The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.1 Kanye West Just Defended Hitler So Much It Even Freaked Out Alex Jones... & Today's News

Episode Date: December 1, 2022

ONLY A FEW HOURS LEFT! Final Drop of 2022! https://BeautifulBastard.com Go to https://buyraycon.com/defranco  and use code HOLIDAY to get 15% off site-wide! Brought to you by Raycon. Shoutout to Keep...s! Go to https://www.keeps.com/defranco to get 50% off your first order of hair loss treatment. News You May Have Missed: https://youtu.be/Sqs_r0oQBDY Check Out The Most Recent Rap-Up: https://youtu.be/w4_1yzYCGpo TEXT ME! +1 (813) 213-4423 – 00:00 - Kanye West Continues Downfall on Alex Jones’ Show 02:53 - Lawmakers Who Benefited From FTX Cash Probe its Collapse 07:09 - Sponsored by Raycon 08:04 - Twitch Releases Sheild Mode to Protect Against Hate Raids 10:27 - New York Man Gets 17 Years in Prison For Assaulting Asian Woman 11:12 - Jacinda Ardern and Sanna Marin Shut Down Sexist Question About Their Ages 12:49 - Judge Declares Mistrial in Danny Masterson Case 14:33 - LeBron James Questions Media’s Lack of Focus on Jerry Jones 16:18 - Sponsored by Keeps 17:01 - Adderall Shortage Sparks Fears of Opioid-Like Crisis – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ Kanye West Continues Downfall on Alex Jones’ Show: ​https://twitter.com/RollingStone/status/1598413374844436481?s=20&t=VE3yXmj3l9F5MUyrf5sqpQ Lawmakers Who Benefited From FTX Cash Probe its Collapse: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/01/senate-agriculture-ftx-hearing-crypto/ Twitch Releases Sheild Mode to Protect Against Hate Raids: https://safety.twitch.tv/s/article/Protect-your-channel-with-Shield-Mode?language=en_US New York Man Gets 17 Years in Prison For Assaulting Asian Woman: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-punched-67-year-old-asian-woman-125-ny-gets-17-years-prison-rcna59328 Jacinda Ardern and Sanna Marin Shut Down Sexist Question About Their Ages: https://www.npr.org/2022/11/30/1139862082/jacinda-ardern-sanna-marin-age-question Judge Declares Mistrial in Danny Masterson Case: https://twitter.com/THR/status/1598097422336643073?s=20&t=PUGV92bDM4FOC7VwwJch7w LeBron James Questions Media’s Lack of Focus on Jerry Jones: https://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/35153937/lebron-james-faults-media-not-asking-1957-jerry-jones-photo Adderall Shortage Sparks Fears of Opioid-Like Crisis: https://roguerocket.com/2022/12/01/adderall-shortage-sparks-fears-of-opioid-like-crisis/ Harm reduction resources: https://nextdistro.org/ https://harmreduction.org/resource-center/harm-reduction-near-you/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 That's right, you're not Hitler, you're not a Nazi, you don't deserve to be called that and demonized. Well, I see good things about Hitler also. We're going to talk about that and so much more on today's show, but first, today is my birthday. I'm officially 43 years old today, or at least that's how old I'm going to tell people I am, so they say, you look good for your age. But today, I'm celebrating in the most Philip DeFranco way possible, monetizing my birthday by launching the annual Broke Bastard Mystery Box Sale. I know everyone can't afford our drops over at beautifulbastard.com, so to clear out the warehouse for 2023, almost everything is 50% off. That $80 thing, now $40. That $40 thing,
Starting point is 00:00:39 now $20. But when you order, you'll only know the product type and the size. I know it's a shirt. I know it's going to be an extra large. I know it's a female-style crop. I know it's a medium. Though, we also have posters 50% off, and you will know which ones you're getting there. So yeah, jump in on this as soon as possible. Last year when we did this, I think we sold out in about one to two hours. And that's probably the last time you hear me talk about clothes for like about two months. But with that said, buckle up, hit that like button to show you like these extra large shows, and let's just jump into it.
