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With opioids like morphine, Vicodin, Oxycontin and fentanyl contributing to “the worst drug epidemic in modern American history,” Bob Stutman, former head of the DEA’s New York office, was stunned when the FDA approved a new drug called Dsuvia, an opioid 1,000 times stronger than morphine…100 times stronger than heroin…and 10 times stronger than fentanyl. So why did the FDA approve it? How will it be used? And how will it affect our society? According to Bob, even though the FDA says that it won’t, “This is going to become available on the streets very quickly, and it makes heroin look like a kiddie drug.” Bottom Line President Sarah Hiner gets all the details from Bob in this episode of the Bottom Line Advocator Podcast.
Original podcast
When, Where and How Kids Are Being Exposed to Drugs
The current drug epidemic is not happening in the dark alleys with society’s outcasts playing the featured role, as has happened in the past. Today’s addicts are good kids and good neighbors. Kids are being exposed to drugs at an alarmingly high rate, and according to Bob Stutman, former head of the DEA’s New York office, parents have never been more oblivious to and naïve about what’s really going on.
In this episode, Bob joins Bottom Line President Sarah Hiner to chronicle where and how kids are being subjected to drugs. In almost every case, it’s not the local drug dealer…it’s a brother, sister, cousin or best friend. It’s somebody who they love and respect. It’s common practice to preach, “Say no to drugs.” What was never taught? How to say no to drugs.
Bob Stutman, former head of the DEA’s New York office and one of the nation’s top experts on drug usage, was once told by a doctor, “The day I got out of my residency, I was no longer a physician…I was a business man.” This may not be true of every doctor, but it shines a light on one of the larger issues contributing to the worst drug epidemic in modern history—the pressure on doctors to treat patients with prescription pads rather than with safer, cheaper alternatives.
In this podcast, Bottom Line CEO Sarah Hiner talks with Bob about this cultural shift in drug use, addiction, and its implications. It falls on us to educate ourselves and ask the questions—why is this still happening…and what steps can we take to shift the culture away from drug dependence and bring an end to the opioid crisis? As Bob says in this podcast, “It’s far more than a drug epidemic…it’s a culture-changing epidemic.”
This interview was originally aired on the Bottom Line Advocator Podcast.
We are proud to announce that out of hundreds of retired DEA Agents, Bob Stutman has been selected as a leading spokesperson for The DEA Educational Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing substance abuse through advocacy, outreach and educational programs.
Bob provided a powerful presentation on “Understanding the Opioid Epidemic: A Call to Action” at a recent DEA Educational Foundation Benefit Reception in Beverly Hills. Learn more
LETCHER COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) – Centering in on the opioid epidemic in Eastern Kentucky.
Former Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent, Robert Stutman, said the key to fighting the opioid crisis is educating doctors and kids. Monday, Stutman talked with community leaders in Letcher County about tackling opioid addiction in Appalachia. Stutman said the bullseye of the opioid epidemic in the United States is in Eastern Kentucky, due to several factors.
“It’s generally rural, doctors tend to prescribe a lot of opioids, people get hurt on the job, they start opioids and they become addicts,” said Robert Stutman, Former Special Agent in Charge New York, Drug Enforcement Agency.
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – According to a former Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent, 40 percent of Americans use opioids, which are highly addictive.
The Stutman Switalski Group partnered with Emerald Coast Medical Association, a group of physicians and speakers met on October 14, 2017 in Panama City to discuss the opioid crisis and what they can do to help put an end to it.
Robert Stutman was one of the keynote speakers at the opioid crisis conference held at the Holiday Inn in Panama City Saturday. He’s a former DEA Special Agent, at one time he was the head of the DEA’s largest office in New York. Pablo Escobar once had targeted him for assassination.
Bob Stutman of The Stutman Switalski Group presented a keynote speech, alongside Florida Governor, Rick Scott at the Florida Medical Association Opioid Summit 2017 in Tampa, FL on October 6, 2017.
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TAMPA, Fla.– Governor Rick Scott turned to medical professionals for advice on kicking Florida’s opioid habit at Florida Medical Association’s Opioid Summit in Tampa on October 6, 2017.
Gov. Scott said, “We’re going to work with the FMA and others to come up with the right solution.”
Bob Stutman, of the Stutman Switalski Group and former head of the DEA in New York, gave a relevant, yet humorous and entertaining keynote on the opioid crisis, giving the attendees a shot of the sobering truth about the epidemic.
Former DEA agent Mr. Bob Stutman recommends that you follow these three critical rules when speaking to your kids about drugs.
Here are some tips for parents:
- Never pre-judge them. Listen and understand.
- Make sure you know more than they do, or at least as much as you can so you can speak rationally with them.
- Be absolutely honest with them. Don’t lie or exaggerate.
Former Head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), NYC, Bob Stutman, was interviewed on Community Forum in depth about the Opioid Epidemic in the US.
Former Head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), NYC writes a memorandum
to Attorney General Jeff Sessions:
Dear Attorney General,
This memorandum establishes that your policy on charging and sentencing for the Department of
Justice will not succeed. An incarceration-based reaction to drug use in our society is costly and is
of vague service to public safety. I’ll make this simple…
Incarceration doesn’t work. Been there. Done that.
I was once the head of the DEA’s largest office in the world, New Your City, under the Reagan
and Bush administrations. I fought the first war on drugs. I lived through the LSD elevation, the
birth of the marijuana inclination and, most importantly, the cocaine and crack epidemic. Some
have said I was the face of the drug war. An observation proven right when in 1988 Pablo Escobar
put a hit on my life for seizing several tons of his cocaine and holding up his headshot at a press
conference.