that,

468
00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:20.440
and Purdue was the big, the big one, and they

469
00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:22.200
weren't alone, but they were the big one, and there

470
00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:25.279
was million dollars, millions and millions of dollars into this

471
00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:28.960
campaign change the way that we that we treated pain.

472
00:24:29.640 --> 00:24:32.480
And they would tell doctors say, hey, we need to

473
00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:36.079
you know, we've advanced as a society since the Civil

474
00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:39.039
War and the research is clear now that this isn't

475
00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:43.640
as addictive and and they were just beating this drum

476
00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:46.440
for ten twenty years and it worked. In nineteen ninety six,

477
00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:49.400
we added pain as a fifth vital sign, and at

478
00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:51.559
the same time they said, oh, when we have the

479
00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:54.559
pill for you, oxyconton. And it's interesting if you read

480
00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:56.720
some of the Foyer and Sunshine laws and all the

481
00:24:56.920 --> 00:24:58.400
some of the some of the things that have come

482
00:24:58.440 --> 00:25:01.160
out now, you know, and only Purdue was talking about

483
00:25:01.160 --> 00:25:03.880
how this was going to be for terminal cancer patients,

484
00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:06.759
but they agreed that that that pool of people is

485
00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:08.400
too small, and then all of a sudden it was

486
00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:11.200
going to be for everyone, right, And that's exactly what

487
00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:13.400
they did, is they marketed for everyone, and they did

488
00:25:13.400 --> 00:25:15.079
it under the guys at less than one percent of

489
00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:17.400
people will become addicted, and we know that's not true.

490
00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:20.519
It's the name of prophet, really it was. I mean,

491
00:25:20.599 --> 00:25:23.920
we went we had a pill that I think it

492
00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:27.359
took them, you know, three or four years after it

493
00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:30.440
was released. They were they were spending two or three

494
00:25:30.519 --> 00:25:33.480
hundred million dollars a year just on marketing. It was incredible.

495
00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:35.799
And this was a thirty five billion dollar pill. And

496
00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:37.839
again they weren't alone, but this was a big one.

497
00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:39.920
And then you look at what that did. I mean,

498
00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:42.079
we went from think about that, from from the early

499
00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:45.279
nineteen hundreds to nineteen ninety six, if you had an opioid,

500
00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:50.519
you were statistically speaking, probably dying, you know, and then

501
00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:53.359
we went from no, they're safe. So in nineteen ninety

502
00:25:53.400 --> 00:25:57.160
six on, you had your WISDM teeth taken out, you

503
00:25:57.200 --> 00:25:59.960
probably went home with thirty sixty ninety pills, no questions asked.

504
00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:03.359
Your kid hurt their arm throwing baseball in the little

505
00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:06.079
league game, he probably went home with thirty sixty ninety pills,

506
00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:08.240
no question to ask. And then they were going after

507
00:26:08.279 --> 00:26:12.720
the doctors who were who were concerned about this potential

508
00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:15.400
problem of over prescribing, and they would they would threaten

509
00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:18.519
their licenses. And then the government started looking at this

510
00:26:18.680 --> 00:26:20.960
and they started forming the you know, Congress would form

511
00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:22.799
these committees and they'd have these doctors on there. And

512
00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:24.319
we now know a lot of these doctors on these

513
00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:27.559
committees were paid for by and by purdueing the other

514
00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:32.279
pharmaceutical companies. So to give you an idea, by twenty twelve,

515
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:36.200
I think it was eighty one. It was eighty one prescriptions.

516
00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:39.359
Eighty one or eighty two prescriptions per one hundred people,

517
00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:41.640
not one hundred thousand, not a million, but per one

518
00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:46.119
hundred people. So eighty one prescriptions per one hundred people.

519
00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:49.599
Opioid prescriptions. I mean, we were it was literally we're

520
00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:50.759
just giving it up for Nyasy.

521
00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:53.839
Out of every hundred, out of every group of one hundred,

522
00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:55.680
there was eighty one people on opioids.

523
00:26:56.200 --> 00:26:59.599
There were eighty one prescriptions. Yeah for eighty one prescriptions, Yeah, prescriptions.

524
00:27:00.039 --> 00:27:01.839
And to give you an idea, right now, it's come

525
00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:03.559
down quite a bit. Right now, I think the national

526
00:27:03.559 --> 00:27:05.880
average is about thirty seven and a half per one

527
00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:09.240
hundred people. And so one of the things I look at,

528
00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:11.599
especially when I travel, is I look at the counties,

529
00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:14.240
and you know what counties are suffering the most, because

530
00:27:14.279 --> 00:27:17.079
we do see a correlation of high opioid use, legal

531
00:27:17.079 --> 00:27:20.559
opioid use to people turning to the illegal market. And

532
00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:22.880
that's exactly what happened in the nineteen nineties when we

533
00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:25.440
when we were giving opioids out like it was candy,

534
00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:29.000
and we saw more and more opioids out there. You

535
00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:31.319
know a lot of doctors are like, WHOA, this is crazy.

536
00:27:31.319 --> 00:27:33.160
We've been We've been liied to, We've been we've been

537
00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:35.839
fooled by by purduing these other country companies. We can't

538
00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:37.359
just give this stuff out. We gotta a little more

539
00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:40.079
responsible than this. So they started to wean some of

540
00:27:40.119 --> 00:27:43.440
their patients or even just go cold Turkey, and a

541
00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:46.400
lot of these these patients would would uh would just

542
00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:48.240
go to other doctors. And that's when we saw the

543
00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:50.839
pill mills pop up. That's when we see the people

544
00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:52.680
get in their vehicles and they would just drive around

545
00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:54.519
the whole regions and they would just get many pills

546
00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:57.079
as they could, and then if they couldn't, they turned

547
00:27:57.079 --> 00:28:00.680
to the street for for for for heroin. So we

548
00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:03.359
saw a huge spike and haroin. We hadn't seen that

549
00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:05.680
type of spike and hair win since since the Vietnam War.

550
00:28:06.599 --> 00:28:08.240
And then that's how fentanyl came in.

551
00:28:08.359 --> 00:28:10.799
So can we use there's an assumption, by the way,

552
00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:12.960
But from whatever all the information you give me, does

553
00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:16.480
it does it not sound like the cartels are part

554
00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:19.279
of the problem. But the bigger problem to addiction is

555
00:28:20.119 --> 00:28:23.440
internally and kind of fueled or started to be or

556
00:28:23.559 --> 00:28:27.799
was started by the big farmer corporations because they, I mean,

557
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:30.240
I would say they they knew they were peddling something addictive.

558
00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:33.039
They had to. I mean, the more you give someone,

559
00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:35.200
if they like it, they're gonna they're gonna want more

560
00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:35.480
of it.

561
00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:38.319
Yeah, and I agree, and let me let me let

562
00:28:38.359 --> 00:28:40.839
me say this real quick yeah, I have a problem

563
00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:43.119
with the pharmaceutical industry. I have a problem with the cartails.

564
00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:45.240
I have a problem with China. But we do need

565
00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:46.920
to reduce the demand because at the end of the day,

566
00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:49.119
it is our demand that that fuels them and that

567
00:28:49.240 --> 00:28:52.039
and that allows them to be successful and exploit these people.

568
00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:55.240
But to your question, yeah, absolutely, I mean we we

569
00:28:55.319 --> 00:28:58.119
had an industry that that became billion.

570
00:28:58.599 --> 00:29:01.000
Who created the demand though, like we had if we

571
00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:03.839
had to say where it started, how was that demand created?

572
00:29:04.279 --> 00:29:06.920
They created the demand. I mean when we went from

573
00:29:07.160 --> 00:29:10.400
from when we added pain as a fifth final sign

574
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:14.519
and they started to give thirty sixty ninety pills, no

575
00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:17.480
questions asked for just the I mean you ever been

576
00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:19.160
by a pill mill. I mean we used to work

577
00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:21.480
those all the time at DA and you know, they'd

578
00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:23.319
open up at let's say seven in the morning and

579
00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:25.720
buy five thirty. You'd have a one hundred people waiting

580
00:29:25.720 --> 00:29:29.880
in line, you know, And I could tell you tons

581
00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:32.119
of cases investigations we worked. I mean, we had we

582
00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:34.680
had a bad guy who was putting homeless people on

583
00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:37.599
buses and he'd take these people to the pill mills.

584
00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:39.519
They'd go in there and they'd fake you know, my

585
00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:43.039
back hurts, my knee hurts. Whatever. They'd get these scripts,

586
00:29:43.160 --> 00:29:45.160
no questions asked, you know, they just pay their twenty

587
00:29:45.160 --> 00:29:48.359
five thirty dollars copay and then they would they would

588
00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:51.359
be bused to a pharmacy and they would fill these

589
00:29:51.400 --> 00:29:54.119
scripts and then they would be paid twenty thirty bucks

590
00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:56.839
or maybe a bottle liquor or something. And I mean

591
00:29:56.880 --> 00:30:00.000
this was widespread abuse, and it still happens a little bit,

592
00:30:00.119 --> 00:30:03.839
but yeah, it absolutely fueled in nineteen nineties. I mean,

593
00:30:03.880 --> 00:30:06.319
they were out of control. I mean it was it

594
00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:10.000
wasn't until twenty twelve that we actually twenty thirteen when

595
00:30:10.039 --> 00:30:14.880
our government actually declared legal opioids a crisis, you know,

596
00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:16.839
twenty thirteen, and no one even knows that.