Starting point is 00:01:02 Starting with Kanye West getting all lovey-dovey for Adolf Hitler and Nazis. Rough day. This man went on Alex Jones Today and made Alex Jones seem like the sane one. So yeah, let's look at some of today's highlights. I see good things about Hitler also. Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.
Starting point is 00:01:21 After that, you had Jones sending the show to a commercial by saying that he wasn't a fan of Nazis, with Ye then saying, I like Hitler, jones for the first time in his life trying to be the voice of reason i like hitler i don't like hitler and i know you're trying to be shocking with that i'm not trying to be shocking i like hitler i do not i the the holocaust is not what happened let's look at the facts of that and hitler has a lot of redeeming qualities and he didn't kill six million jews that's just like factually incorrect and Obama was not the first black president he was another Jewish president with Ye just then doubling down and the Nazis in my view were thugs that shook
Starting point is 00:01:53 people down did a lot of really bad things but they did good things too we're gonna stop dissing the Nazis all the time okay Jones even accusing Ye of having a Hitler fetish and honestly I don't even know what to do here like I really agree with what Ben Collins said when he tweeted. Like, I cannot understate how unbelievably anti-Semitic this Kanye West Infowars interview is. This is straight up old-fashioned Nazism that he's like trying to veil as like an I love everything thing, but I think most people can see through it, and it's being mainstreamed by one of the biggest celebrities in the world. So I guess the way that I'll end this story is by saying,
Starting point is 00:02:21 fuck Kanye West, fuck Hitler, fuck Nazis, and fuck anyone excusing this horrendous, disgusting, dangerous behavior from this man. We are so many miles beyond trying to make excuses or saying he just needs the right people around him. And what's wild is even with this, I'm going to get shit from a certain number of people that are like, wow, the way you're covering Kanye's bias, there's no fucking fence sitting with Nazis. Like, in general, I've tried to leave that habit over the last five years. But fucking Nazis? This should be the easiest, most open and close thing to have an opinion on and speak out about. And then, is this fall of FTX going to bring regulation to the crypto market? That's a big question that many have been asking ever since the cryptocurrency giant met its incredibly rapid and shocking implosion.
Starting point is 00:03:03 Right, it left so many people trying to recover money they may never see again. And so we've seen renewed calls for Congress to regulate the largely lawless industry. And lawmakers have responded by planning a series of hearings with three different committees. The first of which is actually kicking off today as we're recording with the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing testimony from Rostan Benham, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or CFTC, which key thing is under the jurisdiction of the panel. And in his opening remarks, Benham called for legislation to regulate the crypto industry and prevent the FTX disaster from ever happening again. But many experts are concerned that congressional efforts
Starting point is 00:03:30 to better regulate the market will fall short or just fail entirely. And that is due to one tried and true reason as old as time, money, and politics. Right currently, the top bill being discussed here is the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act, or DCCPA, which, among other things, would give the CFTC more authority and funding to oversee crypto companies. The bill's been sponsored and championed by the Agriculture Committee Chair and Ranking Member Senators Debbie Stabenow and John Bozeman, and Benham notably actually used to be a senior staffer for Stabenow and has also thrown his support behind the measure. And, another key thing here, so has former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried,
Starting point is 00:04:01 which, unsurprisingly, has raised alarm bells for many, many experts, many of whom view this as a transparent attempt by FTX to essentially just mold regulations as they like, with others also noting that this bill may be too advantageous to the crypto industry, which supports giving regulatory authority to the CFTC because companies believe they'll get more favorable treatment from the agency. And that is due to the CFTC being so much smaller and having way fewer resources than the Securities and Exchange Commission, who, another key thing, has taken a far more aggressive position on controlling the market. Now here you do have Stabenow denying the assertion that the legislation was basically written by Bankman-Fried, saying it was drafted over the course of many months with and influenced
