BHS - 7A – Drug Smuggling Capitol of the World | Alcohol to Addicts to Save Lives

LAX may be the drug smuggling capitol of the world, law enforcement says. San Francisco program gives alcohol to addicts to save their lives. Critics say San Francisco is spending millions to enable addiction. Can money conquer death? How wealthy people are trying to live forever.

Episode Transcript

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You're listening to Bill Handle on demandfrom KFI AM six forty. You are
listening to the Bill Handle Show.And it is a home day, Wednesday,
June fifth, tomorrow being d dayKFI AM six forty. Okay,

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we got a lot going on todayand now it's a lot going on every
day. There's no saying as anews cycle that is in twenty four hours
and the weekends coming up at athirty our Wednesday Jim Kiney story and yep,
another story of how you're gonna bedead by next week. I love
doing those medical stories with Jim overand over again. Now, drug capital

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of the world, where would youput that? Median Columbia, Maybe Mexico
City. Maybe the real drug capitalof the world is lax Los Angeles International
Airport. Eighty million people a yearfly through the airport, fifty thousand worked

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there every day. And who tellsus that it's the drug capital of the
world. Well Sheriff Grady Judge ofPolk County, Florida, tiny little county
in Florida, and he is ata press conference, or was, and
he said that a whole large quantityof drugs that end up in his jurisdiction.

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They came through LAX, and hepinpoints LAX as the center of all
this. He said, over andover on these domestic airlines from Lax through
suitcases, the drugs were smuggled here. And he showed a suitcase packed with
narcotics at a press conference announcing oneof his drug busts, and he said,

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through good police work, which istrue in this case, his agency
cracked a big, big drug ring. And this illustrates the problem about LAX.
On one occasion, on one airline, six suitcases with this drug was
smuggled into Orlando. It was cocaine. They didn't didn't so much as through
a pair of underwear in the suitcaseto hide the drugs. You think Lax

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has a drug smuggling problem. Now, the investigation has always began years ago,
multiple local and federal agencies, andhe says, so easy not to
be caught. And this isn't onea one off event. Every day this
happens. And an eyewitness news investigationlooked at drug cases across the country.

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Guess what originating out of LAX thevast majority. And here is the problem,
well, two problems. First ofall, as jud points out,
you don't see small private airplanes landingat these obscure airports. As just said,
you don't need them anymore. Justgo through LAX. You don't have

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to go through the bother. Andso here is the big problem. Who's
in charge of screening for drugs?Actually no one really TSA responsible for screening
bags of every passenger. But they'relooking for They aren't looking for drugs.
They are looking for something that's dangerouson the plane, explosives for example,

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weapons. The TSA security director forLAX is our search authority is very narrow.
We search for weapons, incendiaries,explosives. So he says, you
know, TSA isn't part of this. We don't search for drugs. We
don't have the ability. We're transportationsecurity officers. That's who we are.

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Now TSA screens bags brought on boardas carry ons using the X ray machine,
but when they're checked in, they'rescreening for the explosives and boom,
you can have packages. Now carryon is easier to see luggage that's checked
in, Not so much. Andso who's involved? How about the LAX

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police agency itself. It's its ownpolice force. Long list of responsibilities and
crimes thefts, assaults, parking violation, drug trafficking, but screening bags,
No, they don't do that either. Who should screen? How about the
FBI? Right, they play arole in enforcing drug laws, but only

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in a very limited sense. Forexample, airport employees trying to use their
credentials to smuggle narcotics past checkpoints,they'll do that. Do they screen bags?
They do not. How about HomelandSecurity, Well, they have forty
special agents at LAX, but they'refocused on international drug cases, not LAX

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to a state A or a localairport. So it's a gray area.
I mean, agencies are doing theirjob, just can't point out who's responsible
for looking for drugs. And thesheriff said, the car taels figured out
all this years ago. You know, they're generally ahead of the game,
and they said, okay, whybother with these small planes jam packed full

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of narcotics. Just throw them ina suitcase and chances are you get through.
Oh even the dogs, right thereare dogs, the sniffing dogs,
and I think they have I don'tknow thirty thirty five of them that run
around the vast, vast majority arescreening for what explosives? Not drugs.