597
00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:21.240
So it sounds like that was the gateway basically, like

598
00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:23.680
everything that happened and how it was handled by the

599
00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:27.079
pharmaceutical industry, well, the companies that were involved in pushing

600
00:30:27.079 --> 00:30:30.640
opioids anyway, That's what it sounds like. That's what got

601
00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:35.319
people to start seeking and craving other illicit and illegal

602
00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:38.200
drugs for their own use, because once it was shut off,

603
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:40.039
like hey, you know, law, get a prescription for this now,

604
00:30:40.039 --> 00:30:43.119
you've got to seek another solution to your addiction. Then

605
00:30:43.400 --> 00:30:46.799
enters you know the increase in legal drug use and distribution?

606
00:30:47.720 --> 00:30:49.359
Am I connecting the dots there correctly?

607
00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:55.079
Yes, sir, Absolutely, we saw a substantial increase in heroin use,

608
00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:59.000
and we know there's been a lot of research. At

609
00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:04.000
least eighty percent of heroin users started with legal opioid prescriptions.

610
00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:08.160
Let me repeat that, eighty percent or more of heroin

611
00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:11.799
users started with a legal opioid prescription.

612
00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:14.119
I think that's one of the most important things you've

613
00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:17.319
said so far as far as it relates to the

614
00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:19.920
drug demand and use in the United States. And I

615
00:31:19.960 --> 00:31:23.400
llegal drugs. And what's crazy is when you when you

616
00:31:23.400 --> 00:31:27.200
were given the history on this earlier, the reality is,

617
00:31:27.480 --> 00:31:30.559
how is it okay? How does our administration think it's

618
00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:35.440
okay to market and advertise prescription drug drugs on TV

619
00:31:35.559 --> 00:31:38.480
and radio and other media. The average person has no

620
00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:40.960
idea what these things do. It's just associating the name

621
00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:42.759
of their heads. So when they go to the doctor like, oh,

622
00:31:42.799 --> 00:31:45.000
I heard this might cure this. Can you please give

623
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:47.599
this to me? Isn't that ridiculous?

624
00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:49.799
I agreed. Let me throw another one at you. This

625
00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:53.359
is an opioid related, but it's the same problem. You've

626
00:31:53.400 --> 00:31:55.519
heard we have an adderall shortage in the United States.

627
00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:57.480
I heard something about the kay we don't have a

628
00:31:57.480 --> 00:31:59.240
short shortage. We can't meet the demand.

629
00:31:59.319 --> 00:31:59.960
Is that what it is?

630
00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:02.920
They can't be fast enough. So here you look at

631
00:32:02.920 --> 00:32:04.920
the pharmaceutical industry and what they did in the nineteen

632
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:07.720
nineties and really prior to the nineteen nineties when they

633
00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:10.440
were orchestrating this event to change the way we dealt

634
00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:13.519
with pain. They have been telling us for the last

635
00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:18.920
ten twenty years that our kids need stimulants, you know,

636
00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:22.200
in this medicine. And if you look at the numbers

637
00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:25.200
and you start going into high school, middle school, elementary school,

638
00:32:26.319 --> 00:32:29.160
it's incredible that like you see these slide increases of

639
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:31.920
people using these stimulants, kids using these stimulants, and now

640
00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:35.759
this they've spiked substantially. I mean monitoring the future study

641
00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:39.240
which is which is a huge study out of University

642
00:32:39.279 --> 00:32:42.000
of Michigan. I'm doing it probably twenty five thirty years.

643
00:32:42.680 --> 00:32:45.279
Last year I think was fifteen percent of high school

644
00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:49.880
seniors now say they're under some medical stimulant from a doctor.

645
00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:52.119
Fifteen percent. And then when you again when you go

646
00:32:52.119 --> 00:32:56.799
into middle school, in elementary school, it's increased substantially, and

647
00:32:56.839 --> 00:32:59.440
it doesn't make sense. I mean, I don't study statistics,

648
00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:01.759
but I do know that. You know, with statistics, there's

649
00:33:01.759 --> 00:33:04.839
a there's a there's a an average arrange I figure

650
00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:06.359
what they call that. And then when you look when

651
00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:09.119
you see those those spikes, you look at them, why

652
00:33:09.119 --> 00:33:11.240
are those spike? And then we're seeing.

653
00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:13.000
That, Yeah, well, you're what you do is you start

654
00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:16.240
to correlate the data. I mean you're correlating the data.

655
00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:19.359
And then after that, outside of correlating the data, you

656
00:33:19.400 --> 00:33:22.640
start to recognize patterns and so that that's that's what

657
00:33:22.680 --> 00:33:25.599
you're seeing is in these reports. It's like, hold on,

658
00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:29.119
there's a correlation here. Let me see. Uh, there's more

659
00:33:29.160 --> 00:33:33.319
adderall or whatever types of drugs being prescribed, more demand

660
00:33:33.359 --> 00:33:36.359
for this drug that drug, and you're seeing the spikes

661
00:33:36.359 --> 00:33:38.359
on these reports, like, yeah, there's a correlation there. There's

662
00:33:38.359 --> 00:33:41.880
something going on. This is absolutely connected. So it's crazy

663
00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:43.839
that we have this data and yet we don't really

664
00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:46.599
do anything about it, or on the surface, it doesn't

665
00:33:46.599 --> 00:33:47.480
look that way anyway.

666
00:33:48.039 --> 00:33:50.920
No, I agree, And what's interesting is is we're supposed

667
00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:52.480
to use this data. Like one of the things DEA

668
00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:53.920
does A lot of people don't know this is they

669
00:33:53.920 --> 00:33:57.640
have what we call quotas and and working with the FDA,

670
00:33:57.799 --> 00:34:01.000
DEA regulates the amount of drug drugs. And I've never

671
00:34:01.079 --> 00:34:05.039
worked in this section, so hopeful I'm not messing up

672
00:34:05.079 --> 00:34:07.759
the description of this. But basically what they do is

673
00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:12.400
they monitor and they regulate the amount of the drugs

674
00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:17.440
that are pharmaceutical company manufacturers. And like I said, we

675
00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:20.760
can no longer meet the demand of adderall. So people

676
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:23.440
were freaking out, like where's our adderalls or adderall? So

677
00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:25.360
what do they do? They go to their congressmen, and

678
00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:27.719
they go to their senators, and then they come to

679
00:34:27.800 --> 00:34:30.159
DA and say, hey, you need to increase your quotas.

680
00:34:30.519 --> 00:34:32.800
And if you follow the money again, this goes right

681
00:34:32.840 --> 00:34:36.039
back to the pharmaceutical industry, and they are putting a

682
00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:39.119
lot of pressure on their senators and congressmen to tell

683
00:34:39.239 --> 00:34:41.199
DA and the FDA and the federal government, hey, you

684
00:34:41.239 --> 00:34:44.079
need to increase the manufacturing numbers. And that's exactly what

685
00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:46.079
we've did. So if you look at the number of

686
00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:50.320
let me time myself out for just a second. I

687
00:34:50.440 --> 00:34:52.199
know there are kids out there who need certain things.

688
00:34:52.239 --> 00:34:53.880
I get it. I'm not telling people how to parent,

689
00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:56.679
but it doesn't make sense when you look at the

690
00:34:56.760 --> 00:34:59.840
overall numbers. We are feed our kids drugs and an

691
00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:03.039
earth earlier age these stimulates and it's already having impact.

692
00:35:03.559 --> 00:35:07.639
I work with law enforcement every state, and the number

693
00:35:07.639 --> 00:35:10.039
of narcotic agents who've told me that, hey, we've already

694
00:35:10.039 --> 00:35:13.119
seen an increase in methamphetamine and cocaine arrests from young people.

695
00:35:14.119 --> 00:35:17.400
If you look at the number of people dying from psychostimulants,

696
00:35:17.480 --> 00:35:21.559
cocaine and methamphetamine, it's increased, and sadly, I think it's

697
00:35:21.599 --> 00:35:23.880
going to continue to increase, especially for our young people.

698
00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:26.599
The same thing, it really pisses me out. The same

699
00:35:26.679 --> 00:35:29.320
thing that happened in the nineteen nineties with the pharmaceutical

700
00:35:29.320 --> 00:35:35.519
industry targeting opioids happen with psychostimulants and we just let

701
00:35:35.599 --> 00:35:38.519
it happen. And that's a trend in the next five

702
00:35:38.599 --> 00:35:40.480
ten years, people like me are going to be talking

703
00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:43.400
about in schools and you know, after the fact, because

704
00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:46.519
you know, we're a react to society. We're never proactive.

705
00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:49.400
I've said that more than once. I agree with you.