Starting point is 00:04:34 by many different voices. But here's where the money comes in. Critics say that the sheer amount of cash that Bankman-Fried and FTX have poured into Congress and directly to members responsible for deciding how the industry will be regulated indicates otherwise. But according to data from Open Secrets, Bankman-Fried personally gave more than $39 million to candidates and committees in the 2022 midterm elections. And FTX.us has given more than $70 million through individuals and PACs, making it the third biggest influencer of political campaigns. And then getting even more specific, nine different senators on the Agriculture Committee benefited directly from those donations, including Stabenow and Bozeman, who notably both received the biggest individual donations from Bankman-Fried at $23,200 each. Now, both those leaders, along with four of
Starting point is 00:05:14 the committee's Democrats, have since said they plan to donate the contributions that they received, but the three others, all of whom are Republicans, have remained silent on the issue so far. This including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was aligned with two campaign accounts that received a whopping $1.12 million from FTX sources. And understand, that is just about the money we know about, right? Bankman-Fried's donations to Democrats, they've been well-documented, making him the second biggest donor to the party in the last cycle. But, and I will preface this with saying,
Starting point is 00:05:38 we don't know what to believe from Bankman-Fried. I believe that he just, he lies a lot. But he also recently said that he actually donated just as much money to Republicans, but he did so through dark money contributions, which are not lot. But he also recently said that he actually donated just as much money to Republicans, but he did so through dark money contributions, which are not public. Though there, saying, you know, this wasn't meant to sway lawmakers. Saying the reason was not for regulatory reasons,
Starting point is 00:05:55 it's because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans. They're all super liberal, and I don't want to have that fight. But again, I think you need to take Bankman-Fried's words with a grain of salt. Especially around his claim that it's not for regulatory reasons, especially when you look at Bankman-Fried's broader efforts. Where the massive network he set up for FTX to court lawmakers and regulators has been widely reported on, as has the fact that he's been in Washington a lot over the last half a year, specifically lobbying for regulations with open secret data showing that in 2022, the bill FTX.us most strongly lobbied for was the DCCPA.
Starting point is 00:06:19 And so as a result, you have people saying lawmakers who receive contributions are compromised here. With Craig Holman, an ethics expert and public citizen, describing the sheer volume of the contributions from FTX is absolutely breathtaking. And adding that the lawmakers who are working on crypto regulations should get rid of that money they receive, saying, Now that we know most of this money came through fraud and much through undisclosed avenues, these donations were meant to buy favors from Congress, not to reward admirable lawmakers. And so we'll have to wait to see what the lawmakers do. But also, even if they do that, there's no promise that other major crypto players won't just donate more in the next cycles. But also, that just touches on the lobbying problem in general. That's why I and I think many, many people think, you know, politicians in general can be bought,
Starting point is 00:06:55 even if some politicians don't think it's that way. The money likely makes it easier to swing a certain way. And that's both public and dark alike. So I'll leave this as a question for everyone. Yes, the general public, what are your thoughts here? But also, if you've been involved in any way in the crypto world at all, what are your thoughts based off of what we're seeing? And then, the holiday season can be joyful for sure, but it can also be stressful. And a great way to cope with the hectic holiday stress, the airport, road trips, or just escapism, is with the sponsor of today's show, Raycon.
