Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Monday's MTP Daily, MSNBC reporter Jacob Soboroff managed to ignore the problem of fentanyl smuggling across the Southern border even as he devoted a full report to the recent spike in fentanyl abuse in San Francisco.
Soboroff -- who spent much of the last several years reporting from the Southern border and freaking out about the Trump administration trying to get illegal border crossings under control -- was true to form as a liberal journalist in blaming racial and other forms of "inequality" for the drug abuse epidemic.
Near the end of the show, fill-in host Hallie Jackson set up the report: "In the midst of the COVID pandemic, this country's drug epidemic has continued to rage. According to the CDC last year, a record 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the U.S. That is up 30 percent since the year before."
The pre-recorded piece began with footage of Soboroff riding in an ambulance that specializes in reviving drug abusers who have overdosed on fentanyl. After noting that there is an alarming frequency in such overdoses in the city, the MSNBC reporter implicated "inequality" as he spoke with the medics: "There's more inequality here in California than anywhere else in the United States. If that wasn't the case here, do you think it would be easier to get people away from using drugs like this?"
Fire captain Mike Mason agreed with the premise:
The drug overdose epidemic in San Francisco does mirror intense social and health inequalities -- five percent of San Francisco's population are black individuals, yet 25 percent of overdose deaths include people of color. Less than one percent of San Franciscans -- people or individuals here -- are unhoused, but they compose approximately 30 percent of overdose deaths.
It did not occur to Soboroff that drug abuse probably helps cause homelessness rather than being caused by it. He then was seen speaking with a homeless couple who recalled that fentanyl had become much cheaper and plentiful in San Francisco in the summer of 2020.
Dr. Dan Ciccarone of the University of California soon was seen in a soundbite implicating racism in the drug abuse problem: "What are we going to do that's outrageously new, creative, bold in terms of addressing those root issues, the issues of inequality in America, the roots of racism, of desperation?"
After the report concluded, Soboroff appeared live, giving Jackson a chance to ask him why he thinks there has been such an increase in drug abuse. Soboroff again implicated "inequality" as he also avoided mentioning the big increase in smuggling across the border that has occurred at the same time:
Because of how readily available and how cheap fentanyl is, Hallie. ... It's made in a lab synthetically, and that's why these folks in San Francisco -- this innovative EMS unit -- is not necessarily focused on so-called solutions. They want to get to the underlying root cause -- they want to get to the inequality that gets people to use drugs in the first place.
I've seen it all -- I've seen supervised injections -- I've seen street-level interventions -- I've seen all kinds of 12-step programs to get people off of this, but as long as the drug is cheap, plentiful, and widely available, and inequality persists, folks in San Francisco say they're not going to stop people from dying.
By contrast, last June, Fox & Friends First devoted a segment to informing viewers that fentanyl smuggling from Mexico increased substantially in both 2020 and 2021.
This episode of MTP Daily was sponsored in part by CrowdStrike. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC's MTP Daily
September 27, 2021
1:51 p.m. Eastern
HALLIE JACKSON: In the midst of the COVID pandemic, this country's drug epidemic has continued to rage. According to the CDC last year, a record 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the U.S. That is up 30 percent since the year before. This week, all across our platforms here at MSNBC and NBC News, we're talking about "One Nation Overdosed," shining a light on this epidemic and looking today specifically at what fentanyl has done to San Francisco. Here's NBC's Jacob Soboroff.
JACOB SOBOROFF: I'm riding with the San Francisco fire department right now, part of the new unit that responds to opioid overdose calls. There were more opioid overdoses in San Francisco than COVID deaths in 2020. This unit's meant not just to save lives but to stop this from happening again. The city of San Francisco has been hit so hard by overdose deaths, it now has a new unit devoted to harm reduction.
I rode along with Captain Mike Mason of the fire department and Kevin LaGuerre, a nurse practitioner. ... We arrived at this stop just after a man had been revived with Narcan, the antidote to fentanyl. We've only been out here with the fire department for 10 minutes. This is already the second call of the day for an overdose. They say it goes nonstop -- the calls came one after another after another. And for the men and women who do this work, the toll can be exacting. It must wear on you.
KEVIN LaGUERRE: We've had some very long, very sad days.
SOBOROFF: There's more inequality here in California than anywhere else in the United States. If that wasn't the case here, do you think it would be easier to get people away from using drugs like this?
MIKE MASON, SAN FRANCISCO FIRE CAPTAIN: The drug overdose epidemic in San Francisco does mirror intense social and health inequalities -- five percent of San Francisco's population are black individuals, yet 25 percent of overdose deaths include people of color. Less than one percent of San Franciscans -- people or individuals here -- are unhoused, but they compose approximately 30 percent of overdose deaths.
SOBOROFF: I spoke with a homeless married couple outside a clinic who said they were fentanyl users. When did you guys first see fentanyl in California?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Since last summer
SOBOROFF: How cheap is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Five dollars will take care of us for a whole day.
WOMAN: It's like a quarter of the cost of heroin.
SOBOROFF: University of California Medical School professor Dan Ciccarone says the fact that drugs are cheaper, more plentiful and deadlier than ever means America should rethink drug policies.
Dr. DAN CICCARONE, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA MEDICAL SCHOOL: We would love to know that we can put the fentanyl genie back in the bottle, right? It's probably not going to happen.
SOBOROFF: What about policies that have nothing to do with drugs explicitly, but the underlying conditions?
Dr. CICCARONE: What are we going to do that's outrageously new, creative, bold in terms of addressing those root issues, the issues of inequality in America, the roots of racism, of desperation?
(...)
SOBOROFF: Why do you think things are as bad as they are today?
STANISHA BRYANT, HEALTH CARE WORKER: It's easy to get it. You can come to any corner and get it.
JACKSON: NBC's Jacob Soboroff joins me now. So, Jacob, let me ask you a question similar to what you asked her right at the end of your story there, which is: Why do you think it's so much worse now than it was even a couple of years ago?
SOBOROFF: Because of how readily available and how cheap fentanyl is, Hallie. It's not grown from a poppy plant like heroin was. It's made in a lab synthetically, and that's why these folks in San Francisco -- this innovative EMS unit -- is not necessarily focused on so-called solutions. They want to get to the underlying root cause -- they want to get to the inequality that gets people to use drugs in the first place.
I've seen it all -- I've seen supervised injections -- I've seen street-level interventions -- I've seen all kinds of 12-step programs to get people off of this, but as long as the drug is cheap, plentiful, and widely available, and inequality persists, folks in San Francisco say they're not going to stop people from dying.