706
00:35:49.480 --> 00:35:53.280
We are way too reactive, way too reactive. So even

707
00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:56.519
if we get the cartels are an issue regardless. I

708
00:35:56.559 --> 00:35:59.960
mean it's everything from sex, trafficking, violence, you name, everything else,

709
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:01.719
not just drugs. So we do got to get a

710
00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:03.719
handle on that. But it sounds like our drug issue

711
00:36:03.800 --> 00:36:07.159
is not going to really make a difference until we

712
00:36:07.480 --> 00:36:10.159
change how we handle the pharmaceutical industry and the medical

713
00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:14.679
industry in general when it comes to these addictive prescription drugs.

714
00:36:15.880 --> 00:36:18.719
Yeah, and that's a challenge because that's where the money is.

715
00:36:18.840 --> 00:36:21.599
It's I mean, you look, you know, we talked about

716
00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:23.679
the opioid crisis, and I told you about like, you know,

717
00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:27.039
OxyContin and how by twenty twelve we hit like eighty

718
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:31.000
eighty two prescriptions per one hundred people. We here in

719
00:36:31.079 --> 00:36:34.440
twenty sixteen Congress passes and it was pretty much an

720
00:36:34.480 --> 00:36:37.719
anonymous bill. I mean, both Republicans and Democrats supported it,

721
00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:39.760
and I forget the name of the bill, but it

722
00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:42.840
was it was basically to make DEA's job harder to

723
00:36:42.960 --> 00:36:46.960
go after suspicious drug suppliers. And this was and if

724
00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:49.840
you follow the money, it was the pharm seal clindustry

725
00:36:50.320 --> 00:36:52.960
that puts money in both both parties pockets and this

726
00:36:53.079 --> 00:36:55.920
was in twenty sixteen. We already had a problem in.

727
00:36:55.960 --> 00:36:58.360
This crazy So they're putting money in their pockets, but

728
00:36:58.400 --> 00:37:01.559
it's considered lobbying, right quotes for people who aren't watching us,

729
00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:06.320
So it's lobbying, and they're able to influence policy by lobbying, right,

730
00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:09.880
And you can't go after them because the company is

731
00:37:10.039 --> 00:37:12.679
its own entity, which is kind of its own person.

732
00:37:12.840 --> 00:37:15.079
So you're not really directly going after the people making

733
00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:18.239
the actual decisions unless you can all recal I guess, right,

734
00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:21.719
correlate their actions to what's going on in the company.

735
00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:24.199
Is that right? Am I on the right path there?

736
00:37:24.840 --> 00:37:29.320
Yeah? You're absolutely. Yeah. It's it's frustrating, it really is. Yeah.

737
00:37:30.159 --> 00:37:32.920
It's like it's like when they were convenient committees and

738
00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:34.800
they put these doctors together, and we now know that

739
00:37:34.880 --> 00:37:37.119
a significant number of these doctors were bought and paid for,

740
00:37:37.960 --> 00:37:39.800
you know, by the by the companies that they were

741
00:37:40.119 --> 00:37:43.159
there to talk about. I mean, that's what kind of

742
00:37:43.320 --> 00:37:45.239
conflict of your interest is that at the end of

743
00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:48.239
the day. I just don't know how people can go

744
00:37:48.360 --> 00:37:50.280
to bed at night, you know, how do they look

745
00:37:50.280 --> 00:37:52.079
in themselves in the mirror and then and then close

746
00:37:52.119 --> 00:37:54.599
their eyes and think, man, what are we doing? I mean,

747
00:37:54.760 --> 00:37:58.000
the greed and the it's just disgusting and that that's

748
00:37:58.039 --> 00:38:01.480
something that really just quite frankly pisses me off as

749
00:38:01.519 --> 00:38:02.000
well well.

750
00:38:02.039 --> 00:38:05.199
And that and so when when Scheinbaum said, you know,

751
00:38:05.719 --> 00:38:07.840
President Mexico, when she made that statement, people hate it.

752
00:38:07.880 --> 00:38:11.199
It's like all over acts everywhere, especially especially the hard

753
00:38:11.320 --> 00:38:13.920
right conservatives, were like, how dare she say that the

754
00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:15.760
only way we can hand the cartels are one way

755
00:38:15.800 --> 00:38:19.039
is to decrease the demand in the United States, like

756
00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:21.039
we're craving it, so that's why it's being sold. So

757
00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:24.199
she is spot on that in that statement. But you know,

758
00:38:24.239 --> 00:38:27.599
it's not the it's not the complete answer, but she

759
00:38:27.880 --> 00:38:28.880
is correct.

760
00:38:29.800 --> 00:38:32.440
You, No, it is a holistic answer, right, Like you said,

761
00:38:32.480 --> 00:38:34.719
I mean, we gotta we gotta take we gotta we

762
00:38:34.800 --> 00:38:39.159
gotta have some challenge, challenging questions and discussions within our

763
00:38:39.199 --> 00:38:42.679
own country and our own pharmaceuical industry and and a

764
00:38:42.719 --> 00:38:44.320
lot of things, not just them. You know, I know

765
00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:47.000
we're picking on them, but I also agree with the

766
00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:49.199
fact that we knew we need to reduce the demand.

767
00:38:49.239 --> 00:38:51.719
I mean, look at the global population of the world.

768
00:38:52.159 --> 00:38:54.800
The US is about four or maybe four and a

769
00:38:54.840 --> 00:38:58.000
half percent of the global population. The entire world population.

770
00:38:58.119 --> 00:39:00.519
We only represent four and a half percent, let's say.

771
00:39:01.360 --> 00:39:04.159
Yet we consume the most amount of drugs in the world. Yeah,

772
00:39:04.239 --> 00:39:06.400
and you can look at study after study after ste.

773
00:39:06.639 --> 00:39:08.679
We are the market, right, We're the global market.

774
00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:11.800
We are the market. And people can say, oh, you're

775
00:39:11.920 --> 00:39:16.400
thinking of third world countries. No, USC did a study

776
00:39:16.480 --> 00:39:20.199
back in twenty nineteen and they looked at just first

777
00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:24.599
world countries, you know, the England, Germany, Italy, Australia, just

778
00:39:25.039 --> 00:39:28.800
the big countries. Right, Your chances from dying from drugs

779
00:39:29.400 --> 00:39:32.119
are three times greater than those countries, the two lowest

780
00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:34.400
in the world, Italy and Japan. Your chances from dying

781
00:39:34.440 --> 00:39:37.039
from drugs in the US twenty seven times greater than

782
00:39:37.079 --> 00:39:39.760
those two countries. Your chances are from dying from drugs

783
00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:42.159
in the US by age fifty greater than any of

784
00:39:42.199 --> 00:39:45.119
those countries. I mean, we have to reduce the demand.

785
00:39:45.239 --> 00:39:50.639
So in a started by our own health care industry,

786
00:39:50.760 --> 00:39:52.719
for example, hooking our own people on this.

787
00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:56.320
Yeah, that was certainly certainly didn't hurt.

788
00:39:56.360 --> 00:39:57.880
That's a blunt way to say it, but I mean

789
00:39:58.119 --> 00:39:59.559
that's what it is right.

790
00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:03.840
Yeah, yeah, I mean a lot of people were exploiting

791
00:40:04.119 --> 00:40:04.519
from with it.

792
00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:06.320
Let me let me be clear, I'm not I'm not

793
00:40:06.440 --> 00:40:09.400
saying that every doctor's bad like I'm with I'm not

794
00:40:09.519 --> 00:40:12.039
saying that. But if you're looking at the facts and

795
00:40:12.159 --> 00:40:16.159
data in all of all the years, you know, all

796
00:40:16.199 --> 00:40:18.119
of it back to when you were talking about the

797
00:40:18.159 --> 00:40:21.000
nineties and et cetera, it all leads back to that,

798
00:40:21.559 --> 00:40:24.199
it really does, and the greed of the people who

799
00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:27.320
are making the policy decisions. It's insane.

800
00:40:27.840 --> 00:40:30.079
I don't I don't disagree with you. I I that's

801
00:40:30.199 --> 00:40:33.760
it is insane, And that's the ethical and moral issues

802
00:40:33.800 --> 00:40:37.519
there that that's that's what That's what really bothers me.

803
00:40:37.559 --> 00:40:40.599
I know there's criminal activity, but but how do people again,

804
00:40:40.679 --> 00:40:42.119
how do they how do they look themselves in the

805
00:40:42.360 --> 00:40:42.880
in the mirror?

806
00:40:42.920 --> 00:40:45.320
And do you know if do you know of anything

807
00:40:45.360 --> 00:40:50.400
that's being done now to help with that situation with

808
00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:54.159
our prescription with our prescription drug problem. Are are they

809
00:40:54.199 --> 00:40:56.719
still focusing on that? Is that still something that's being

810
00:40:57.400 --> 00:40:59.480
looked at or did they kind of just step away

811
00:40:59.519 --> 00:41:01.800
from it after ninety six or seven and say, well,

812
00:41:01.840 --> 00:41:04.119
we kind of we did what we did now we're good.

813
00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:07.760
No, we once it hit its peak, which was twenty

814
00:41:07.960 --> 00:41:10.280
twelve and twenty thirteen, our government says, hey, we have

815
00:41:10.360 --> 00:41:14.039
a problem. So in twenty thirteen, yeah, so we've seen it.