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Starting point is 00:08:19 But, every now and then, we see a social media platform take a swing, and right now, we're seeing Twitch take a swing. With them launching a new thing called Shield Mode, which is supposed to protect people against hate raids. When you have a large group of people engaging in the targeted effort to just harass a streamer. And we've seen this happen with a full range of creators, but also very specifically with black creators, women and LGBTQ creators. One of the most high profile raids we saw this year was that happening to Pokimane. She's one of the biggest streamers in the world. And she was subjected to just disgusting sexual comments, people calling her a slut, telling her to kill herself. They're later saying this impacted her mental health, that she fell into a state of depression, which just to interject here,
Starting point is 00:08:50 because I know there are people out there that aren't compassionate to people who are successful or have a lot of money. I will tell you, as someone that has probably received less hate than her, nothing prepares you for the mob. And it's so much easier said than done to just say, oh, we'll just log off. And I mean that for like a number of reasons, including like when a person's job is the fucking internet, these are people to a certain degree being harassed at work. Like I actively try not to be on social media. I fucking hate Twitter, but I have to be on it to a certain degree for my job. And when I do use it, I just try and stick to just the main feed. What are people saying? But not to me. So the way Twitch is set up shield mode is that with the click of a button, you can do a number of things. With Twitch explaining,
Starting point is 00:09:24 you choose which combination of settings make sense for your community, and you control when you deploy them. Things like follower or sub only chat, chat verification options like a phone or an email. You can also mass ban users who have recently used a certain word or phrase in chat that's being used to target you. And you also later have the option of unbanning users if you're afraid that you overstepped or you knocked out someone accidentally. You can also exclude first-time chatters. And then, yeah, with a click of a button, you can turn it all off. With Twitch saying that way they can protect streamers, but also not minimize them. With Twitch explaining, streamers who need online protection the most,
Starting point is 00:09:51 including Black and LGBTQIA+, streamers disproportionately targeted by hate raids, often need online visibility the most. So particularly for underrepresented communities, we hope this will be a first step in helping you keep your community open and welcoming to new members, while also maximizing your safety. And online right now, if you look, the reactions are kind of mixed. Some saying it's too small of a step after so many years of needing something like this, though others saying it looks incredibly helpful and like it could make a big difference.
Starting point is 00:10:13 And overall, we're just gonna have to wait to see how it's used, if it's effective, to what degree. Because honestly, it's gonna be way easier to change what's possible on platforms than it is to change human behavior. And if the last few years show anything, human behavior is very much geared towards piling on, even for those of us that try to combat it. And then, do you remember that guy in New York? I'm sorry, that fucking scumbag out of New York that punched that elderly Asian woman like 125 times earlier this year? Well, the good news is that
Starting point is 00:10:36 worthless rat bastard of a human being, Tamel Esco, he was just sentenced to 17 and a half years in state prison and five years of post-release supervision. And I know we're not supposed to say stuff like this, but I truly hope that the worst of what we think happens in prison happens to this fucking asshole. He, for no fucking reason other than having hate in his heart, like followed this woman into her home, hit her in the back of the head, calling her an Asian bitch as he's stomping on her. She ends up having a bleed of the brain, multiple face fractures. And honestly, the only homes this man deserves in the future is this prison sentence and then inside of the ground. And I'm thankful he was able to be charged with a hate crime there and that there's just one less scumbag on the street. And then Jacinda Ardern and Sana Marin, right, the New Zealand prime minister and her Finnish counterpart.
Starting point is 00:11:17 They are in the news right now because you have people saying this thing that just happened is an example that you can literally be the leader of a nation and still get hit with casual sexism. So Marin had been in New Zealand on a three-day visit to discuss trade in Ukraine when a reporter asks, Are you two meeting just because you're similar in age and, you know, got a lot of common stuff there? Or can Kiwis actually expect to see more deals down the line between the two countries? The fucking Gauls would be like, y'all just having a little girls trip, just gossip and maybe do a TikTok dance together. You know, with as you had Ardern instantly responding with. My first question is, I wonder whether or not anyone ever asked Barack Obama and John
Starting point is 00:11:49 Key if they met because they were of similar age. We, of course, have a higher proportion of men in politics. It's reality because two women meet. It's not simply because of the agenda. With Ardern then going on to explain that the two countries trade hundreds of millions of dollars in goods and plan to expand that while Marin said, Yeah, we are meeting because we are prime ministers. Of course, but as Jacinda said, we have a business delegation with us. You know, well I just saw it as like a really stupid fucking question and it kind of brought me joy to see them dunking on the guy.
