Key Points
- 93,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year.
- 2,100 pounds of fentanyl were seized in the first quarter of this year.
- Despite this, the Biden administration wants to remove penalties for trafficking.
The opioid epidemic has been pushed out of the headlines by the COVID crisis – but that doesn’t mean it has gone away. Drug overdose deaths killed 93,000 Americans last year; 60% of those were caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances (FRS).
At the southern border, deadly drugs are pouring into the country. According to data released by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, more than 2,100 pounds of fentanyl were seized in the first quarter of 2021 – a 233% increase over the same time last year.
It’s within this context that the Biden administration has proposed removing certain penalties for the trafficking of deadly synthetic opioids. Regina LaBelle, acting Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), released the following statement:
“We are pleased to present to Congress a long-term, consensus approach that advances efforts to reduce the supply and availability of illicitly manufactured FRS, while protecting civil rights, and reducing barriers to scientific research for all schedule I substances,” Labelle said.
“The proposal would exclude those FRS that are scheduled by class from certain quantity-based mandatory minimum penalties normally associated with domestic trafficking, and import and export offenses of CSA schedule I compounds,” LaBelle added.
GOP Senators Tom Cotton (R-AK) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) quickly slammed the proposal, citing that it exacerbates two American crises in one fell swoop.
“Fentanyl analogues kill thousands of Americans each year. To protect our communities from the dealers pushing this poison, President Biden needs to keep them off the streets, not let them off the hook,” Cotton told Fox News.
“It appears that the Biden Administration cares more about avoiding new penalties than holding drug traffickers accountable for fueling an opioid epidemic that continues to destroy families and erode communities across the country,” Grassely said.
Despite the blowback, LaBelle still believes a public health approach will bring overdoses down.
“Expanding the nation’s public health approach to substance use disorders and strengthening our public safety efforts to reduce the drug supply are essential parts of our strategy to bringing down the rates of overdose death,” said LaBelle.
The Biden administration’s failures at the border and their new, laxed approach to drug enforcement is only pouring fuel on the fire of two of America’s toughest crises.