816
00:41:14.280 --> 00:41:17.000
We started to regulate it more so we we've seen

817
00:41:17.039 --> 00:41:18.960
a significant increase. So we went from, like I said,

818
00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:22.199
around eighty one eighty two prescriptions per one hundred people

819
00:41:22.199 --> 00:41:25.079
to where we are now, which is thirty seven and

820
00:41:25.119 --> 00:41:27.079
a half. I believe as of twenty twenty four.

821
00:41:27.320 --> 00:41:29.320
Still a bit though it is.

822
00:41:29.480 --> 00:41:31.639
And then you know, like I said, when I travel,

823
00:41:31.679 --> 00:41:34.199
I actually look at the states that I travel in,

824
00:41:34.280 --> 00:41:39.119
and some some states are significantly high. And let's give

825
00:41:39.119 --> 00:41:41.360
you an example of the worst in the Well, the

826
00:41:42.360 --> 00:41:45.000
number one state in the United States for drug deaths

827
00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:47.719
is West Virginia. And if you look at the history

828
00:41:47.760 --> 00:41:49.840
of West Virginia, they were really ground zero for the

829
00:41:49.920 --> 00:41:53.039
OPIOAI crisis. So there is a correlation there. And then

830
00:41:53.039 --> 00:41:55.480
if you start diving into the counties in West Virginia,

831
00:41:56.239 --> 00:41:59.480
there were six counties that had over two hundred prescriptions

832
00:41:59.519 --> 00:42:03.320
per hundred people, two hundred plus prescriptions, and there's still

833
00:42:03.320 --> 00:42:06.119
a lot of they're still struggling in West Virginia with

834
00:42:07.239 --> 00:42:10.920
with overdoses and drug poisonings and and and legal opioids,

835
00:42:10.960 --> 00:42:13.679
and it's just it's it's going to take time.

836
00:42:13.960 --> 00:42:16.239
Is educating people enough though? I mean a lot of

837
00:42:16.239 --> 00:42:18.760
people say, well, if if you were educated, or if

838
00:42:18.760 --> 00:42:21.559
you're educated about how these drugs affect you, you wouldn't

839
00:42:21.840 --> 00:42:24.559
you wouldn't take them, or or you know, so easily

840
00:42:24.599 --> 00:42:27.440
take the prescription for example. Is that a true statement?

841
00:42:27.519 --> 00:42:28.320
Is education enough?

842
00:42:29.119 --> 00:42:30.760
Or or is it?

843
00:42:31.039 --> 00:42:33.280
I'm sorry to second part I forgot. I didn't mean

844
00:42:33.320 --> 00:42:36.239
to cut up sores. Here's the two part. Is education enough?

845
00:42:36.400 --> 00:42:39.000
And and two if they are educated, is it still

846
00:42:39.079 --> 00:42:41.719
enough to overcome the money behind the big farm in

847
00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:45.639
industry Because with all the advertisements and everything that's going

848
00:42:45.679 --> 00:42:49.719
on behind them peddling the drugs and associating it with

849
00:42:49.880 --> 00:42:54.719
this with its current with this current use case. Right,

850
00:42:55.039 --> 00:42:57.159
so I have a bad back, Hence I need to

851
00:42:57.280 --> 00:43:00.559
use brand a Right. So, is education enough? And is

852
00:43:00.599 --> 00:43:02.639
it enough to compete with the money that big forma has?

853
00:43:03.880 --> 00:43:05.679
I don't think it's enough on its own, but I

854
00:43:06.039 --> 00:43:10.039
certainly think it's an important uh in the in the solution.

855
00:43:11.119 --> 00:43:13.280
To me, this is a is not a complex solution.

856
00:43:13.400 --> 00:43:15.679
I think, I think it has to be a holistic

857
00:43:15.719 --> 00:43:17.639
I think it has to be different, you know. I

858
00:43:17.679 --> 00:43:20.159
think we we have to ramp up our our our

859
00:43:20.760 --> 00:43:26.840
efforts and our strategic focus on the two cartels. But

860
00:43:26.960 --> 00:43:30.920
I think the education part is is important. It's one

861
00:43:31.000 --> 00:43:33.719
thing that I've really dedicated you know, this portion of

862
00:43:33.760 --> 00:43:36.039
my life too, and it's why I started a nonprofit.

863
00:43:38.159 --> 00:43:42.400
I truly believe that information empowers people. I really do,

864
00:43:42.599 --> 00:43:45.239
especially young people. I know that we're going to be

865
00:43:45.280 --> 00:43:48.039
faced or I know that they're going to be faced

866
00:43:48.039 --> 00:43:50.199
with with a lot of decisions and and and sometimes

867
00:43:50.320 --> 00:43:52.039
you know, even with the right information, they're still going

868
00:43:52.119 --> 00:43:55.880
to make, you know, bad decisions. But it does work,

869
00:43:55.960 --> 00:43:57.880
and and there is a lot of research that says

870
00:43:57.920 --> 00:44:00.840
that people that have, especially young people, have the information

871
00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:05.239
are less likely not not no, but less likely to

872
00:44:05.360 --> 00:44:09.320
make those bad decisions. But on its own, no, I think.

873
00:44:09.400 --> 00:44:11.440
I again, I think we have to we have to

874
00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:15.199
approach us from from several different angles. And and like

875
00:44:15.320 --> 00:44:17.960
you said the second part of your question there, I mean,

876
00:44:18.440 --> 00:44:22.039
we're facing an industry that throws you know, billions of

877
00:44:22.119 --> 00:44:26.079
dollars and it's always, it's always that you look at smoking.

878
00:44:26.119 --> 00:44:27.639
I mean we we've made we made a lot of

879
00:44:27.679 --> 00:44:30.920
progress at smoking, especially for young people. And now I

880
00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:33.039
mean what did what did a lot of these companies

881
00:44:33.079 --> 00:44:36.119
do They turned their focus to like vaping and yeah,

882
00:44:36.159 --> 00:44:39.440
and in marijuana and things like that. So now we're

883
00:44:41.039 --> 00:44:46.239
we're starting the same thing with this new generation, trying

884
00:44:46.239 --> 00:44:48.360
to warn them just like we did back you know,

885
00:44:48.480 --> 00:44:50.199
twenty or thirty years ago on smoking.

886
00:44:50.360 --> 00:44:54.079
Right, and yeah, it's it's like these big pharma companies

887
00:44:54.159 --> 00:44:57.119
really have a huge hand and a social engineering or

888
00:44:57.639 --> 00:45:00.599
engineering of our culture. And I I think the I

889
00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:02.800
think the education part is important. I wanted your perspective

890
00:45:02.800 --> 00:45:04.920
on because the only way to change a culture or

891
00:45:05.039 --> 00:45:06.679
habit of culture is to start with the youth and

892
00:45:06.760 --> 00:45:09.119
then generationally, eventually you'll be able to make that change.

893
00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:11.480
So it's not gonna be overnight, but we've got to start.

894
00:45:11.519 --> 00:45:13.519
We've got to start and stick to the plan. Sounds

895
00:45:13.559 --> 00:45:15.800
like that's exactly what you're doing with with your two companies,

896
00:45:15.840 --> 00:45:19.280
and you're with your nonprofit and your egal six because

897
00:45:19.280 --> 00:45:21.679
even your egal six you train law enforcement on some

898
00:45:21.719 --> 00:45:22.360
of the stuff as well.

899
00:45:22.440 --> 00:45:25.440
Right, we do, Yeah, we we get into more you know,

900
00:45:25.519 --> 00:45:27.760
smother things. Leadership and smother things that I have been

901
00:45:27.800 --> 00:45:32.119
interest in. But but yeah, certainly, and I I agree.

902
00:45:32.159 --> 00:45:34.079
I mean if we can, if we can change a

903
00:45:34.159 --> 00:45:38.039
generation and get them to think differently than than, that

904
00:45:38.199 --> 00:45:40.280
sets us up for success in the future. And that's

905
00:45:40.320 --> 00:45:40.679
what we need.

906
00:45:41.159 --> 00:45:42.840
Well, back to the cartels. Are we on the right

907
00:45:42.880 --> 00:45:46.400
path so far? Are we? I mean labeling a terrorist organization?

908
00:45:46.599 --> 00:45:46.719
Is that?

909
00:45:46.880 --> 00:45:48.760
Is that the right? Is that the perfect way to

910
00:45:48.840 --> 00:45:51.199
start this by actually saying, yeah, it's a serious I

911
00:45:51.480 --> 00:45:51.760
think so.

912
00:45:51.920 --> 00:45:54.239
I yeah, I mean we got to address it. I

913
00:45:54.280 --> 00:45:55.679
mean we you know, and that's that's one thing I

914
00:45:55.760 --> 00:45:58.159
do like about you know that that we're we're actually

915
00:45:58.199 --> 00:46:00.639
having this conversation nationally now. It's you know, and I

916
00:46:00.760 --> 00:46:02.719
know that there's still people that are playing politics and

917
00:46:03.280 --> 00:46:05.039
because it came out of his mouth and there are

918
00:46:05.119 --> 00:46:07.519
people that have to just you know, oppose it just

919
00:46:07.559 --> 00:46:08.239
because it was him.

920
00:46:08.920 --> 00:46:10.960
People are very team oriented, you know what I'm saying.