Starting point is 00:12:20 There were a lot of people that were upset or just kind of pissed off about this. With one journalist tweeting that he was one sentence away from asking the prime ministers if they meant to talk about boys and if their periods had synced up yet. As well as another saying they were surprised they didn't ask the Finnish PM if they were there for a sleepover. But also, I do want to note, the only thing that would be shocking about this story is if this is kind of like the last time it happened. That reporter works for News Talk ZB, which turns out is a heavily right-leaning radio station in New Zealand. And they appear to take whatever chance they can to bash Ardern or try to get under her skin. You know, stupid's gonna stupid, so what
Starting point is 00:12:48 can you do other than kind of point and laugh at it? And then, Danny Masterson's rape trial has been declared a mistrial, where the actor best known as Hyde from That 70s Show had been accused by three women, each saying that Masterson supplied them with alcohol, and that when they became disoriented, he took them upstairs to his bedroom and violently raped them. Though, he pled not guilty to the charges in saying that the sex was consensual. And according to reports, they reached a mistrial because over two days, they had seven votes where they could just not come to a consensus. With the AP saying only two jurors voted to convict on the first count,
Starting point is 00:13:13 four voted for conviction on the second count, and five voted to convict on the third count. And so now you have a retrial set for sometime in March. And it'll be very interesting to see what happens there. At the end of this trial was kind of weird. The deliberations having to be redone because two jurors had to be replaced because the original two tested positive for COVID. So we don't know how much that would have changed the conversation and possibly the end result. And also when it comes to the retrial, do we see the defense and prosecution trying
Starting point is 00:13:33 different things out? For example, with this one, there was a lot of conversation about Masterson being involved with the Church of Scientology because that was a key thing. The three accusing him are former members of the church who also claim the church officials tried to shield the actor from accountability. But ultimately, time will tell, and as far as the public reaction we've seen so far, we've seen notable people like Leah Remini responding. Richie, of course, a former Scientologist, she put out a docu-series about them, with Remini tweeting, David Miscavige, I know you read my tweets. There is nothing you can do to intimidate me into silence, and I will not stop fighting you and the evil criminal enterprise you control.
Starting point is 00:14:01 And saying, I want to remind everyone that when you're a Scientologist, you are strictly forbidden from reporting crimes to civil authorities that other Scientologists commit against you. You are ordered only to report things to internal Scientology authorities. Scientology will completely destroy your life if you dare to go to civil authorities like the LAPD or FBI. You will lose everything, from your family, friends, and job overnight. And claiming that Scientology and its evil leader, David Miscavige, obstructed justice and participated in a conspiracy to cover up these crimes. And claiming they have done this many other times in cases of rape and other sexual
Starting point is 00:14:27 misconduct. Scientology should be a co-defendant in the subsequent trial. But as far as what happens from here, it looks like we're gonna have to wait till March to see. And then, is there a double standard in sports journalism? That is the question at hand because of this LeBron James callout. So if you didn't see, there's this photo of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. It was recently published by the Washington Post. It was taken in 1957, and you had Jones, who was 14 at the time, seen in a crowd, peering over a group of white boys trying to block a group of black students from entering a school in Arkansas. Now, Jones has since said that he was just there out of curiosity, not too engaged, that he didn't fully understand the weight of the event at the time.
Starting point is 00:14:57 But you have LeBron James saying he doesn't think this photo has gotten enough attention from the media, saying during a press conference yesterday, I was wondering why I haven't gotten a question from you guys about the Jerry Jones photo. When the Kyrie thing was going on, you guys were quick to ask us questions about that. Right, referencing the attention Kyrie Irving got after being suspended by the Brooklyn Nets for posting about an anti-Semitic movie and initially refusing to apologize, though he did eventually issue an apology after the suspension. It's also something LeBron commented on, right, saying he doesn't condone any hate, any kind, any race, saying he thinks Irving's words caused harm, but also noting that he eventually did apologize.
Starting point is 00:15:24 But in LeBron's eyes, it was an issue that got way more attention than that of the photo of Jerry Jones. And so during that press conference, he continued to ask the press why. The Jerry Jones photo is one of those moments that our people, black people, have been through in America. And I feel like as a black man, as a black athlete, as someone with power and a platform, when we do something wrong, or something that people don't agree with, it's on every single tabloid, every single news coverage, it's on the bottom ticker. It's asked about every single day. But it seems like to me the whole Jerry Jones photo situation, and I know it was years and years ago and we all make mistakes, I get it, but it seems like it's just been buried under. Like, oh, it happened. Okay, we just move on.
