Good News, but Cold

[dukealien]

Good News, but Cold


Reports are in, remarkable,
that deaths from fentanyl are down
and have been going that way since
two years ago. How to explain
this seeming eccentricity?

Perhaps we’ve reached a point where most
have seen a relative die from
an overdose and shy away
or it may be agreements with
the Chinese labs bear fruit at last.

Or, one way or another, we
have run out of susceptible
despondent men because things now
are looking better than before–
or most such have already died.

Inspired by Stephen Green’s column “Fentanyl Deaths Are Dropping — And Here's Why That's Actually Happening,” 13 January 2026

---

I have the sense that, with a good deal of work, this could be recast as a rondeau.

[busker]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/...-in-deaths

the United States began seeing a decline in such deaths starting in late 2023. Provisional U.S. data for the year ending March 2025 indicated roughly 25% fewer deaths compared with the prior year

the fentanyl market faced a supply shock—a sudden change in how much of something is available and/or a significant change in its quality—starting mid-to-late 2023. The shock alters the market price, and as a result. drugs become less potent and/or harder to find.

The findings also suggest that international chemical precursor regulation and drug production controls played a decisive role in saving tens of thousands of lives. Beginning in mid-2023, provisional mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed a major decline in opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. By late 2024, annual overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids had fallen nearly a third.

---

Remarkable

The Biden administration was the greatest in history

[milo]

Remarkable

The Biden administration was the greatest in history

I think at the time it was tough to tell (possibly because there was no daily crisis to even remind us he was there)

but as we realize more and more what was accomplished and the difficulty of accomplishing it, it is definitely looking impressive