Rebecca Kiessling, a mother of five who lost her two sons to fentanyl poisoning, went off on a Cato Institute scholar during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing after he suggested that Americans are responsible for the nation’s fentanyl crisis.
On Tuesday, Kiessling told the story of her two sons, 20-year-old Caleb and 18-year-old Kyler, who died — along with 17-year-old Sophia Harris — on July 29, 2020 in Rochester Hills, Michigan, after they were given counterfeit Percosets laced with fentanyl.
David Bier, a policy scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute, which was initially co-founded by billionaire Charles Koch, was also in attendance at the hearing at the request of the committee’s Democrat members.
Bier, during part of his testimony, seemingly suggested that Americans are responsible for the fentanyl crisis that is now killing more than 100,000 every year, stating that there is no policy solution to stopping fentanyl from entering the nation’s porous borders.
“The most important policy change that can be made in this area is the demand for drugs,” Bier told the committee:
Ultimately, if U.S. consumers are willing to pay for illicit narcotics to come into the country, the black market will supply it … I do not believe that there is a solution to fentanyl smuggling at ports of entry. At the end of the day, the black market is supplying drugs to U.S. consumers who are paying for it. [Emphasis added]
As long as we focus on supply and ignore the drug war victims and not address their needs, not provide them with options to protect themselves against fentanyl, wouldn’t it be great if fentanyl test strips were legalized nationwide so that people can know what they’re ingesting … we need physicians to actually treat addiction and not be prohibited from prescribing methadone to their patients. I do not believe that restricting trade and travel and trying to crack down on immigration or even on U.S. citizens’ travel abroad is the solution to the pandemic of fentanyl poisonings. [Emphasis added]
Kiessling blasted Bier, in response, saying that her two sons “didn’t ask” to die from fentanyl, as they had no idea that they were consuming a drug laced with the deadly opioid.
“They had no idea that they were doing anything that could kill them. And it’s because fentanyl got into this country,” Kiessling said before laying into Bier:
I heard this man over here from the Cato Institute tell you ‘Well it’s because of demand.’ What I’m hearing him say is ‘They asked for it.’ What the hell? Seriously, are you kidding me? We need to protect our children. They didn’t ask for that. This wasn’t demand because they wanted the fentanyl. They didn’t want fentanyl. They thought they were getting Percocets. He is absolutely clueless, like total disconnect from what’s happening. [Emphasis added]
And to say ‘Let’s just give them strips, let’s give them rehab.’ Well, you know what, my kids got the federal rehab. My son Caleb went to federal rehab. It was a flophouse. It wasn’t real rehab. You’re wasting your money where you’re sending it. I’m telling you. It’s a waste of money because it wasn’t real rehab. The government paid for their drugs under COVID. They encouraged them … all these young people, in our support groups, we all talk about it how they paid for the drugs with the federal funds under COVID. That gave them an incentive not to work, healthy young people. [Emphasis added]
In Caleb and Kyler’s case, the drug dealer who sold them and Harris the fentanyl-laced Percasets was sentenced to just eight to 15 years in prison for the deaths. Kiessling said police “made clear” to her that the fentanyl that killed her sons “came from Mexico” over the southern border.
“I didn’t know what fentanyl was … I didn’t know that my boys were taking anything that would kill them,” Kiessling continued. “[My sons] didn’t know either. They thought they were safe with pills … but the government knew. The government has known for years and years.”
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) is readying legislation that would convert Title 42, used at the border to combat illegal immigration and drug trafficking, to fight the fentanyl crisis.
In the Senate, Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) have floated the same idea. Last year, Hagerty introduced a plan that would convert Title 42 to fight the fentanyl crisis, but it was blocked by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI).
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has also previously introduced legislation to make distributing fentanyl a felony murder charge.
“If we had Chinese troops lining up along our southern border with weapons aimed at our people, with weapons of mass destruction aimed at our cities, you damn well know you would do something about it,” Kiessling said. “We have a weather balloon from China going across our country, nobody died and everybody’s freaking out about it. But 100,000 die every year and nothing’s being done?”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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