Dear Readers,
As I noted on Thursday, our ongoing overdose crisis was hardly mentioned in last week’s presidential debate.
Yes, there were some references to nefarious Latin drug traffickers streaming over our borders and so forth, but, amazingly, the word “overdose” does not appear in the transcript. Neither does “opioid.” That seems like an oversight given that there were 107,543 overdose deaths in the United States in 2023.
It also makes for a curious contrast with the 1980s. At 1988’s first Presidential debate between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, drugs were the very first item on the agenda. Here’s the debate moderator, Jim Lehrer, asking the opening question:
The polls say the number one domestic issue to a majority of voters is drugs. What is there about these times that drives or draws so many Americans to use drugs?
Given the absence of drugs from last week’s debate, Lehrer’s setup there—that drugs were America’s number-one issue—is now a lot more interesting than the question.
So here’s a question for you, my dear readers: How many overdose deaths do you think there were in the U.S. in 1988?
If you want to play along at home, here’s a poll. Click on the number that seems right to you:
[Update: I tried to tweak this poll’s appearance slightly after publication and I accidentally erased all of the existing votes. Oh well. Feel free to vote anyway!]
While you’re thinking, here’s part of then-Vice-President Bush’s answer:
We have to change this whole culture. You know, I saw a movie – “Crocodile Dundee.” And I saw the cocaine scene treated with humor, as though this was a humorous little incident. And it’s bad. Everybody ought to be in this thing. Entertainment industry, people involved in the schools, education. And it isn’t a Republican or a Democrat or a liberal problem. But we have got to instill values in these young people. And I have put forward a many-point drug program that includes what I would do as president of the United States; in terms of doing better on interdiction; and in terms of better in the neighborhoods. But I think we’re all in this together, and my plea to the American people is values in the schools.
Here’s President Bush a year later holding a bag of crack in the Oval Office:
And here’s Crocodile Dundee:
Last thing before the big overdose-number reveal: Apparently when Bush was in the Navy, he would try really hard to just be “one of the guys” despite his elite northeastern roots. The other sailors of course picked up on this and purposely thwarted Bush’s efforts by always using his full, decidedly not-just-one-of-the guys name: “George Herbert Walker Bush.”
That always cracks me up.
Speaking of “crack,” let’s do the big reveal!
In 1988 there were . . . .
. . . .
. . . .
4,865 overdose deaths in the United States!
Yet drugs were the #1 issue. Why?
Race is one obvious reason, though there were others.
But if we get into that now, we will once again do violence to the “quick tokes” brand. So let’s leave it there.
Have a good Sunday everyone.
I can agree with Mr. Bush, Crocodile Dundee was a bad flick. You all certainly must have been on drugs in the 1980s because I can't explain how it made so much money! I ought to dedicate my whole substack to just writing about movies that were extremely popular during their time that haven't aged well. Maybe discuss Flashdance, Popeye, The Bodyguard, and Basic Instinct.