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Posted by marojejian 1/10/2026

Overdose deaths are falling in America because of a 'supply shock': study(www.economist.com)
218 points | 241 commentspage 3
diogenescynic 1/11/2026|
And when supply catches up, overdoses will spike because addicts tolerance will have decreased.
saidnooneever 1/11/2026||
maybe all the addicts are running out? know it sounds like a troll but with very high death rates on newer drugs... is it really a crazy idea?
hwguy45 1/11/2026||
The kneejerk explanation would be the more strict border and law enforcement under the current administration. But the chart peaks in Dec 2023 and drops in 2024, so it cannot be that.

Perhaps, then, it was Kamala Harris' success as border czar under Biden.

hwguy45 1/12/2026|
I can't believe you guys upvoted this. It was sarcasm. Kamala didn't do anything as border czar. Her administration opened the border intentionally.
_fat_santa 1/11/2026||
Enshittification sucks but turns out a very certain type of enshittification is actually good for society.
amai 1/11/2026||
tldr; "China began warning chemical/pharma companies, closing down websites & tightening chemical controls in 2023. It is likely if not certain that China’s actions disrupted the fentanyl trade in both the US and Canada"

https://unrollnow.com/status/2009340857909170395

cmiles8 1/11/2026||
tl;dr blowing up boats in the Caribbean and other aggressive actions, while controversial, has probably done more to address the drug pandemic than other things tried.
frm88 1/12/2026|
Source?
Rakshith 1/11/2026||
[dead]
simianparrot 1/11/2026||
[flagged]
seanalltogether 1/11/2026||
This has been talked about lately, the drop has nothing to do with trump. The data in this chart goes up to Oct 2024, several months before trumps took office.

https://cdn.jamanetwork.com/ama/content_public/journal/jaman...

simianparrot 1/11/2026|||
That’s good then the situation ought to be even better now.
sigwinch 1/11/2026|||
Right, these are Biden’s policies. Biden was superior on border and immigration issues.
lostlogin 1/11/2026||
Yeah, he never got anyone shot in the face.
_bohm 1/11/2026|||
The reasons stated in the article have nothing to do with border enforcement, and observed supply shock started before 2024. The most recent year of data mentioned in the article ended in April 2025. But by all means, if you have information these researchers don’t, feel free to share it here.
mb7733 1/11/2026||
> Canada has a similar opioid epidemic but a different supply chain, largely skipping over Mexico. Because Canada saw similar falls in fentanyl strength, the researchers hypothesise that the supply shock was caused by something changing in China.
broochcoach 1/10/2026||
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amanaplanacanal 1/10/2026||
The paper is talking about a pre-trump downturn. Blowing up boats had nothing to do with it.
Analemma_ 1/10/2026|||
The article is about how overdose deaths began falling in 2023, so perhaps you owe 2023's "dear leader" an apology.
jeltz 1/10/2026|||
If so it is Biden who is owed the apology.
RickJWagner 1/10/2026|||
Not the boats for this study (though they may help in the future ).

From the article:

“About 70% of American overdose deaths are caused by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Networks shift, but currently most American street fentanyl starts as building-block chemicals produced in China. Those are shipped to Mexico, where drug gangs formulate them into fentanyl and smuggle it across the border.”

The stronger border is optimistically placing more control of the problem in US hands.

exe34 1/10/2026|||
hint: fentanyl doesn't travel from Venezuela to the US.
RickJWagner 1/10/2026||
Exactly right. The article says it starts in China, travels to Mexico before being smuggled across the border.
moralestapia 1/11/2026||
Unsure why you're downvoted. The article says that. It's not even your opinion, you're just citing the article. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
exe34 1/11/2026||
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DonHopkins 1/10/2026|||
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pinkmuffinere 1/10/2026||
> dear leader

lol what, this is insane, we don't live in 1984

actionfromafar 1/10/2026||
I'm not so sure...
newsclues 1/11/2026|
It’s nice when the government has a leader committed to keeping drugs out of the country
srean 1/11/2026||
And offer presidential pardons to those who sell it inside, illegally
sigwinch 1/11/2026||
I can’t tell if GP is wry about Biden, or committing Type I error over Trump.

But yes today the questions are about how we treat politically-connected smugglers. What are the odds on a Justin Salsburey pardon?

croes 1/11/2026||
It started 2023. who was the leader back then?
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