Streets overrun with zombie-like behaviour amid opioid crisis — how did we get here?

The opioid crisis began in the 1990s when OxyContin flooded the market, leading to waves of deaths. It was then that George Soros and his Open Society Foundations stepped in to address and reform the drug policies they claimed were rooted in systemic racism and white supremacy.

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As public displays of drug use, people in various states of zombie-like behaviour and violent assaults and crime plague the streets in increasing numbers due to the raging opioid crisis, it leaves many wondering: how did we get here?

As described by Harvard’s School of Public Health, the opioid crisis has been the most catastrophic public health disaster of our time. It began in the mid-1990s when Purdue Pharma aggressively promoted OxyContin as a legal prescription narcotic, and the FDA approved it.

This set off the first wave of deaths tied to prescription opioids. The crisis then spiralled into a second wave as the heroin market expanded to feed people's growing addictions.

Now, we’re facing a third wave driven by illegal synthetic opioids like fentanyl. The fallout has been devastating — millions more are suffering from homelessness, job loss, truancy, family breakdowns, and extreme public safety issues.

Just as this was unfolding in the mid-90s, in swooped George Soros and his Open Society Foundations to save the day.

Described as “The Man Behind The Curtain” in one novel, Soros is a billionaire investor and philanthropist known now to many for his political meddling, and of course, he also has his hand in the fact-checking cookie jar.

His “public benefit corporation” called Good Information Inc. claims to be the lifeblood of democracy by restoring social trust and strengthening democracy by investing in solutions that counter disinformation.

They even offered to pay this lawyer and social media influencer $400 to do so, except what they tried to do was get him to make blatantly false claims.

This questionable character and serial narrative controller has three decades of drug policy reform work under his belt. Open Society, founded by Soros, has been the largest donor in the global effort to reform drug policies and advance harm reduction strategies. With over $300 million invested, they have championed what is referred to as a “health-centered approach” to drug abuse.

Part of this work was undertaken with Ethan Nadelmann from the Drug Policy Alliance, who said drug prohibition laws were based on racist white supremacy.

Nadelmann thinks decriminalization is the answer and claims it would “radically reduce the crime, violence, corruption and the black market.” He thinks it would curb the prevalence of unregulated drugs and improve public safety.

Except that’s not at all how it’s played out.

Here in Canada, it was the opposite – under a radical decriminalization pilot project, the province of British Columbia saw a 16.5 percent increase in overdose deaths as despair and disorder wreaked havoc on the streets during the first 15 months of the policy shift.

The policy, originally developed in 1995 was meant to prevent HIV among intravenous (IV) drug users. In just three years, by 1998, the harm reduction strategy shifted to focus on gaining "political acceptance for overdose prevention sites" to accommodate drug addicts.

By 2002 the Open Society was “Securing International Funding for Harm Reduction” with “the Global Fund contributing over $800 million to harm reduction efforts worldwide.”

Within 10 years, by 2005, there was an expansion in access to treatment which helped line the pockets of Big Pharma through drugs, like methadone, used to treat opioid use disorders.

By 2006 these radicals were coming to Canada. Forming the first International Drug Users Congress in Canada, they issued “The Vancouver Declaration” which sought to establish the rights of drug addicts to “reclaim the right to be their own spokespersons striving for self-representation and self-empowerment.”

In 2010 the Open Society led a coalition to reform what they refer to again as “Racist Drug Laws.”

Pushing global commissions on drug policy reform ever since, the last decade or so has been dedicated to prioritizing the rights of criminals, drug dealers and drug addicts, diverting taxpayer dollars to fund safe supply and harm reduction materials like syringes and the actual drugs, while establishing safe consumption sites.

Except that none of this has proven safe or harm reducing. Instead, global decriminalization and normalization efforts have led Ontario to reverse its safe supply and consumption site initiatives, with Premier Doug Ford denouncing these strategies as the worst idea for communities and labelling the Trudeau Liberals as the country's biggest drug dealers due to their failed $1 billion federal drug strategy.

As crime, violence, and theft surge in communities, it’s clear that these "evidence-based" solutions have failed to restore order and instead worsened the breakdown of civil society, leaving peaceful residents struggling with escalating chaos.

News Analysis Health & Medical Canada
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