Fentanyl: Death Incorporated with producer Dr. Robert Marbut Jr. | Charles Story of Recovery

> Welcome to American Medicine today. I'm Kimberly Bonati, alongside Ethan Rucker. We've got an exciting show ahead. Let's get started. A compelling new documentary delves into the multifaceted aspects of the dangerous drug Fentanyl, which is now the leading cause of death among young Americans. Joining us to discuss is Dr. Robert Marbet, fentanyl expert, former White House homelessness czar and producer of the film Fentanyl Death, Inc.. >> Thank you for joining us, Dr. Marbet. >> Thank you so much for having us. And more importantly, thank you for caring about the fentanyl crisis. >> Oh, certainly. So we're all familiar with fentanyl, but can you explain just how dangerous this drug is? And, you know, it's it's really important because it's the leading cause of death for Americans 18 to 45. Is that correct? >> Absolutely correct. Full stop, 18 to 45. Number one, death, cause it's 1/15 of a grain of rice will kill you. Or two or three salt grains equivalent will kill you. And so you basically can't see it at a deadly rate. It's almost like dust. You can't taste it. You can't smell it. >> So when it's that potent and you don't know it's there, that also means it. You know, you also don't know what dosing you're getting on top of it. So that's what makes all that combined is what makes it so fatal. >> It almost seems counterintuitive for these drug lords to be lacing their drugs with fentanyl if it's going to kill off their clientele. >> And they're definitely trying to figure that out, because when they first got into it, you had an unlimited amount of people. If you go up to Philadelphia, you start to see how they're trying to in essence lower the dosing of fentanyl and adding stuff to it. And and and it's even has its own street name in Philadelphia. It's called Tranq. >>And so that's with horse tranquilizer, with fentanyl. And in the long run, it's just as deadly. And that's what a lot of people are doing short term, trying to figure out how to lower the bit. >> Why wouldn't our military use something like this if it's that deadly as a like a bio weapon, in essence, especially if it's odorless, tasteless, and it's like Duster seems like you could just blow a cloud of it over a battalion and we're all dropping dead in. >> And we talk a little bit about this, the weaponization of fentanyl gas. And part of that it is so unstable. So if you're going to do that to your opposition, you may end up doing it to yourself. That's so hard to control. And an example we give in the Fentanyl Death Inc. movie is the Moscow Theater. If you remember that theater episode that was taken over and they had about a thousand hostage and it went on for days, and eventually the KGB or the modern KGB went in. And if you remember, they dropped a gas through the top of it before the shootout goes on. And it turns out that most of the people died. The innocent civilians who died were of fentanyl overdose because they were using a gas and they were trying to get everybody knocked out. And it was the first time anybody had ever tried it. And it it didn't work out the way they were intending it to work. And, you know, because nobody ever tried it. Nobody had ever done it. They they didn't have enough people to do the reversal agents, etc.. And so, you know, we talk about that a lot in the film is this can be a weapon. And some people already say it already is a weapon. >> You know, the the I think China I think in the beginning this was about money for China and it was certainly money for the Mexican cartels, but then China, then realized, hey, I'm also not only do we get cash flow and hard American dollar, but we're also destabilizing one of our top adversaries. So in many ways, whether it was intended or not, almost really doesn't even matter. But it's functionally become a weapon of the Chinese government now, in terms of destabilizing our society, if you take the last five years of fentanyl deaths of all kinds in all four categories of fentanyl deaths, and compare it to million American military men and women and all service branches, plus the security services go back 100 years. World War two, Korea. Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iraq, Gulf War one, Gulf War two, Global War on terror. Few in total fentanyl, the last five years has killed more Americans than all those wars in 100 years. That's what he's saying. And it's because it's so potent. >> We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back with Dr. Robert Marvin after this. You are watching American Medicine today. >> To neurosurgeons couldn't figure out anything that was wrong with me or what I would need surgery for. Dr. Bonati, without even seeing, knew I was hurting, knew they could help me. First time I came in here was Monday. And today is Thursday. I've had two surgeries and am doing fantastic. I'm still in shock that I can walk. >> That's all within four days. >>Does it ask Bonat.com. >> Welcome back to American Medicine Today, we're continuing our discussion with Dr. Robert Marbut. You said that huge amounts of deaths are due to fentanyl. And the quote is like having a jet airliner crash every day of the year, seven days a week, 365. I mean, that's insane. >> And that underestimates it. We spend a lot of time fact checking it, and you could almost go to a 747 now if they count all types of deaths and certainly a 747 every other day. Our countries house is on fire and nobody is sort of woken up to it. Total overall deaths before fentanyl hit the scene is of all other overdoses like every other illicit drug, you know, on the street was averaging killing about 20,000 people a year for about two decades and pretty consistent number about 20,000 or under. Now we're talking about one drug that's around 150. And most experts in the field say that's actually undercounting. And there are some reasons why that gets undercounted. But let's say we're off 10% and it's, you know, 120 to 180. Think about what that number is. And and we're not acting like this crisis that's before us. Think about remember when the two 737's went down with Boeing and I think they went down a few days apart or a few weeks. In short, it was a short period of time. But worldwide, two went down and literally they grabbed it the entire 737 max fleet. They grounded the whole fleet, just dropped it until they could figure it out. And we're not acting like that. >> No, we have open borders. So have these numbers skyrocketed because our borders are open. >> For now, we have open borders. >> That's a great question. And and I think our our friends on the left and maybe some of the friends of the middle don't understand how illegal immigration directly ties to fentanyl. And I think this is one of the two reasons why the current White House last four years really didn't do what they needed to do, because you can't talk about fentanyl without talking about illegal immigration. >>And there are three direct ties to fentanyl. One is people when they come across. Remember, the cartels have five lines of business. They have