CDC: Overdose Deaths Soar from Fentanyl, Flowing from Mexico, China 

A display of the fentanyl and meth that was seized by Customs and Border Protection office
Mamta Popat/Arizona Daily Star via AP

American drug-related overdose deaths are soaring from fentanyl, a powerful synthetic drug that originates from China and enters the United States’ unsealed border with Mexico, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“For the first time, more than 100,000 Americans had died of drug overdoses over a 12-month period,” the Associated Press (AP) reported. “About two-thirds of the deaths were linked to fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, which can be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, heroin or prescription opioids.”

In some states, possession with intent to distribute less than 14 grams of fentanyl is a two-year prison-worthy offense. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, the drug is so potent that 14 grams can constitute 700 deadly doses.

The AP also acknowledged that fentanyl originates from China, then moves through Mexico, and thereby enters the rustbelt states. The states most impacted by fentanyl are West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio — all rural states with dominant white populations.

“The Texas Military Department said that from March 2021 through earlier this month, its troops near the border confiscated more than 1,200 pounds (540 kilograms) of fentanyl,” the AP reported. “By comparison, federal authorities reported confiscating about 11,000 pounds (4,990 kilograms) in 2021 — still a fraction of what entered the country.”

The Biden administration does not seem worried about the fentanyl crisis. In response to a January letter from 16 attorneys general to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that demanded more pressure on China and Mexico to stop the soaring inflow of fentanyl, Biden receded Title 42.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, under Biden’s direction, will terminate Title 42 in May. The law allows authorities to turn away migrants for reasons of slowing the spread of coronavirus. The receded law could allow more than 18,000 illegal crossings per day — a pace that works out to over 6.5 million migrants per year, the New York Times reported.

In March, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey demanded Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland enforce laws against fentanyl trafficking with severe penalties.

“Fentanyl is killing Americans of all walks of life in unprecedented numbers,” Morrisey told the AP. “The federal government must respond with full force, across the board, using every tool available to stem the tide of death.”

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