921
00:46:11.119 --> 00:46:16.960
Yeah, and you know, uh, Derek Maltz uh. I know

922
00:46:17.039 --> 00:46:19.199
there's been some change the DA this last couple of days,

923
00:46:19.239 --> 00:46:21.480
but you know, he he I think he's still the

924
00:46:21.480 --> 00:46:23.679
acting administrator. I mean, he always says and I steal

925
00:46:23.760 --> 00:46:25.840
this line it's not a red issue or a blue issue.

926
00:46:25.880 --> 00:46:27.599
It's a red, white and blue issue. And I who

927
00:46:27.679 --> 00:46:30.199
hardly agree. I mean, we've got to take off our

928
00:46:30.599 --> 00:46:32.960
rs and r d's and say, hey, you know this

929
00:46:33.119 --> 00:46:35.760
is this is killing our country, especially our young people.

930
00:46:35.880 --> 00:46:39.280
And so I think, uh, I'm happy that we're having

931
00:46:39.320 --> 00:46:42.320
this discussion nationally, you know, I I I don't know

932
00:46:42.559 --> 00:46:45.679
how it's gonna end up with with us in Mexico,

933
00:46:45.880 --> 00:46:48.440
but but hey, you know what, both parts, both both

934
00:46:48.480 --> 00:46:51.039
countries are at the table talking and that's exactly what

935
00:46:51.119 --> 00:46:52.039
we need. We need action.

936
00:46:52.440 --> 00:46:55.159
Yeah, we do, absolutely, and and it's it's it is

937
00:46:55.280 --> 00:46:58.320
a uh, there's not it's not like a blanket solution

938
00:46:58.400 --> 00:46:59.920
to this. I mean, we got to change our cultural

939
00:47:00.079 --> 00:47:02.760
perspective on how we use drugs and how we think

940
00:47:02.840 --> 00:47:06.320
drugs are beneficial to us, right. I think they need

941
00:47:06.400 --> 00:47:09.880
to stop letting big pharma advertise like that's got to stop.

942
00:47:10.159 --> 00:47:13.119
That's got to stop. Advertisement is meant for you to

943
00:47:13.639 --> 00:47:15.599
recognize a brand. And if you're at the point where

944
00:47:15.599 --> 00:47:19.079
you recognize a prescription drug brand at that like every

945
00:47:19.159 --> 00:47:21.519
day in your life for like you know, oh o zempa,

946
00:47:21.559 --> 00:47:22.760
I'm just doing out there by the way. I'm not

947
00:47:22.840 --> 00:47:25.880
talking bad about it, but just saying everybody knows it now, right,

948
00:47:26.079 --> 00:47:27.360
So the first thing you think when you want to

949
00:47:27.360 --> 00:47:30.280
lose weight is ozempic. That's exactly what marketing does. And

950
00:47:30.760 --> 00:47:32.639
the fact that they're allowing big pharma to do that

951
00:47:32.719 --> 00:47:35.199
in America is ridiculous. I don't think I don't think

952
00:47:35.239 --> 00:47:36.960
any of the country allows that currently.

953
00:47:37.320 --> 00:47:40.440
No, you know, it's it's funny when I my four

954
00:47:40.480 --> 00:47:42.400
hour class, I do dive into a little bit of

955
00:47:42.760 --> 00:47:47.000
the history of the pharmaceutical industry, and interestingly enough, it

956
00:47:47.079 --> 00:47:49.320
actually goes back to a guy named Arthur Sackler. And

957
00:47:50.559 --> 00:47:53.559
if you know that name Sackler, that's because Richard Sackler

958
00:47:53.719 --> 00:47:56.199
was the head of Purdue, you know during the release

959
00:47:56.559 --> 00:47:58.800
ninety six. But his uncle is a guy named Arthur,

960
00:47:58.880 --> 00:48:01.920
and Arthur was a He was a doctor as well,

961
00:48:01.960 --> 00:48:07.440
but he was actually an advertising quote unquote genius. In fact,

962
00:48:07.519 --> 00:48:09.559
they say that he invented the wheel when it came

963
00:48:09.639 --> 00:48:11.960
to modern medical advertising, and a lot of things that

964
00:48:12.119 --> 00:48:18.239
he did back in the fifties are regulated today that

965
00:48:18.320 --> 00:48:21.159
they can't do. I mean, he was uber aggressive, I

966
00:48:21.199 --> 00:48:24.480
mean pharmaceutical reps. He actually is the guy that started it.

967
00:48:25.199 --> 00:48:27.000
They called him detail men. So he was the first

968
00:48:27.039 --> 00:48:32.199
guy that said, hey, we need to we can't target patients.

969
00:48:32.239 --> 00:48:34.760
We can't target people because they're idiots. We need to

970
00:48:34.800 --> 00:48:37.039
go out to the physicians and we need to keep

971
00:48:37.159 --> 00:48:40.079
records on them, and we need to educate the physicians

972
00:48:40.119 --> 00:48:42.960
that aren't prescribing enough, and we need to use the

973
00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:45.840
ones that are and reward them and use them to

974
00:48:46.119 --> 00:48:49.239
educate the ones that aren't prescribing enough. And he was

975
00:48:49.360 --> 00:48:52.360
just very aggressive. And if you look at his history

976
00:48:53.119 --> 00:48:57.840
and how successful he made the pharmaceutical industry. I mean Pfizer,

977
00:48:57.960 --> 00:49:00.400
I mean Terrimizing that was released in nineteen fifty. He

978
00:49:00.480 --> 00:49:03.079
made them a household name. This was forty thirty or

979
00:49:03.119 --> 00:49:05.599
forty years before Viagra came out. I mean that's just

980
00:49:05.679 --> 00:49:09.039
one example. A valume diazepam. I mean, he made them

981
00:49:09.280 --> 00:49:12.599
the first pharmaceutical to make a billion dollars in sales.

982
00:49:12.679 --> 00:49:15.840
That's crazy, billion dollars in sales. That's crazy, absolutely, And

983
00:49:15.960 --> 00:49:19.679
it was very in your face aggressive advertising. And like

984
00:49:19.760 --> 00:49:23.119
I said, it may not seem like it, but there

985
00:49:23.159 --> 00:49:26.400
are a lot of restrictions on them. You know, I

986
00:49:26.519 --> 00:49:28.360
think we both agree there probably needs to be more.

987
00:49:29.480 --> 00:49:31.840
But a lot of the current restrictions are because of

988
00:49:31.960 --> 00:49:35.199
some of the stuff that he invented. Uh So it's

989
00:49:35.239 --> 00:49:37.920
and it's just fascinating because here's here's a Sackler and

990
00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:41.760
then you look, you know, forty years later, his his nephew,

991
00:49:41.880 --> 00:49:45.119
Richard Sackler, would would make them billionaires and then run

992
00:49:45.199 --> 00:49:45.960
them into the ground.

993
00:49:46.199 --> 00:49:50.039
That just that just speaks to the That just speaks

994
00:49:50.079 --> 00:49:51.960
to how far they will go to make a dollar.

995
00:49:52.280 --> 00:49:55.440
Because if they're if they're looking at their product that

996
00:49:55.719 --> 00:49:59.920
that that can be addictive, for example, can be addictive,

997
00:50:00.039 --> 00:50:02.920
and they know this, They know that certain drugs have

998
00:50:02.960 --> 00:50:07.119
side effects, and they're knowingly advertising it in the ways

999
00:50:07.159 --> 00:50:09.840
that they do. That just tells you what they really

1000
00:50:09.920 --> 00:50:12.079
care about. Are they really caring about treating people and

1001
00:50:12.199 --> 00:50:15.599
offering them pain management or are they just really looking

1002
00:50:15.639 --> 00:50:17.000
for as much profit that they can make.

1003
00:50:18.360 --> 00:50:22.079
I'd make an argument that at least with Purdue, they

1004
00:50:22.079 --> 00:50:24.119
were it was about profit. I mean, we know that

1005
00:50:24.199 --> 00:50:27.280
from a lot of internal documents, and I think you

1006
00:50:27.320 --> 00:50:29.280
could make that argument with a lot of the companies.

1007
00:50:29.360 --> 00:50:32.320
I mean, at least you could certainly a question we

1008
00:50:32.400 --> 00:50:35.159
could ask. It's also around the food industry. You know,

1009
00:50:36.360 --> 00:50:38.239
the Fielders that I actually did a show where I

1010
00:50:38.239 --> 00:50:41.840
did deep dive on this and the ingredients that are

1011
00:50:41.880 --> 00:50:44.599
using food here in America would never be using the EU.

1012
00:50:44.679 --> 00:50:47.880
They're labeled as poisonous substances, but yet we're consuming them.

1013
00:50:48.239 --> 00:50:50.679
It was about almost a three hour episode where I

1014
00:50:50.719 --> 00:50:54.000
really dove into all this and it's ridiculous what we're

1015
00:50:54.000 --> 00:50:56.039
allowed to use here in what the FDA says is

1016
00:50:56.360 --> 00:50:59.719
suitable for consumption, that in the EU they wouldn't even touch,

1017
00:51:00.039 --> 00:51:02.639
even touch even even the foods we have for example,

1018
00:51:02.760 --> 00:51:05.280
like craft of st macaron and cheese. Yeah, if it's

1019
00:51:05.320 --> 00:51:07.119
shipped to the EU or or let's say, even if

1020
00:51:07.159 --> 00:51:10.559
it was to Italy, the cheese substance they use, the

1021
00:51:10.639 --> 00:51:14.599
powdered cheese substance, is entirely different to those countries than

1022
00:51:14.639 --> 00:51:15.639
what we're consuming.