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How about fruit. They have moreinvolved in fruit sniffing. Mangoes are easy
because they smell so good. Ilove the smell of mangoes. Bananas are
fairly easy too. The rest ofit not so much. But they screen,
they don't screen for explosives, andvery few. I mean that's what

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they screen for explosives, not fordrugs. So and you can easily hide
drugs too. You can just youknow, wrap them up, and you
can almost hide anything if you're verycareful. So we are at we are
the drug capital of the world.How about that? All right? I
want to share with you a storyabout San Francisco. Of course, it's

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San Francisco being the most liberal cityprobably in the United States, beating La
I mean, it's just by milesused to be Santa Monica. Was that
certainly in case of in the issueof rent control, et cetera. But
overall San Francisco. So they havea program in San Francisco Manage Alcohol Program,

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and it's known as MAP Ohio unusual. The acronyms don't stop here.
And under MAP it's a pilot program. Up to twenty homeless people with severe
alcohol use disorder are housed in aformer hotel and given predetermined doses of liquor
at specific intervals. Let me repeatthat, alcoholics who are not just alcoholics,

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but I mean falling down drunk tothe point where their life is in
danger. And as you know,many years ago, I went into drug
treatment and a rehab center, andit was a rehab center for people who
had drug abuse problems as well asalcoholics. And it was within a hospital

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setting. It was part of atthat time Santa Monica Hospital and it was
a live in center and there werepeople that were addicted to cocaine like I
was. Valium. Opiates weren't aroundin those days, but all kinds of
drugs were and it was tough.By far. The alcoholics had it the

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worst. They would bring in alcoholics, paramedics, the EMTs would bring in
alcoholics on a gurney they were sosick and drunk, and people would call
nine to one one and the ambulancewould bring them in. I mean,

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this is really dangerous stuff. That'swhat MAP is about. These twenty homeless
people house in this former hotel andgiven this all under medical supervision, predetermined
doses of liquor at specific times.Now, is this happy hour no First
of all, the snacks are horrible. I can tell you now if you

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ever go into a drug addiction program, the food is not phenomenal, to
say the least. And the drinksthat are served or given as a form
of medication are meant to prevent theclients from becoming overly intoxicated, are meant
to prevent deaths from the drug fromalcohol, of course, and avoiding the

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worst effects of withdrawal. And Isaw them in withdrawal back again too when
I went into the rehab center.By far, the worst withdrawal issues were
alcohol, if you can imagine that, Cocaine the easiest, probably drugs like

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valume, very very difficult, heroinbrutal, I mean just brutal. And
what people don't look at is withdrawalfrom alcohol. Where we all know some
people who are alcoholics, I don'tthink you know people who have drunk themselves
to death. Quick factoid. DonaldTrump's older brother did died in his forties,

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which is why Donald Trump will nottouch alcohol, not even at state
dinners where they give toasts with thatflute of champagne. You will not see
him take a sip when he waspresident or if he becomes president again or
any time. He will not takea sip, he will hold the glass
up, he will do the lachimor skull, depending on who's there,

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depending on or death to your enemies, and you know, whatever the salutation
is at that time. Because ofalcohol being that deadly if it's drunk enough.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC says about one hundred

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and seventy eight thousand Americans die everyyear of excessive alcohol use. So you've
got MAP managed Alcohol program in SanFrancisco focusing on this small subset of homeless
people with the most severe alcoholism.And here is the problem with that kind
of alcoholism. It takes the resourcesof the city to the point where in

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some cases you've got the paramedics calledevery day to deal with these people on
a daily basis. They're hauling theminto the hospital and the hospital deals with
them. One patient, it wasinterviewed for this article a USA Today,
said before I came to MAP,I was drinking my breakfast, lunch,

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and dinner. I couldn't even walk. I was a total mess. This
is Bruce, who obviously didn't givehis last name. Sixty five years old,
he said, MAP has helped metake my medications, MAP, I
make my appointments. I wouldn't bedoing all of that if it wasn't for
this program. It literally saved mylife. So anything San Francisco does is

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their politics involved. Of course thereis, and this has become a political
football as well as a medical issue. And as I explained earlier, I
saw some of these people when Iwent into drug rehab in the eighties,
and it was just to see thesefolks, the heroin addicts. It was

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far easier to deal with heroin,far easier to deal with cocaine, far
easier to deal with drugs like value. Alcoholism to this level was by far
the most difficult to deal with.So under MAP twenty homeless people which severe
alcohol disorder are put in a formerhotel and given predetermined doses of liquor at

