WASHINGTON, DC, Oct 24 — Fentanyl is at the top of the list of deadly illicit drugs; it won the top spot when China, with the help of the Mexican cartels, began to smuggle it into the U.S. soon after President Biden replaced the Mexican border barrier with a welcome mat. The open border was a devil-sent chance for the bad guys to inundate America with what is perhaps the deadliest drug that has ever been seen, fentanyl.
The Centers for Disease Control [CDC] reports that in 2021 — the first year of Mr. Biden’s presidency — more than 100,000 Americans died from overdoses of fentanyl and other opioids, the great majority of which entered the country through our open southern border with Mexico. And 2022 is expected to match or exceed that death rate.
Of particular concern, according to professor of psychiatry and neuroscience,Dr. Thomas Kosten, is a new effort on the part of drug dealers to target children. The online medical site, Psychiatric Times, says Kosten is concerned that “While fentanyl previously looked like other over the counter pills, a new marketing change has arrived just in time for Halloween: Rainbow fentanyl is multicolored and looks like Skittles or jellybeans. With more than 100,000 overdose deaths a year, here’s why we need to combat the opioid epidemic now more than ever.”
Underscoring Dr. Kosten’s concern, last week the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Drug Enforcement agents seized 12,000 fentanyl pills disguised as candy at Los Angeles International Airport. They reported that a “suspect attempted to go through TSA screening with several bags of candy and miscellaneous snacks with the intent of boarding a plane. However, it was discovered that inside the ‘Sweetarts,’ ‘Skittles,’ and ‘Whoppers’ candy boxes were fentanyl pills and not candy. The suspect fled prior to being detained by law enforcement but has been identified and the investigation is on-going … With Halloween approaching, parents need to make sure they are checking their kids candy and not allowing them to eat anything until it has been inspected by them. If you find anything in candy boxes that you believe might be narcotics, do not touch it and immediately notify your local law enforcement agency.”
Fentanyl is a powerful opioid with a potency some 100 times greater than morphine. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration as an anesthetic, says the Department of Justice. It’s a controlled substance that has been usurped and is being illegally produced by criminal elements in Mexico, China and elsewhere.
Assistant U. S. Attorney Adam Gordon at the Southern District of California explains that “A decade ago, we didn’t even know about fentanyl, and now it’s a national crisis. The amount of fentanyl we are seizing at the border is staggering. The number of fentanyl seizures and fentanyl-related deaths in our district are unprecedented … Initially, drug trafficking organizations were adding small amounts of fentanyl to large loads of other drugs like methamphetamine. But more recently, these criminal organizations are moving significantly larger quantities of fentanyl pills and powder across the border. In a recent six-day period, CBP and Border Patrol intercepted four separate vehicle loads of fentanyl weighing between 100 and 250 pounds from July 13 to 18 in Campo and Calexico.”
The experts tell us that first time drug users might experiment with cocaine, methamphetamines and hallucinogens. They are dangerous and potentially deadly but there is nothing “potential” about fentanyl. It can be so deadly that it can take a life with one use.