I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but I do have some street smarts, and I know that blowing up boats off the coast of Venezuela will not stop people from dying from drugs.

Even if the government is successful in stopping the influx of Fentanyl, millions of people will still die from some other form of self-medication. Some of the forms will even be legal.

I was a young boy in the 60’s, and a teenager in the 70’s. I remember all the things I was warned to stay away from. It wasn’t just marijuana and heroin, but sniffing airplane glue, or huffing spray paint. There was even a brief period where there was a rumor, as laughable as it was, that said smoking a banana peel could get you high.

It didn’t, but that didn’t mean hippies didn’t try.

My point is, the problem with the number of drug-related deaths in America is not the number of drugs coming into the country, but rather the high rate of DEMAND for drugs in this country.

I must wonder if, instead of spending money to bomb boats or put nonviolent drug offenders in prison, we’d be more effective if we took that money to provide more mental health options and rehab facilities.

Take away the demand, and the supply will dry up on its own.

Now, just for the sake of argument, let’s say what the president is doing right now isn’t a war crime, and it successfully stops the influx of illegal drugs into the country.

That’s not going to stop the number of Americans dying from substance abuse.

Last year, according to the CDC, 178,000 men and women died from alcoholism. That doesn’t count the additional 12,429 drunk driving deaths or the number of alcoholics who die on the streets from homelessness or violence.

Compare that to the number of overdose deaths the CDC reported last year.

In 2024, there were an estimated 80,391 drug overdose deaths. About half the number that die from alcohol. That’s a decrease of 26.9% from the previous year.

Those numbers don’t count the number of drug dealers who die from gang violence.

Last year, I personally knew of two people who died from alcohol abuse. I don’t know of anyone who died from overdosing on Fentanyl or Cocaine. One was the ex-husband of a friend, and the other was the son of a coworker. Both those men had been through rehab and even did a little jail time.

Neither man could beat their demons.

Now I don’t know if better access to mental health facilities or rehab centers could have saved those two men. You’re not going to save everyone. But I do know that if the facilities are there to accommodate people earlier in their addiction, they’ll have a better chance to save many lives.

I’ll admit I’m no angel. I’ve been known to overindulge in scotch a time or two, and I have indeed taken a puff of a joint that was being passed around. But I have avoided all hard drugs or drinking to the point of causing any personal or financial hardships.

My demons are minor compared to what many people go through.

I get it. You don’t get elected or reelected by promoting sensible solutions to the drug epidemic. Promoting mental health isn’t a sexy enough issue. It won’t get the clicks and reaction that blowing up a ship or locking up immigrants will get.

Trump and Hegseth want to look like tough-guy badasses. It wouldn’t surprise me if they get a little hard when they see the video of a boat blowing up, but taking those Venezuelan lives won’t save any American lives.

There’s a good possibility that what this administration is doing to supposedly fight the war on drugs, is a war crime. I say supposedly because they haven’t shown any proof that these boats are carrying any drugs in the first place.

This possible war crime is costing the taxpayers millions of dollars. Money that could be better used by stopping the demand rather than stopping the supply.

People in my life have dealt with addiction issues. I’m happy to say that those closest to me have beaten them. But they didn’t beat them because the supply dried up. The beat them when they got sick and tired of being sick and tired. They beat them when they got help.

As I said, I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but I do have some street smarts.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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