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specific intervals. Who The CDC saysone hundred and seventy eight Americans die every
year of alcohol use successive alcohol use. Okay, So now you got a
city, San Francisco, famously liberal, providing free drinks to alcoholics under medical
supervision. It's a way of dealingwith them. Can you imagine what's going

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on in conservative circles, headlines liketaxpayer funded vodka as a headline. The
officials with the Department of Public Healthin San Francisco say clients and staffers have
been harassed by right wing media outlets. Online personnel have been approach approach during

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outings, photos taken through windows,and in a few cases, physical harm.
Doctor Paul Lynn, who's a substanceabuse expert, says, you know
what this actually work because MAP relieson harm reduction, which emphasizes decreasing the

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negati effects of substance abuse without requiringabstinence. Now, usually dealing with alcohol
is just abstinence. You go toAA and you just never drink again.
Well, when people are this alcoholic, the model seems to work, and
they're science behind this, According todoctor Linde, He says, you look

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at the science and complete abstinence doesn'twork anywhere near as dealing with small amounts
of alcohol to well, to changethe whole model, to change how people
drink, he said, the scienceis strong and showing physical health, mental

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health, quality of life benefits fromreducing and not needing to stop. Two
years ago, the National Institute onAlcohol Abuse and Alcoholism changed this definition of
recovery from abstinence to moderate limited alcoholprescribed and given under medical conditions drink.

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How can that be better than nothaving it in your system at all?
Because it's harder to it's easier todeal with, it's easier to overcome this
horrific dependence on alcohol. Now,keep in mind we are talking about way
beyond normal drunks. Do they butdo they whittle it down? And then

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no? I think they just givemoderate amounts. It's like methadone with heroin
addicts. Although methadone has the bodydeal with it and it just stops the
addiction. This is just better andeasier for someone to deal with this addiction.
When it comes to this level ofalcoholism, the science says small amounts

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under medical supervision, done in medicalfacilities. They took a hotel and took
out rooms and it says there wego by the way. Plenty of skeptics,
one of them the mayor London Breedof San Francisco. She said the
approach was ineffective and was making thingsfar worse. When it comes to fentanyl

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related deaths. Explain to me howfentyl related deaths connect with alcoholism and she
says, this doesn't work. Yeah, based on what this doesn't work.
The number of calls to nine toone one in the EMT has dropped dramatically.
The folks in the emergency services willsay, we're not picking these people

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up every day now and hauling themoff to the hospital. By the way,
she is, as far as sheis concerned. The mayor right,
this doesn't work. This is terrible. Hasn't cut the budget for MAP five
million dollars a year, still maintainsthe budget. And as I told you
how difficult it is. This guyBruce, first name only, it has

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been at MAP for five months,after years of bouncing from one emergency room
to another, and sometimes on adaily basis, And he said he's hadn't
he hadn't injected drugs in more thanten years. Was far easier to quit
than alcohol. Alcohol, that isthe beast of all beasts. So San

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Francisco is the first city to implementthis model permanently. It's going to expand
the model, by the way,in addition to giving small prescribed amounts of
alcohol. And this is in house, Okay, it is in house.
It's not outpatient. You've got fiftyfive people who have gone through the treatment.
They're expected to say at least ayear. They're offered medication therapy in

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addition to the drinks. That partis outpatient. By the way, in
addition to the drinks the small prescribed, you get a choice beer, wine,
or vodka. Also, they havehappy hour from four to six where
the rduvs are free and they're notbad. That is absolutely not true.

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I gotta tell you this works.They're a popo director of the Health Department's
Whole Person Integrated Care, which overseesMAP. He says, yeah, five
million dollars. That's a that's athat's an amount. But here's the internal
an analysis. Last year, thecity saved one point seven million over six

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months, drastic reduction in emergency roomvisits seventy three percent down. And by
the way, that's just the citycost in terms of paramedics. That's not
a hospital costs, the emergency roomcosts, because that's county emergency medical system
activations down sixty five percent, hospitalizationsdown forty five percent. It's kind of

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a neat program. Kind of aneat program. Now here's a question for
you. Can money conquer death?Can you can you buy longevity. Now
we know you can increase your lifespanwith a Mediterranean diet and exercise and all

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that other crappol and not going toCostco and buying all those processed burritos,
which is worth living? You know, someoneer to say, here's your choice,
Bill, burritos, junk food,diet coke sandwiches in the morning,
or you live five years longer.You know what, I'll take the diet
coke. I'm fine with that.However, there are some people that are

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not fine with that. So astory in the La Times. This guy
Peter diamandees big, big player.I mean he has started business as he's
rich and so at. He's sixtythree and he's gonna live forever, he
says. So in the morning,this cup of decaf seventy supplement capsules every
day, and every day a boxof poop he poops into a box.