Starting point is 00:15:54 You know, with that, you ended up having a lot of people defending LeBron, saying things like, he's spot on. During Kaepernick's peaceful protest, almost every black athlete was asked to comment at one point. Yet here, when Jerry Jones, someone who vilified black athletes for kneeling, is found out to have been part of a desegregation mob, nobody wants to talk about it. Also, as far as people dismissing the situation or saying Jerry Jones was just a teenager at the time, good people pointing to a number of instances where he had young black boys being blamed for their own murders. But yeah, with this, I'd love to know your thoughts regarding the accusations of double standards in the media. And then, do you know that two out of three guys will experience
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Starting point is 00:17:12 with the FDA specifically noting that Teva Pharmaceuticals, which is the biggest manufacturer of the drug, that they were experiencing ongoing intermittent manufacturing delays. But since then, the FDA has also reported that there are other manufacturers experiencing similar problems as well. And in statements to the media, Teva said that the supply disruptions were triggered by a combination of a since-resolved labor shortage on its packing line this summer, as well as increased demand for the drug, right? Adderall prescriptions have skyrocketed over the last two decades. From
Starting point is 00:17:35 2006 to 2016, the prescription of stimulants more than doubled in the States. And those numbers have only grown since the pandemic, right? According to figures from the data analytics firm IQVIA, from 2019 to 2021, Adderall prescriptions alone rose by about 16%, surging from 35.5 million to a whopping 41.2 million, with a big spike over the last few years being driven by the fact that more people are seeing these drugs to help cope with stress and distraction. And because telehealth regulations were relaxed during the pandemic, it made it much easier for people to get diagnosed and prescribed the meds in shorter periods of time. As we've talked about on the show, a number of new startups have been flooding social media, and specifically TikTok, with ads telling people to get ADHD meds if they feel distracted or tired. But you have experts saying the issue here is that with apps designed for such quick diagnosis,
Starting point is 00:18:15 it can be hard to tell if ADHD is actually the problem, right, if the symptoms line up. With all that, also prompting concerns over overprescription, which some speculate could also be driving this shortage. Also beyond that, Adderall is a Schedule II controlled substance, so it's highly regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Which, key thing, it means that there are caps on how much each company can produce, so they can't just ramp up production to make up for the backlog. Plus, it's also difficult for pharmacies to just pivot and start carrying new brands because of the regulations on the drug. And understand, this shortage can create some serious problems. In fact,
Starting point is 00:18:42 to get a better idea of what is actually at stake here, we reached out to an expert. Specifically, we spoke to Leo Baletsky, a professor of law and health sciences at Northeastern University and a faculty director of the Health and Justice Action Lab. And we kick things off with a very calm question of, are we about to see the beginning of a full-blown public health crisis? To which he responded, I hope not. I'm afraid that we might be. So there's two major concerns here.
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Starting point is 00:19:31 and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Now have access to, and there are individual level risks that cascade from that. So insomnia, depression, in some instances, you could even see suicidal ideation. So all of these are kind of, you know, health risks that result from rapid tapering or discontinuation of taking Adderall. What is an even bigger concern or an equally important concern is that lots of people without
Starting point is 00:20:11 access to the pharmaceutical supply will turn to the illicit market. Counterfeit Adderall is readily available on the illicit market and other form of amphetamines, specifically methamphetamine, is widely available on the illicit market 24-7. You know, there's no shortage in that market. Bilecki also went on to explain that there are a number of harms that can come as a result of people turning to the black market. We actually have firsthand evidence of this from the opioid crisis. As he noted, opioids were also widely criticized as being overprescribed. And so when access was cut for prescription opioids, people turned to illegal markets.
