In 2019, President Donald Trump scored a major win in the nation’s fight against fentanyl by forcing the Chinese to declare it as a scheduled substance. In addition, the move changed the trade restrictions on the opioid.
Customs and Border Protection authorities have seized more fentanyl in 2021 than all of 2020.
As of April, 6,494 pounds of fentanyl were seized by authorities at the border, compared to 4,776 pounds in all of 2020. In fact, fentanyl seizures have been increasing since 2018.Fentanyl is an incredibly potent opioid that is 50-100 times stronger than morphine, according to Dr. Darien Sutton, an emergency medicine physician based in Los Angeles and ABC News contributor.”People don’t realize how dangerous it is,” he said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently sounded the alarm about the amount of fentanyl seized in his state.
Texas DPS also reported an 800% increase in the amount of fentanyl its officers confiscated after apprehending drug smugglers this April compared to last April.“I don’t know if Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas and the Biden administration either don’t have a clue what’s going on or they are purposefully misleading their fellow Americans,” Abbott told Fox News.The amount of fentanyl Texas DPS confiscated in April “was enough fentanyl coming across the border to kill every single person in the state of New York,” Abbott said.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation to help prevent fentanyl overdoses by excluding testing products from the list of illegal drug paraphernalia.
This will give access to testing products for people who use drugs or suffer from addiction to identify drugs that have been laced with fentanyl.As deaths from fentanyl continue to rise, the drug is now considered to have contributed to the most overdose deaths in Arizona. According to the Governor’s Office, it accounts for 522 of the 1,106 overdose deaths in the state in 2018.
But fentanyl isn’t the only drug making its way across the borders. Coast Guard crews in San Diego have unloaded an estimated 11,500 pounds of cocaine seized from international waters over the past two months.
The drugs, priced at roughly $220 million if sold on the street, were seized from four smuggling vessels that authorities stopped off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America during April and May, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.Military officials shared photos from their operation, with one showing Coast Guard members standing atop a semi-submersible vessel often called a “narco sub,” which they stopped as it cruised through international waters near known drug smuggling routes. Another photo showed an aerial view of a panga, the small fishing boats often used to smuggle people and drugs into the U.S., loaded down with bundles as a crew pulled alongside.
The problems are not confined to Southern California, either. Ohio officials are reporting drug seizures have skyrocketed compared to the last several years.
The drugs they’re watching closely include methamphetamines and heroin. Both are up nearly 500 percent compared to last year.Crack seizures are up more than 300 percent.“Those were all headed to our communities, to our families, our friends. Those are all potential tragedies that we’re just trying to prevent,” Santiago said.
Unfortunately, the drug crisis is likely to get worse before it gets better.
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