Fentanyl: America's Other Epidemic

Fentanyl is a silent stalker of vulnerable Americans.  Almost overnight, it has become the top killer of adults aged 18 to 45.  Unlike America's other epidemic, there are no daily fatality counts in the news.  Fentanyl death statistics usually emerge once a year, then disappear from the nation's consciousness.

America can no longer ignore the issue. Drug overdose fatalities represent a mushrooming health emergency that has taken a backseat to COVID, despite alarming trends.  A perfect storm of pandemic lockdowns, a porous southern border and increased drug smuggling is fueling the maelstrom.     

A record 100,306 Americans died of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending April 2021, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This represents a 28.5% spike in deaths compared to a year ago.  Since 1999, more than 841,000 Americans have perished of drug overdoses.

From 2019 to 2020, the rate of overdose deaths involving fentanyl and similar opioids leaped 56%.  Americans aged 15-to-24 experienced the largest percentage increase in overdose fatalities, 49%.  This age group had the second lowest rates in 2019, underscoring the rising drug use among young people. 

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, has overtaken prescription painkillers and heroin as the leading cause of overdose fatalities.  It is responsible for about two-thirds of the overdose deaths,  according to an analysis of CDC data by the nonprofit organization Families Against Fentanyl.

Fentanyl is about 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.  It is highly addictive and lethal.  A single fentanyl pill can be fatal.  Often Americans are unaware they are consuming fentanyl.  Drug cartels lace fake prescription pills with fentanyl, including Xanax, Valium, Oxytocin and opioids.

The prescription pills are manufactured in Mexico by drug cartels, using chemicals supplied by China.  Fentanyl is mixed with other narcotics to increase its potency and then infused into counterfeit prescription pills. The drugs are trafficked across the southern border by cartel-paid smugglers.

The flood of illegal immigrants is a boon to traffickers.  A reported 1.7 million "encounters " with illegal immigrants were tallied in fiscal year 2021, quadruple the figure for the prior year. The  Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates about 400,000 so-called getaways eluded detection.

The statistics from the Customs and Border Protection agency for the fiscal year 2021 paint a clear but disturbing picture of  drugs flowing across the border.  During the latest reporting period, the agency confiscated 11,200 pounds of fentanyl, a jump from 2,150 pounds in fiscal 2020.

In addition, the Drug Enforcement Administration (IDEA) seized a record of more than 20 million counterfeit pills containing fentanyl in 2021.  Nearly half were confiscated in Phoenix, the repackaging and distribution area for the notorious Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, which has infiltrated the U.S..  

The drug pushers take advantage of America's social media to market the phony prescription pills.  The DEA estimates about 75% of drug traffickers use Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The agency says the thugs employ emoji's as a code for the types of prescriptions.

Cheri Oz, special agent in charge of the DEA's Phoenix field division, issued this warning at a news conference: "Traffickers are using technology to get into your homes and sell pills to your children and loved ones.  Watch their social media and educate yourselves on the dangers and lingo" of emoji's.

Isn't it ironic, perhaps insidious, the social media cabal regularly censors speech on its platforms, but knowingly allows criminals to advertise its fentanyl-laced pills?  The firms cannot claim ignorance because the DEA publishes on its website details of the criminals social media strategy.  

Excessive lockdowns imposed during the pandemic are equally to blame for the spiraling overdose cases.  In focusing on legitimate concerns about hospitalizations and deaths, health officials failed to balance their decisions with the risks of mental health and drug problems triggered by isolation.

"Two forces here are the negative economic impact of the pandemic as well as the emotional impact," says Dr. Paul Christo, associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "That led a lot of people to use drugs to cope."

For its part, the Biden Administration plan to address the issue includes prescription testing, support programs, clean needles and $11 billion in spending.  None of these steps will alter the overdose trends.  No administration official has dared call for tightening the border to stem drug trafficking.

The Department of Justice seems uninterested in prosecuting drug smugglers, but pursues parents who appear at school board meetings. The border patrol has been whipsawed by administration criticism, instead of receiving more resources to halt the stream of drugs gushing across the southern border. 

To slow distribution, Congress should immediately pass legislation making it a federal crime for social media platforms to knowingly aid the sale of illegal drugs. Facebook and its ilk will fight it, piously claiming there is no way to police it.  That's a lie and should be condemned.

Any reasonable assessment of the drug issue would conclude the skyrocketing overdose deaths are the result of self-inflicted wounds by state and federal governments. America is straining under the weight of bad policy decisions. Yet there appears little sense of urgency to change direction.