Mexico is the largest importer of heroin to the United States (although Afghanistan is still the largest supplier of heroin worldwide). Heroin addiction in the US is rising rapidly, with the conventional thinking being that this is because while doctors have been prescribing a lot of Oxycontin for pain in the last few years, the Federal Government has been cracking down on the misuse of this prescription painkiller, making the pills much harder to come by on the street. A typical Oxycontin dose costs $80, where the same high can be gotten from heron for closer to $20 (this is about 1/2 of what it was a few decades ago in 2014 dollars). These facts (along with 1/2 of the US States legalizing medical marahjuana) could be seen as an indictment of our current "war on drugs" policy, but since that ship was sunk several years ago, I won't bother going there (despite our continued spending in that realm, over $25 billion this year alone). With the Republicans sweeping into power, and their desire to legislate morality in certain areas (including which drugs Americans are allowed to become dependent on), I'm not optimistic about an end to such wasteful and pointless spending, but it's interesting to note it, anyhow.
Apparently we are sending more troops back into Iraq, and possibly Afghanistan, to help out with the current instabilities, although I heard that refugees are streaming from Pakistan INTO Afghanistan these days (who would have thought that Afghanistan would end up being the safe, stable spot in the Middle East, go figure). The world is a topsyturvey place these days, with no end in sight, and the strong likelihood of even weirder stuff in the very near future. Weather continues to be odd (although what is odd, the planet is over 4 billion years old, and we've been keeping track of weather for a few thousand, at most). It's hard to say exactly what "normal weather" is for this planet. We may know in a few million years (if we were to keep track for that long).
I went to the outskirts of Guerneville for breakfast yesterday (yummy chicken fried steak & eggs), it's a very retro-seedy kind of area. Land and houses are cheap (for California) and I kind of like it, although it's a good 1/2 hour off the beaten track, so getting to SF would be another 30 minutes and I know that no one there has any money to be massaged. So, what will I do? Probably stay here for now, since it's pleasant and thrifty, plus my Mom rather likes the company. OK, it is now time to go off to school, I hope that you all out there in the blog-o-sphere are well and happy!