Blinken: fentanyl "kills more people than gun violence and gun trafficking combined"
Senator Roger Marshall stated that "the problem" with fentanyl is "at the root [of] that open border.... It's sad that the president is turning his back on this."
(Pexels)
So far this year, police have seized 12,900 pounds of fentanyl. This figure exceeds the 11,200 pounds seized in 2021, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently stated that the drug is causing more deaths than even guns. He says that there is still much to be done to reduce fentanyl from being smuggled into the country:
External All Drugs/ CBP by Voz Media on Scribd
Leading cause of death
Fentanyl overdoses was the leading cause of death among 18 to 45-year-olds between 2020 and 2021, according to an analysis conducted by the nonprofit organization Families Against Fentanyl (FAF) and based on data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Likewise, there is an increased number of children dying from fentanyl poisoning because smugglers sell it disguised in prescription pills and "rainbow fentanyl." Minors buy medications believing they are other drugs like Percocet, Xanax, and Advil but they actually contain the hidden opioid. Drug traffickers use this method to get young people hooked because it is highly addictive.
FAF founder Jim Rauh, who lost his son to fentanyl poisoning, described the drug crisis to Fox News as "a slow-motion chemical weapons attack...perpetrated by China and a third opium war."
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) said in a press release that the "unprecedented overdose epidemic" claims about 275 lives per day. In addition, life expectancy in the country fell last year to its lowest point since 1996, and 10% of the decline was attributed to drug overdoses.
Record seizures
Most of the fentanyl coming into the country comes from China or Mexico and is then smuggled across the southern border, according to the DEA. Last month, agents seized a record 2,300 pounds of fentanyl at the southwest, coastal and inland borders.
In some places such as Pennsylvania, the State Police reported that its officers seized more fentanyl in July, August and September than all of 2020. Officials announced seizing about 86 pounds of fentanyl valued at more than $1.3 million. This exceeds the 78.47 pounds that was seized in all of 2020 and exceeds the amount seized in the third quarter of 2020 by six times.
In Ohio, the Department of Justice reported that between May and September 2022, agents seized 87,000 fentanyl-laced pills, amounting to 4 million "lethal doses."
White House stops "financiers"
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration is making efforts to secure the border and has seen a "200% increase in fentanyl seizures, which means the job of catching drug traffickers is being done."
However, Jean-Pierre's justification is contradicted by official agency data: As drug seizures go up, so does the amount of fentanyl that enters the country.
Biden "turns his back" on it
Republicans and Democrats have strategically teamed up to designate the deadly opioid as a weapon of mass destruction. They have also supported each other in trying to push through bipartisan legislation created to combat the crisis. However, Senator Roger Marshall (R), who visited the border, publicly asked why President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, "his designated border czars," are turning their backs on the crisis at the southern border:
LATEST