1023
00:51:15.679 --> 00:51:18.199
What's what's considered acceptable for us to have. So it's

1024
00:51:18.239 --> 00:51:20.320
not like you said, it's not just the farm and industry.

1025
00:51:20.920 --> 00:51:25.960
It's it's ridiculous that it's it's like money before health, right, money,

1026
00:51:26.039 --> 00:51:29.400
money before looking out for the welfare of the actual people.

1027
00:51:29.960 --> 00:51:32.760
It is. I was in I was in Germany last week.

1028
00:51:32.880 --> 00:51:36.880
I I uh and I was I had some I

1029
00:51:36.960 --> 00:51:39.719
had some French fries and I was eaten ketchup right,

1030
00:51:40.800 --> 00:51:43.280
and I was like, why is this ketchup tastes like different?

1031
00:51:44.679 --> 00:51:47.039
And and I realized it was.

1032
00:51:47.880 --> 00:51:50.239
Like real, it was fresh, just tomatoes and maybe a

1033
00:51:50.280 --> 00:51:52.320
little sugar. It wasn't some vinegar.

1034
00:51:52.440 --> 00:51:55.880
Yeah. Yeah, And you know, and I actually had this

1035
00:51:56.000 --> 00:51:59.599
conversation with someone else very similar common It's conversation about

1036
00:51:59.679 --> 00:52:02.760
like the food. I mean, you taste the difference, right,

1037
00:52:02.800 --> 00:52:04.360
and you come back and you read our labels and

1038
00:52:05.320 --> 00:52:07.079
and then like you said, none of this stuff would

1039
00:52:07.079 --> 00:52:10.039
even be legal in some of those countries, and it

1040
00:52:10.119 --> 00:52:11.880
was Yeah, at the end of the day, this is

1041
00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:13.000
it's it's all about.

1042
00:52:12.760 --> 00:52:14.559
Profits for the most fun about the food when youre

1043
00:52:14.559 --> 00:52:18.840
talk about labels. Once once they said that every every

1044
00:52:18.920 --> 00:52:21.719
manufacturer had to actually list all the ingredients. I noticed

1045
00:52:21.719 --> 00:52:23.679
that the labels got really tiny and I need a

1046
00:52:23.719 --> 00:52:29.000
magnifying class to read it. They don't want Well, let's

1047
00:52:29.039 --> 00:52:34.639
talk about your nonprofit the only two Milligrams inc. Let's

1048
00:52:34.679 --> 00:52:36.239
talk about that and what you offer, and then how

1049
00:52:36.360 --> 00:52:39.960
people can contact your company to procure your services.

1050
00:52:42.199 --> 00:52:44.679
So so I I'm the executive director. I started this

1051
00:52:45.239 --> 00:52:48.079
nonprofit officially in early twenty twenty four when we got

1052
00:52:48.519 --> 00:52:52.159
IRS designation as a five oh one C three. Our

1053
00:52:52.360 --> 00:52:58.559
entire board of directors is retired DEA agents. And like

1054
00:52:58.599 --> 00:53:01.440
I said, O, our mission has been uh drug education,

1055
00:53:01.599 --> 00:53:05.199
specifically illicit fentanyl, but we are expanding that and looking

1056
00:53:05.239 --> 00:53:07.719
at other ways that we can that we can uh

1057
00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:10.800
deal with with trends and things that are impacting our

1058
00:53:10.840 --> 00:53:13.800
communities because ultimately, our our goal is to is to

1059
00:53:14.079 --> 00:53:17.840
is to make our community safer and and uh so

1060
00:53:18.039 --> 00:53:20.280
we're looking at ways to to expand our reach and

1061
00:53:20.400 --> 00:53:24.159
and to get into other things other than just drug education. Uh.

1062
00:53:24.360 --> 00:53:27.280
My website is at only two MG dot com, so

1063
00:53:27.440 --> 00:53:30.159
it's O N L Y and then just the number

1064
00:53:30.199 --> 00:53:33.559
two it's not spelled out, and then MG which stands

1065
00:53:33.599 --> 00:53:38.000
for Milligrams dot com. And you can you can learn

1066
00:53:38.079 --> 00:53:40.760
more about the presentations I do. My schedules on there.

1067
00:53:41.760 --> 00:53:43.559
You know, if you want my bio things like that,

1068
00:53:43.960 --> 00:53:47.800
uh uh you can you can contact me. My information

1069
00:53:47.960 --> 00:53:49.840
is on there. If I don't get back to you

1070
00:53:49.960 --> 00:53:52.639
right away, it's because I'm flying or teaching, uh or

1071
00:53:53.320 --> 00:53:56.039
or I'm on a podcast. So right, so like this one,

1072
00:53:56.679 --> 00:54:01.920
that's right. Uh Uh, I travel throughout the US. Last

1073
00:54:02.000 --> 00:54:06.000
year I did fifty four present main presentations in about

1074
00:54:06.039 --> 00:54:13.920
twenty states, so that's quite a bit. I self fund

1075
00:54:14.800 --> 00:54:18.079
a lot of what I did last year. I can't

1076
00:54:18.280 --> 00:54:20.679
I'm not a rich person. I can't can't continue to

1077
00:54:20.800 --> 00:54:22.559
do that, but I but I don't want money to

1078
00:54:22.599 --> 00:54:25.400
get in the way of this. So when an organization

1079
00:54:25.519 --> 00:54:28.760
calls me if they can't afford to fund my travel

1080
00:54:28.800 --> 00:54:30.639
out there, and then I'll find a way somehow, and

1081
00:54:30.760 --> 00:54:35.000
that's typically through my for profit organization, EGLE six Training.

1082
00:54:35.519 --> 00:54:38.920
I pretty much put all that money into into only

1083
00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:41.119
two MG because like I said, I don't want someone

1084
00:54:41.159 --> 00:54:42.840
to say, hey, we can't afford to have you out here,

1085
00:54:42.880 --> 00:54:45.280
and no, I mean I'll find a way to get

1086
00:54:45.280 --> 00:54:48.400
out there because this discussion is too important not to have.

1087
00:54:48.800 --> 00:54:48.920
Well.

1088
00:54:48.960 --> 00:54:52.320
And as you said earlier, man, the education is very

1089
00:54:52.320 --> 00:54:54.239
important in all this, and that's where it really starts.

1090
00:54:54.320 --> 00:54:57.000
It really is. And yeah, and you know when I

1091
00:54:57.079 --> 00:54:59.519
started this with actually law enforcement, because you know, like

1092
00:54:59.559 --> 00:55:01.760
I said, I navigated in that world for thirty years

1093
00:55:02.199 --> 00:55:05.400
and I still work in that world. But now, I mean,

1094
00:55:05.480 --> 00:55:10.320
these are wildly popular with just the public. I still

1095
00:55:10.440 --> 00:55:13.559
get usually specific sectors, you know, a lot of healthcare,

1096
00:55:13.599 --> 00:55:16.199
a lot of education, a lot of people that are

1097
00:55:16.239 --> 00:55:19.679
in the treatment recovery, you know, a lot of law enforcement.

1098
00:55:19.880 --> 00:55:22.800
But I wish I could get more parents and just

1099
00:55:23.039 --> 00:55:27.960
general public. That's been a struggle. I'm not alone. When

1100
00:55:27.960 --> 00:55:30.079
I first started this, a friend of mine, retired agent

1101
00:55:30.159 --> 00:55:34.000
out out in California said, because if you get if

1102
00:55:34.000 --> 00:55:35.960
you get more than one percent of the of the

1103
00:55:36.039 --> 00:55:39.440
families in the room, than good luck, because it's just

1104
00:55:40.280 --> 00:55:42.480
not going to happen. And I remember when he first

1105
00:55:42.480 --> 00:55:44.760
said that, I'm like, come on now, you know, and

1106
00:55:45.360 --> 00:55:50.599
and I had I had a specific presentation I was

1107
00:55:50.679 --> 00:55:55.280
doing just four families and I had six people show up. Wow,

1108
00:55:55.920 --> 00:55:58.280
you know, out of several thousand people in this particular

1109
00:55:58.360 --> 00:56:02.159
school that I was working with. So I experienced that firsthand.

1110
00:56:02.199 --> 00:56:04.000
I mean so, like I said, most of the folks

1111
00:56:04.079 --> 00:56:07.480
that come are you know, from those industries that I

1112
00:56:07.559 --> 00:56:10.039
talked about. But I would love to I'd love to

1113
00:56:10.079 --> 00:56:13.199
see more people just give a damn and really want

1114
00:56:13.239 --> 00:56:15.480
to educate themselves. And that's one of the things that

1115
00:56:15.559 --> 00:56:17.760
I try to tell people as well, is in all

1116
00:56:17.800 --> 00:56:22.480
my presentations is is take this information, do some research.

