Opioid addiction kills as many as 200 Americans a day; the North Country is not immune to this tragedy. We all feel “something must be done,” which leads to asking, “What is being done?” It turns out the answer is “quite a bit.”
More fentanyl has been seized and more arrests have occurred in the last two years by the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) than in the previous five years; the DHS reports border seizures of fentanyl are up 400% since September of 2019. At least sixteen major transportation methods have been identified, including such unusual ones as submersible vessels. New inspection and detection equipment, as well as new labs at ports of entry, have aided in this remarkable increase in seizures.
Rather than focusing merely on individual traffickers, at least seven federal departments and offices are coordinating efforts to identify and disrupt this scourge’s sources and distribution networks, with the State Department also enlisting international coordination. Even “pill presser” tools are confiscated to disrupt production.
The DEA administrator called fentanyl our “deadliest drug threat” ever and explained all illegal fentanyl is coming from two Mexican cartels, with the Sinaloa, operating in every U.S. state and across 47 countries, being predominant.
Sinoloa was once run by the notorious Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, imprisoned by the Trump administration in 2019. The DEA administrator said Guzman’s four sons have now made their father’s “global drug trafficking empire…more ruthless, more violent, (and) more deadly” by spreading a new poison, fentanyl. One of the sons, Ovidio, has been arrested and is facing charges, as are seven others in separate arrests, as a result of international cooperation initiated by the U.S. State Department. Charges remain against 20 others still at large, and the State Department has increased the reward money offered as an incentive.
Fentanyl is made from synthetic chemicals sourced by the cartels from two companies in China. When talks with Chinese counterparts faltered, the Treasury Department imposed painful sanctions against these companies, and the State Department enlisted international pressure to stop the chemicals’ exportation, knowing it hurts the world, not just the U.S.
International sanctions have devastated the Russian economy over its illegal invasion, and the actions of both the Treasury and State Departments should not be underestimated.
The St. Lawrence County Democrats commend the Biden administration for competently addressing one of the most urgent issues of our time.
Ginger Storey-Welch, Vice Chair
St. Lawrence County Democratic Committee
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