Bob Caesar's intrinsically sad battle against drug addiction treatment clinics -- and this supposed Democrat's heroic ongoing advocacy of the beautiful people.

From the last council meeting.

Those people dying from overdoses ... they're not our kind of people, are they ... and they just don't look good, do they?

America’s opioid epidemic is worsening (The Economist)

States are losing the battle against deadly drugs like heroin and fentanyl.

But we don't have this problem in New Albany, do we Bob?

Even Healthy-Looking Suburbs Are Dying From Drugs, by Laura Bliss (CityLab)

Some communities are much sicker than they look, according to our analysis of CDC data and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s new county health rankings.

 ... Drug mortality rates are notoriously shifty; according to the CDC, they’re likely undercounted in many counties, due to unresolved cases and misclassification. But the national trend is clear: Americans are dying too young from addiction—even in communities that otherwise appear healthy.

How long must we be saddled with the clueless (and corrupt) likes of Bob Caesar?

So, you think you've heard it all about Nazi Germany? Welcome to the "untold story of the Third Reich’s relationship with drugs."

More placid Sunday reading.

High Hitler: how Nazi drug abuse steered the course of history, by Rachel Cooke (The Guardian)

.. The book in question is The Total Rush – or, to use its superior English title, Blitzed – which reveals the astonishing and hitherto largely untold story of the Third Reich’s relationship with drugs, including cocaine, heroin, morphine and, above all, methamphetamines (aka crystal meth), and of their effect not only on Hitler’s final days – the Führer, by Ohler’s account, was an absolute junkie with ruined veins by the time he retreated to the last of his bunkers – but on the Wehrmacht’s successful invasion of France in 1940. Published in Germany last year, where it became a bestseller, it has since been translated into 18 languages, a fact that delights Ohler, but also amazes him.

Bernie Carbo's brightest baseball moment, 40 years ago tonight.

40 years ago tonight, Bernie Carbo made possible Carlton Fisk's legendary World Series home run.

But what wasn't known at the time was Carbo's condition -- not just for Game Six of the 1975 World Series, but virtually every game he played in his big league career.

Yes, that's right: Baseball's substance abuse scandals did not begin during the steroid era. In 1970, Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" arguably offered the first public confirmation of drugs in baseball, primarily alcohol and greenies (amphetamines), although Doc Ellis memorably insisted that he pitched a no hitter while journeying on LSD.

By the mid 1980s, it was cocaine -- and Enos Cabell remarked in court that it made him a better player. Doubtless, Carbo would disagree.

I was watching this game back in '75, none the wiser that Carbo had spent the day drinking beer and smoking dope. Cubs fans, take note: It required four World Series appearances by the Red Sox between titles, so get out there, pay your dues, and ... wait, what's that?

You've been to the World Series how many times since 1908?

Seven?

Never mind.

As for the decade of the 1970s, see the Big Hair and Plastic Grass web site. I also blogged about this book in 2013: Big Hair and Plastic Grass. Get a copy and read it. It's richly entertaining.

Zirin: "Decriminalize the Game: A Solution to Baseball’s Drug Wars."

If I'm not mistaken, The Economist also has taken the position in the past.

Decriminalize the Game: A Solution to Baseball’s Drug Wars, Dave Zirin (The Nation)

... Forget your personal feelings about whether you like or dislike A-Rod or whether you think these players are worse than Pol Pot for “cheating the game.” Forget if you’re convinced there is no greater evil than a pill that helps an adult professional athlete heal from injuries or work out with greater efficiency. Forget it all and consider the disturbing audacity of what Major League Baseball just accomplished: a powerful private corporation has used its political connections with the Justice Department as well as the power of its own purse to squeeze a weaker business to disclose confidential medical records. America!

Charlie Brooker: "Newspapers are the biggest threat to the nation's mental wellbeing."

The United Kingdom, that is. It's classic Brit-write, with wonderful drug abuse analogies, and a topic often addressed here at NAC.

The most dangerous drug isn't meow meow. It isn't even alcohol ..., by Charlie Brooker (The Guardian).

... In its purest form, a newspaper consists of a collection of facts which, in controlled circumstances, can actively improve knowledge. Unfortunately, facts are expensive, so to save costs and drive up sales, unscrupulous dealers often "cut" the basic contents with cheaper material, such as wild opinion, bullshit, empty hysteria, reheated press releases, advertorial padding and photographs of Lady Gaga with her bum hanging out.