1117
00:56:23.079 --> 00:56:26.079
Call me. I'll help you with that and be a

1118
00:56:26.199 --> 00:56:29.199
force multiplier, you know, take this information back to your homes,

1119
00:56:29.280 --> 00:56:34.199
back to your your communities, your your rotary club, church, whatever.

1120
00:56:34.320 --> 00:56:36.519
I mean, let's let's let's have this discussion. I mean,

1121
00:56:36.559 --> 00:56:40.400
we're we're losing three hundred people every single day in

1122
00:56:40.480 --> 00:56:43.000
this country to drugs. That's about one person every five

1123
00:56:43.079 --> 00:56:45.119
to six minutes. And we know that of the total

1124
00:56:45.239 --> 00:56:49.280
numbers that we're losing about two thirds because of one drug, fentanyl.

1125
00:56:49.960 --> 00:56:52.119
And I can tell you, after thirty years in law enforcement,

1126
00:56:52.440 --> 00:56:54.840
I've never seen a drug more impactful. I really haven't.

1127
00:56:55.440 --> 00:57:00.639
I mean, this has changed the drug landscape. And education

1128
00:57:00.840 --> 00:57:02.960
is such an important piece. And like I said something,

1129
00:57:03.000 --> 00:57:05.480
I've devoted this part of my life to doing and

1130
00:57:05.599 --> 00:57:09.360
I hope that that I can be a force multiplayer

1131
00:57:09.400 --> 00:57:11.599
and give people a foundation that they can take the

1132
00:57:11.639 --> 00:57:15.480
information back and they can have these discussions. And at

1133
00:57:15.519 --> 00:57:18.840
the end of the day, knowledge is power, and and that's.

1134
00:57:18.719 --> 00:57:19.280
What we have to do.

1135
00:57:19.400 --> 00:57:21.119
We have to make people more knowledgeable.

1136
00:57:21.679 --> 00:57:24.920
I agree, And I hope that people don't don't avoid

1137
00:57:24.960 --> 00:57:28.559
these sessions because they don't they don't want it to

1138
00:57:28.679 --> 00:57:31.840
be in their face that it's confirming what they already know. Yes,

1139
00:57:31.880 --> 00:57:35.079
there is a problem. Yeah, that could be a case too.

1140
00:57:35.159 --> 00:57:38.119
You know, some people, some people don't want to They

1141
00:57:38.199 --> 00:57:40.079
have an idea that there's a problem, but they really

1142
00:57:40.199 --> 00:57:41.280
don't want it confirmed.

1143
00:57:42.119 --> 00:57:45.400
I've had parents actually tell me out of sight, out

1144
00:57:45.440 --> 00:57:48.719
of mind basically what I was saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

1145
00:57:49.039 --> 00:57:50.960
and I can. At first, I was like, you know,

1146
00:57:51.039 --> 00:57:53.320
but now I just tell them. You realize that someone's

1147
00:57:53.320 --> 00:57:55.519
going to have this discussion. I mean, well, if it's

1148
00:57:55.559 --> 00:57:58.119
not you, it's you're the parent. If it's not you,

1149
00:57:58.360 --> 00:58:00.280
then it's going to be social media. It's going to

1150
00:58:00.280 --> 00:58:02.280
be a friend, it's going to be a drug trafficker.

1151
00:58:02.800 --> 00:58:06.159
Someone's going to have this discussion with your child, you know,

1152
00:58:06.679 --> 00:58:10.960
And it's just it. It makes me sad, it really does.

1153
00:58:11.119 --> 00:58:13.760
I mean, here's an example. I won't say the school district,

1154
00:58:13.800 --> 00:58:15.800
but I was invited to a school district that wanted

1155
00:58:15.800 --> 00:58:19.360
to have one to provide different resources for parents, and

1156
00:58:19.480 --> 00:58:21.960
they so it was drugs, it was teen pregnancy, it

1157
00:58:22.079 --> 00:58:26.440
was nutrition, it was suicide, it was online predators. I mean,

1158
00:58:26.840 --> 00:58:29.800
my goodness. They probably had ten experts in different fields

1159
00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:33.119
come in and then they said, we get it. Parents work,

1160
00:58:33.159 --> 00:58:34.920
they're busy, we're going to do one on a weekend,

1161
00:58:35.320 --> 00:58:36.800
and we're going to do one on a week night,

1162
00:58:37.599 --> 00:58:40.000
and we're going to have ten experts and all these

1163
00:58:40.039 --> 00:58:42.440
different fields come in two different times. And I was

1164
00:58:42.480 --> 00:58:45.440
the drug guy. You know how many folks had come

1165
00:58:45.480 --> 00:58:49.480
in for my class zero and it wasn't me. The

1166
00:58:49.559 --> 00:58:53.079
other classes a lot of zeros. They had seventeen parents

1167
00:58:53.199 --> 00:58:56.800
show up total for the two different days total. This

1168
00:58:57.000 --> 00:59:01.079
was a huge school district. Do you think when when, when,

1169
00:59:01.199 --> 00:59:03.760
when when daughter gets pregnant or something happens, who do

1170
00:59:03.800 --> 00:59:06.199
you think gets the blame? You know, well, you didn't

1171
00:59:06.239 --> 00:59:08.639
do enough, you didn't do enough. No people got to

1172
00:59:08.679 --> 00:59:12.960
get involved, and and it just it's aggravating, it really is.

1173
00:59:13.119 --> 00:59:16.000
Do you think they should make these this information like

1174
00:59:16.400 --> 00:59:19.480
a mandatory class like they do used to you years

1175
00:59:19.480 --> 00:59:21.719
ago in school? Remember when I was going when I

1176
00:59:21.760 --> 00:59:24.320
was going to school, that there was a class that

1177
00:59:24.400 --> 00:59:26.119
you would have to attend to where they would address

1178
00:59:26.199 --> 00:59:31.159
these these issues or it would literally be like a

1179
00:59:31.320 --> 00:59:33.480
rally for example, where the whole school, like it's during

1180
00:59:33.519 --> 00:59:35.000
school time and you have to be there and they

1181
00:59:35.039 --> 00:59:37.599
would get these presentations. Are they still allowing that? Are

1182
00:59:37.639 --> 00:59:38.199
they still doing that?

1183
00:59:38.760 --> 00:59:40.400
Yeah? And I love when they do. I was up

1184
00:59:40.480 --> 00:59:43.199
in rural Missouri, in the middle of the state, on

1185
00:59:43.280 --> 00:59:45.000
the very top of the state, I don't know, probably

1186
00:59:45.039 --> 00:59:47.320
two or three weeks ago, and I got to address

1187
00:59:47.360 --> 00:59:49.239
a couple of school districts and that was wonderful and

1188
00:59:49.320 --> 00:59:51.880
I love when schools do that. We even had some

1189
00:59:52.000 --> 00:59:54.519
parents show up, which was even even better, right because

1190
00:59:54.519 --> 00:59:58.079
they're supporting their children, they're supporting the school district. Some

1191
00:59:58.440 --> 01:00:01.639
states have have think Oregon just came on and said

1192
01:00:01.639 --> 01:00:05.679
they're going to require that. Now you know, I know

1193
01:00:05.840 --> 01:00:07.480
people are going to hear this and say, oh, no,

1194
01:00:07.679 --> 01:00:09.199
read and write, that's what we need, And yeah, we

1195
01:00:09.280 --> 01:00:11.239
should be teaching our kids to read and write. I'm

1196
01:00:11.360 --> 01:00:14.440
totally with you. But let me tell you, these are conversations,

1197
01:00:14.519 --> 01:00:17.559
aren't We aren't having that we're not having in the home.

1198
01:00:17.719 --> 01:00:19.960
So if a school can can can bring someone in

1199
01:00:20.119 --> 01:00:22.440
like me or anyone who come in and give their

1200
01:00:22.639 --> 01:00:27.320
children accurate information to help them successfully navigate some of

1201
01:00:27.360 --> 01:00:30.280
these challenges are going to face, then why not? I mean,

1202
01:00:30.360 --> 01:00:32.880
why can't we get behind this? And that's why I

1203
01:00:33.000 --> 01:00:36.440
created my Shattering Dreams presentation. It was specifically for students,

1204
01:00:36.599 --> 01:00:39.599
is to give them the information, and and and and

1205
01:00:40.480 --> 01:00:43.519
again empower them to make better decisions when they're faced

1206
01:00:43.559 --> 01:00:43.920
with these.

1207
01:00:43.920 --> 01:00:47.400
Question and maybe maybe these sessions that for example, like

1208
01:00:47.440 --> 01:00:51.400
what you offer should be something that let's say district

1209
01:00:51.400 --> 01:00:53.599
administration at a school should have. It should be like

1210
01:00:53.639 --> 01:00:57.760
a mandatory. You know, hey, school starting again, summer's over,

1211
01:00:58.320 --> 01:01:00.679
let's get you know, it's all part of their professional

1212
01:01:00.719 --> 01:01:04.840
development training, right, they should integrate this as part of

1213
01:01:04.920 --> 01:01:08.239
that have have you Have you seen any district do that?