Starting point is 00:20:39 And we saw a massive spike in the use of heroin, counterfeit opioids, and fentanyl contamination. And you had Bilecki saying that this Adderall crisis is super scary because there are so many parallels to the opioid crisis. The public health sort of population level concern is that we might see similar patterns here where lots of folks are being pushed into the illicit market and there, you know, it's the wild west. Counterfeit Adderall oftentimes does have methamphetamine. We also know that oftentimes this counterfeit Adderall can be cross-contaminated with fentanyl and other things. Of course, you know, methamphetamine is even cheaper than counterfeit Adderall pills. And so the concern is that folks might start smoking meth and even injecting meth, which is, you know, increasingly common. It would be a huge
Starting point is 00:21:21 public health disaster if thousands or even millions of people started taking methamphetamine in trying to replace this pharmaceutical supply. Now, as far as what can be done to prevent this, Bilecki explained that the FDA has a number of powers to clear up the shortage. This including encouraging other competitors to create new sources of production as well as encouraging the importation of Adderall from abroad. And while he says the agency would have the power to fast track these actions to skirt around regulatory hurdles, so far they haven't taken
Starting point is 00:21:47 any of those steps, and that's a problem. We also reached out to the FDA to ask if they have plans to intervene and speed up the process, with the spokesperson actually telling us, The FDA evaluates all its tools and determines how best to address each shortage situation based on its cause and the public health risk associated with the shortage. And as far as when the FDA thinks that the shortage will be resolved, the spokesperson said it's, quote, expecting the supply issues to resolve in the next 30 to 60 days. But Poletsky says he doesn't believe that timeline. I'm afraid that they may be overly optimistic given the scale of the problem. My guess is it's going to take months to resolve. And I hope that, you know, most folks are able to kind of make do and not start kind of purchasing alternatives
Starting point is 00:22:24 from the illicit market. But Bilecki also said that the issues that we're seeing here are a symptom of broader problems with America's overall system for drug regulation that goes beyond the FDA. But as I mentioned before, because Adderall is a controlled substance, the DEA is also a big player in all this. But unlike the FDA, the DEA is a law enforcement agency. And Bilecki noted that it has a long history of focusing more on controlling the supply of these kinds of drugs rather than ensuring there is adequate access for the people
Starting point is 00:22:47 who need them. And so as a result, the DEA has very little control over both legal and illegal markets for controlled substances. We simultaneously have this massive unregulated black market that is absolutely thriving and people who lack proper access to prescriptions that they need, which is why Bilecki says it is imperative that we use this latest shortage as yet another wake-up call to highlight the need for rethinking how drug access is structured in America. It's really important to highlight the failures of the DEA in this context because the DEA, much more than the FDA, is responsible for finding that balance between access and control. We really need to reevaluate the role of the DEA in our drug regulatory system. The FDA, on the other hand, probably could use additional authority. Their role is mainly to
Starting point is 00:23:31 kind of like monitor and coordinate, and it doesn't seem to be insufficient. When it comes to essential medicines, we really need much more authority for governmental regulation to step in and sort of help to stabilize access to these particular medications as well as many others. Where we ended with Beletsky is, you know, noting that there are several steps people who need Adderall can take until the shortage clears up. I think it's important to note that there are other alternatives in the pharmaceutical supply that are not in shortage. And so talk to your provider about what additional tools may be available, you know, other stimulants that you can that you can try to kind of bridge the gap. I think it's also important to note that if you do turn to, you know, folks are turning to buying Adderall or other alternatives on the illicit market, it's really important to test that supply, especially for fentanyl. And so with this, I'll be linking to some resources down below
Starting point is 00:24:26 where you can order test strips online. Which really, I mean, anyone who is using any kind of drug they did not get legally should have on hand. Please don't be stupid, stupid. But for now, that's where we'll leave it. A big thank you to Professor Bilecki. And for all of y'all, any and all thoughts on this topic, maybe experiences with this topic, if you take the drug,
Starting point is 00:24:42 it's a big, massive topic and problem, and it affects millions of lives. And I want to make sure we hear from some of them. And that is where I'm going to end today's show. As always, thank you for watching and being a part of my daily dives into the news. Also remember, it is my birthday, but get a present for yourself over at beautifulbastard.com.
Starting point is 00:24:56 We got that broke bastard 50% off sale. First come, first served, and gone forever. But as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love your faces, and I'll see you Sunday.

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