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Why well, you ask him.I woke up at six, I meditated
for fifteen minutes. I took fecalsamples unappetizing, I went through my dental
protocol, did push up, situp squats, and then I came here.
Here, by the way is adoctor's office. Santa Monica. Now
Diamandis is an X Prize is theX Prize founder, you know, kind
of high end, and he's beencoming every few weeks to undergo therapeutic plasma

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exchange seventy five hundred bucks a popweekly, removes blood, runs it through
a machine to separate out of theplasma, replaces it without albumen and saline.
And he says, I'm basically givingmyself an oil change. And it's
three hours at a time. Andtherapeutic plasma exchange is done actually to treat

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diseases, but not to prophylactically useit to live longer. One hundred and
twenty thousand dollars every year for this, Yeah, you gotta be pretty rich.
And so what's going on, Well, you know, the quest to
delay or even conquer death has nowreached insane levels in the last few years.

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You've got a growing number of researchstudying the aging process. We know
that's going on, and there havebeen major investments in this, I mean
in the billions of dollars. JeffBezos, Larry Page, Sergey Brinn of
Google, Peter Thiel, sam Altmanwho created chat GPT, and you've got

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immortality bio hackers, rich ones.You know, I guess you know living
longer. Well, here's the storyabout this. We are living twice as
long as we were one hundred yearsago, on average, even in the
last twenty thirty years. Today,sixty is young. Someone dies in their

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sixties, you go, my,he died so young, even in their
seventies. You know that was tooyoung to die. You start looking at
people who are popping off in theireighties, mid eighties, older saying okay,
you know that. You know that'snot terrible. It used to be
you were sixty five, you weretired, and you were dead. You

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were old, you were decripid.You look like at my mother before she
died. Well, the world haschurned. Well, you know, Bill,
there's been studies in the studies alreadyhave showed that rich people live longer
than Yeah. Yeah, they havemore fun, it's better nutrition, it's
better medical. You can't be toorich or too thin. You actually can

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be too thin, but you can'tbe too rich. Yeah, you get
better. But the reason is,it's not a question of if you're richer,
you're going to live longer because you'rebecause you're richer. It's because you
get great you get great nutrition,you exercise, you live a better quality

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of life. I mean, theydon't live long in little Appalachia towns because
possum is just not that healthy foryou. No, I think it's because
the rest of us would rather diethan hang out with you insufferable bastards.
Probably true. The point is thescience has now gotten into this and based

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on the fact that in the lasthundred years, literally we have doubled our
age, our ability to live longer, however sort of plateaued. You know,
now what's happening. Well, scientistsare going to come up with some
medical procedure, but all the stuffthat they're doing, and a lot of

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them are doing you know, exactlywhat this guy Peter Diamantes is doing or
some version of it that's not beenproven. And frankly, look how much
time you spend getting involved with this. There's just a fear of dying.
And you know, am I afraidof dying? No? I die every

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day on this show. It isa question. Just ask some of the
listeners. It's a question to watch. It's yeah, you too, we're
looking face to face. Yeah,it's not a question of dying. I
think it's a question of quality oflife, I mean getting old. And
I joke about my mother. Herlast five years were miserable, I mean

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miserable. While you were in herdefense, you were standing over her,
going die, die die. Youknow, I've often said one of the
things that we look at when someonedies is family and friends, loved ones
being around that person. You knowwhat. That makes sense except for my
kids. If they're around me whenI die, they'll be tapping on their

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wristwatches and go, you know,come on to add speed this up.
Let's get that trust going right now. And we've got a place to go.
You know, we got dinner reservations. But Neil, you know bar
oh yeah, they're going to havethe first three digits of your pin already
in their phone and just waiting tohit that last one. I know,

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chip off the old block, rightKF I am six forty live everywhere on
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