1214
01:01:08.840 --> 01:01:11.039
A few? Yeah, yeah, and there are I mean, I

1215
01:01:11.320 --> 01:01:14.320
know some folks in the same space. You know, my

1216
01:01:14.480 --> 01:01:17.280
space has been kind of a lot of adults, a

1217
01:01:17.320 --> 01:01:20.039
lot of law enforcement. I know some some people that

1218
01:01:20.119 --> 01:01:23.960
are specifically focused in that in that space for for students,

1219
01:01:24.000 --> 01:01:25.719
and they've been pretty successful.

1220
01:01:26.679 --> 01:01:29.559
Well that's that's a positive. Yeah, that's a positive. And

1221
01:01:29.599 --> 01:01:31.239
then when you when you do these big rallies what's

1222
01:01:31.800 --> 01:01:33.440
out of school is do you get a positive reaction

1223
01:01:33.519 --> 01:01:34.480
from from students there?

1224
01:01:35.199 --> 01:01:39.039
Yeah? And let me tell you it, it really drives me.

1225
01:01:39.159 --> 01:01:41.159
It really does. When you when you have a student

1226
01:01:41.239 --> 01:01:44.039
come up to you. I had a college student come

1227
01:01:44.119 --> 01:01:46.559
up to me at a different event that I was at,

1228
01:01:47.559 --> 01:01:52.599
probably a month after I did this particular session and

1229
01:01:53.519 --> 01:01:54.880
he was like, hey, connect and I didn't even know

1230
01:01:54.920 --> 01:01:56.400
who it was. He was like, can I tell you something.

1231
01:01:56.440 --> 01:01:58.159
I'm like yeah, and he goes, I saw you speak,

1232
01:01:58.239 --> 01:02:02.039
and you know, I've been really, you know, making some

1233
01:02:02.159 --> 01:02:04.199
really bad decisions in my life, and you made me

1234
01:02:04.280 --> 01:02:07.320
think about some things and and you know, thank you,

1235
01:02:07.480 --> 01:02:09.239
you know, I mean, and I was almost in tears.

1236
01:02:09.280 --> 01:02:11.320
I mean, just even thinking about it really just kind

1237
01:02:11.360 --> 01:02:12.920
of moves me. And I can't tell you how many

1238
01:02:12.960 --> 01:02:14.840
young people who have come up to me in middle

1239
01:02:14.880 --> 01:02:17.760
school students and just hug you and say, you know,

1240
01:02:18.000 --> 01:02:21.320
thank you, you know, because they're getting really impactful information

1241
01:02:22.400 --> 01:02:25.320
and that no one's given given them before. And that

1242
01:02:25.880 --> 01:02:29.440
I tell you that that has been the overwhelming response

1243
01:02:29.519 --> 01:02:31.840
I have had. I have had zero and I hope

1244
01:02:32.119 --> 01:02:34.920
I'm not jinxing myself here. I've had zero negative response

1245
01:02:35.480 --> 01:02:36.760
from talking to young people.

1246
01:02:37.159 --> 01:02:40.440
It's just that's good. Oh, it's been a wonderful experience.

1247
01:02:40.480 --> 01:02:44.480
We need we need to continue the education. We definitely

1248
01:02:44.559 --> 01:02:48.280
need to change how prescription drugs are handled in America period.

1249
01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:52.480
And yeah, the cartels are definitely a problem that we

1250
01:02:52.559 --> 01:02:55.000
need to get a hold of, especially if if they're

1251
01:02:55.039 --> 01:02:57.320
the ones who are responsible for I mean the majority

1252
01:02:57.360 --> 01:02:59.719
of all drugs that are that are being imported into

1253
01:02:59.719 --> 01:03:03.239
the US or smuggled into the US. It's it's crazy,

1254
01:03:03.960 --> 01:03:06.199
it's it's not an easy issue to get a hold of.

1255
01:03:06.400 --> 01:03:08.920
I mean, you know better than I. You were in

1256
01:03:09.039 --> 01:03:13.599
law enforcement. This is what you did before we before

1257
01:03:13.599 --> 01:03:15.199
we go, though, I got to ask you, have you

1258
01:03:15.320 --> 01:03:17.960
seen a positive change at all in getting a handle

1259
01:03:18.000 --> 01:03:19.639
on the situation? I mean we talked a lot, got

1260
01:03:19.639 --> 01:03:22.079
a lot of history, But have you seen a positive

1261
01:03:22.199 --> 01:03:24.239
change or are we in the same place? Are we

1262
01:03:24.320 --> 01:03:27.440
taking steps backwards? Where do you see us at now?

1263
01:03:30.079 --> 01:03:32.519
I have seen a positive change. I mean we're not

1264
01:03:34.280 --> 01:03:36.719
We're nowhere out of this mess. I mean we are

1265
01:03:36.760 --> 01:03:40.639
an illicited fentanyl crisis. And you know, we're, like I said,

1266
01:03:40.639 --> 01:03:42.679
we're losing three hundred people a day and the majority

1267
01:03:42.679 --> 01:03:45.239
of these people are because of this one drug. We're

1268
01:03:45.280 --> 01:03:48.079
having this discussion more. I think that's a healthy thing,

1269
01:03:48.760 --> 01:03:50.480
you know. I think that's going to hopefully lead to

1270
01:03:50.599 --> 01:03:54.239
more solutions and more people that are that are you know,

1271
01:03:54.559 --> 01:03:58.239
hitting the ground and actually trying to work towards solutions.

1272
01:03:58.280 --> 01:04:01.840
So yeah, I'm optimistic. I think we have seen some progress,

1273
01:04:01.960 --> 01:04:05.199
and I think we need have a long way to go.

1274
01:04:05.400 --> 01:04:07.039
I think, you know, one thing we didn't talk about

1275
01:04:07.119 --> 01:04:09.320
was the stigma. You know, how we how we treat

1276
01:04:09.360 --> 01:04:12.039
people that are struggling with substance use disorder, with addiction.

1277
01:04:12.960 --> 01:04:16.480
You know, I think that's slowly getting better, but it's uh,

1278
01:04:18.079 --> 01:04:19.800
you know that's going to be part of of of

1279
01:04:20.039 --> 01:04:21.960
of the solution is how do we deal with that

1280
01:04:22.079 --> 01:04:27.119
as well. Yeah, the bottom line is I've seen a

1281
01:04:28.519 --> 01:04:31.360
I think it's more positive, but it's been a slow movement.

1282
01:04:31.440 --> 01:04:31.760
How's that.

1283
01:04:32.280 --> 01:04:34.159
Well, at least at least you're seeing it as a

1284
01:04:34.239 --> 01:04:37.920
positive as someone who's still involved. At least you're seeing

1285
01:04:38.199 --> 01:04:41.719
things start to go into go the right direction and

1286
01:04:41.880 --> 01:04:45.800
get a handle on all this. So well, I think

1287
01:04:45.880 --> 01:04:48.519
that's my time, your time for now. Doesn't mean we

1288
01:04:48.519 --> 01:04:50.639
won't connect again. I think we will. I'll stay in

1289
01:04:50.719 --> 01:04:53.880
touch with you. I'd like to have you back. But yeah,

1290
01:04:53.920 --> 01:04:57.440
thank you, Brian. And again, tell everybody your websites and

1291
01:04:57.519 --> 01:04:58.960
I'll try to put all that our show notes as

1292
01:04:59.000 --> 01:05:00.599
well as when they listen to this day. Have the links.

1293
01:05:01.039 --> 01:05:04.280
So again you have only two milligrams inc. And then

1294
01:05:04.360 --> 01:05:08.719
of course you have the Eagle six training and uh, yeah,

1295
01:05:08.880 --> 01:05:11.960
thank you very much. Want anything else you want to add.

1296
01:05:12.039 --> 01:05:14.880
No, I appreciate that your time and and happy to

1297
01:05:15.039 --> 01:05:17.719
reconnect any time. Uh. If someone wants to get in

1298
01:05:17.840 --> 01:05:19.960
touch with me, only two MG is the best way

1299
01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:22.840
to to read more about it or more about me

1300
01:05:23.000 --> 01:05:26.760
and and and contact me. And I'm happy to happy

1301
01:05:26.800 --> 01:05:28.199
to help in any capacity I can.

1302
01:05:28.320 --> 01:05:31.719
Okay, well, appreciate it, and uh, thanks for adjusting your

1303
01:05:31.760 --> 01:05:34.079
time for melgizing.

1304
01:05:34.159 --> 01:05:34.480
All good.

1305
01:05:34.599 --> 01:05:37.039
Yeah, man, Hey, great conversation, a lot of good info.

1306
01:05:37.159 --> 01:05:40.360
Thank you very much for being on the show. Appreciate it. Okay,

1307
01:05:40.440 --> 01:05:42.960
World of Bladies listeners as always, thanks for listening, and

1308
01:05:43.039 --> 01:05:46.360
don't forget to like, subscribe, share the show, and click

1309
01:05:46.400 --> 01:05:47.599
the notification button.

1310
01:05:48.480 --> 01:06:00.280
Have a great day, your content, feel intention intemption as

1311
01:06:00.400 --> 01:06:06.280
all get do do do do do Do Do Do

1312
01:06:06.440 --> 01:06:17.400
Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do do