Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid with legitimate medical use if prescribed by a licensed medical professional. It is used to treat cancer pain, pain following surgery, and other chronic severe pains. It acts like morphine but is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than cocaine. It was developed in the 1950s for pharmaceutical purposes and is prescribed under several brand names. But the prescribed fentanyl is not the problem.
Illicitly Manufactured Fentanyl: The Real Problem
Fentanyl’s use was exploited by the drug mafia to mix it with other illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin to increase its potency. Fentanyl is manufactured in foreign labs in China and India and transported into the United States via Mexico to be sold in the illegal drug market. It is sold as a powder, nasal spray, or fake pill, which looks like a legitimate prescription opioid. Illicit Fentanyl has created a national crisis because it is available in every corner of the United States.
Fentanyl Is Deadly
Fentanyl is the most dangerous and lethal illicit drug available in the US. One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people. Just two milligrams of it can kill a person. Fentanyl is commonly mixed with heroin, cocaine, or other counterfeit pills. Usually, this mixture is without the knowledge of the user. This mixture leads to an overdose and can instantly kill the user. It is also hazardous for law enforcement officials or others who may come in contact with this dangerous chemical because it can penetrate the skin and cause severe health damage.
Opioid overdose deaths are increasing in the United States, with fentanyl playing a significant share in these fatalities. Approximately 154 people die from an overdose of synthetic opioids like fentanyl every single day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fentanyl was involved in approximately two-thirds of an estimated 108,174 overdose deaths in the United States during the 12 months ending in April 2022.
Fentanyl Trafficking at the Southern Border
Mexico is the primary source of fentanyl trafficked into the US. Fentanyl from China, India, and other countries is transported to secret labs in Mexico run by drug cartels. From Mexico, fentanyl is smuggled to the US via the porous southern border using catapults, drones, smugglers, and traffickers. Traffickers sometimes use illegal migrants to smuggle their drugs, yet most of the time, it is US citizens who are involved in fentanyl trafficking. In 2021, U.S. citizens accounted for 86.3 percent of fentanyl trafficking convictions compared to just 8.9 percent for illegal immigrants.
The surge in illegal immigration over the last few years has helped fentanyl traffickers smuggle their drugs. Due to many people rushing to the southern border to enter, the US authorities are occupied with illegal immigrants. This diversion provides traffickers with the opportunity to smuggle their drugs. This has become the modus operandi of drug cartels for the past few years.
Follow the Money
The fentanyl problem is spreading and going to get worse because of the profit it makes. According to DEA reports, one kilogram of pure fentanyl was worth $5,000 in 2017. More importantly, one kilogram of Fentanyl can be converted into products weighing 16-24 kilograms (which has a market value of $1.6 million or 20 times more profit than heroin or cocaine).
Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden had declared a national emergency to counter the threat of a fentanyl crisis in the country. However, there is no sign of a decrease in fentanyl trafficking in the US. The federal authorities at the border seized 10,200 pounds of fentanyl in FY 2021. According to News Nation, 550,000 pounds of illegal drugs (including fentanyl) were seized at the US-Mexico border in 2022. In Tucson alone, Arizona’s authorities have confiscated 370,000 illegal fentanyl pills.
The statistic in the above graph only shows the amount of fentanyl seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other federal authorities at the southern border. The amount of fentanyl seized is just the tip of the iceberg. The amount trafficked which goes unnoticed is many times more than that. Millions of fentanyl pills and thousands of pounds of fentanyl are trafficked to the US every year, ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans. It needs to be stopped right now to save our future generations from this deadly evil.
There has been discussion in the Senate and House of Representatives to combat the fentanyl problem and to formulate strategies and policies to control fentanyl trafficking. No concrete actions or firm determinations have been seen in Washington to control the evils of this deadly chemical, however. The current border situation and the inability of the federal government to secure the southern border are undoubtedly facilitating fentanyl trafficking. We know the southern border is porous, so we have pounds of fentanyl on our streets.
The politicians in Congress and the Federal administration have failed to formulate policies that could end drug trafficking in the country. Bureaucrats in the Federal capital cannot secure our border and protect our national security and public health.
Did you ever wonder why the federal government, with unlimited resources, cannot secure the southern border? The answer is simple: the politicians in Washington don’t care. They have been there for decades, protecting their dynasties to stay in power for a lifetime. They need to be term-limited so that our young generations, with new and efficient ideas, can decide how to protect themselves and their future. The bureaucracy is stagnant and inefficient, and they do not serve the people of this country. The powers of bureaucrats need to be redirected and limited.
We are calling for a Convention of States to empower the people of Michigan to decide how to protect the border and, in turn, protect their children – to keep the citizens from being killed by fentanyl. Please join us in imposing term limits on the politicians in Congress and limiting the powers of federal bureaucrats by signing the PETITION and VOLUNTEERING