illicit drugs, they have sex trafficking, they have human trafficking, they have coyote services where we're trying that you pay to help somebody get your cross. And now they have fentanyl. And so one is when they're sending the human beings across, they put stuff in their pockets, Give this to the driver, give it to the dragon, Take this backpack. >>Sometimes they're forced to do it. Sometimes they're incentivized with cash and say, we'll give you $400 and take it across. So one is the people literally going across our part of the carriers. Number two, and we talked about this one in the we have a great graphic in our documentary where people I call what the Zone. So you say go to the Laredo zone and you put a lot of humans going across through there, human trafficking and they're smuggling sent a lot of people through it overwhelms the agents, the officers, the state police, the local police and everybody then sort of comes from neighboring zones or sectors to come and help out. >>And then you open up like, say, down to McAllen and just walk it across. And the third one, which absolutely nobody is talking about, which I think is so good that the president got President Prime Minister Trudeau to go down and meet with them. The president elect was we have people on the northern border working in Border Patrol who sit 8 hours a day doing computer work, processing people on the southwest border. And so it still looks like you have somebody in a sector, but they're in an office processing people on the southwest border rather than being out on patrol. And so we have hundreds of miles of northern border that are just wide open now because of the paperwork they're having to do for the southwest border. >> Yeah, it is crazy. And there's so much more to discuss. We'll have you on again another time. But thank you so much for being on the program. Dr. Robert Marbut. >>Thank you for having us. And most importantly, thank you for caring about this and encourage your viewers to go out and watch Fentanyl Death Incorporated. >> That's all the time we have for this segment. Make sure you stay tuned. We'll have more after the break. You were watching American Medicine today. Charles is a hard working man from Pennsylvania. >> I'm a family based therapist. I traveled to homes of troubled youth and families and help them work through their issues. My favorite thing to do is ride my Harley. >> While Charles works as a therapist now, he previously spent time working in the coal mines where his job required him to lift and operate heavy equipment. As the years wore on, it began to take a toll on him physically until one day he injured his back while working around his home. >> We built a new house and we were putting a retaining wall in and I was lifting up 90 pound landscape blocks and I just felt a really nasty pop. It kind of put me on the ground real quick. Always had pain. When I was walking. >> A few years ago, Charles began experiencing weakness in his legs and a general loss of stability. >> I first noticed a like in the weakness of my my legs, my right knee would give out. I actually at a stoplight or a stop sign, I, I want to put my feet down on my bike. My knee wouldn't hold me up, so I dropped my legs, didn't feel stable. I didn't feel balanced on the bike. So I would have to do everything online or on the phone. >> And that's just not good for the kind of work I do. Over the years, I spent a lot of time in chiropractic care. It would give me relief and sometimes it lasts longer than others. You know, massage therapists, you know, just trying to deal with it even did a little bit of cupping around my hips, and that gave me a lot of relief. >> I thought that was going to be the answer to everything, but it would last a week or so that it would go away. >> And that's when you learned about the Bonati Spine Institute. >> We first heard about the Bonati Institute, and about two years ago her aunt came down in December and she had been fuzed and I watched this woman suffer with pain. I mean, she was walking with a walker or in a wheelchair. She couldn't go up steps. She had a chair lift in the house. He was Dr. Bonati, did hers, and he actually removed the fusion. When I seen her come back from that and it was right around the time I was dealing with all this. She walked into her other house and was sitting there with not grimacing nor complaining. It was enough to convince me to, you know, at least send the MRI and see what he has to say. >> When Charles arrived for his in-person evaluation, he was provided a physical exam, had some additional X-rays taken at the on campus imaging center, and a few minutes later met with the surgeon to develop and customize a surgical plan to eliminate his pain. >> And Dr. Bonati walks in and is like, You see this? See this? This is what's causing it. We're going to remove this and you're not going to have pressure there and that's going to let the nerve operate as it should and you're not going to have pain. And so that made sense. >> At the Bonati Spine Institute surgeries are performed incrementally using conscious I.V. sedation, where the patient remains awake and communicating with their surgeon. This is to ensure the source of the patient's pain is eliminated before they leave the operating table. >> I was a little bit worried about how I respond to that. It's still a little freaky feeling. Things get pulled and tugged and tapped and all that stuff. But, you know, I understand why they do it, because they want to make sure that that the pain is not there. So like, you know, they're testing it. And I think that's smart. >> Patients of the Bonati Spine Institute are often surprised by how quickly they are able to be up and moving just minutes after their procedure. >> And then they told me to jog and I thought they were out of their mind. And I haven't jogged in, I don't know since probably 2015. I didn't know how to. You don't know? You never think you're going to do that again. So, yeah, it was pretty amazing. The only physical therapy they've told me here is make sure you walk as much as you can. >> Charles highly recommends the Bonati Spine Institute to anyone suffering with neck or back pain. >> Just send the MRI down, set it down and talk to the guy. >> Charles is looking forward to getting back on his motorcycle and enjoying time with family and friends. >> You know, I love coaching. I'm looking forward to grandchildren someday that hopefully will play hockey or softball or football or any of the sports that I coached and I can be actively involved. That's a really important piece to me. >> To see more stories of recovery just like this. Search for the Bonati Spine Institute on YouTube, Rumble Apple's App Store, Google's Play Store, Roku and Amazon's Fire TV. Well, that wraps up this episode of American Medicine today. You can check out previous episodes if you add American medicine today to your channel streaming lineup. If you have any comments or questions, contact us at the numbers below or you can tweet at Dr. Bonati using the hashtag American Medicine today or hashtag AMT We would like to hear from you.