But throwing money at the problem will not make it go away. The truth is that we need to wage a war on drugs in this country — and we need to win it. Supply and demand must be interdicted. Lawsuits like the ones pursued by New Hampshire and other states against pharmaceutical companies that have in their greed knowingly abetted the immiseration of millions of Americans should be filed at the national level. Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, have spent hundred of millions of dollars on deceptive marketing schemes designed to minimize the risks associated with a drug that is hurting more people that it helps.

With federal assistance the states must cooperate in their efforts. Doctors who prescribe patients knowing that there is a likelihood or even potential for abuse should be held to account, and in some cases have their licenses taken from them and imprisoned. Dealers should be subject to severe criminal penalties. Such is the danger that they pose to the common good that I would not shrink from recommending the death penalty. There is no meaningful difference between someone who knowingly sells heroin laced with fentanyl to hundreds of Americans and a madman shooting up a school or a shopping mall — except for the fact that one is a lunatic while the other is a gruesomely rational cold-blooded entrepreneur feasting on the despair of his fellows.