I'm not up with S. American politics, but I think there have always been some pretty corrupt leaders in that part of the world. We even had help from one during the Falklands conflict. Politics is political.
Footage circulating online suggests that there is a considerable amount of folks in Venezuela are celebrating. Also, quite a lot of comments asking Trump to come and arrest Starmer
A number of countries have a ban on fireworks except for organised/licenced displays. The Netherlands are joining that group from the end of this year.
I've never heard of Oxycontin, so I looked it up. It appears to have real medical uses, if people abuse it you cant really blame a country, can you?
Oxycontin was routinely prescribed by doctors to help people with pain management. The drug company pushing this movement pretended they didn't know that it was very addictive. My sister was prescribed the stuff by her doctor and tried many times to get off it. No can do. So the prescription kept getting renewed. Eventually, in 2018, out of despair, she hung herself. In my cellar. It is a killer in many many ways and was still prescribed routinely up until a few years ago. A drug called Sublocade has been developed and as of late 2025, is available. It removes most of the withdrawal symptoms and enables people to get off Oxycontin. If only they had had that 7 years ago. Oxycontin was and is an evil drug and doctors who prescribed it should have been held accountable. And also the manufacturer. They knew it was addictive. They still encouraged it's being prescribed and widely so. And they kept denying that they knew it was addictive! I have witnessed it's evil consequences first hand.
Oh, @CanadianLori, how awful for you and your family. And how angry and helpless you must have felt and must be still feeling. I send you my warmest wishes.
In this case, you absolutely definitely can blame the company that developed the drug. The Sackler family made a fortune and went around acting like philanthropists, with art galleries, etc, dedicated to them. They have managed to secure immunity from prosecution though. Money can buy you most things. Incidentally, they also developed the benzodiazepines. Yes, these have valid medical uses, but are also highly addictive and used as a drug of abuse. @CanadianLori, what a terrible thing to happen. Real lives damaged beyond repair, with families left trying to pick up the pieces, all so a few could profit massively.
