The Times They Are a-Changin’ for the Worse – A War Law Enforcement Can’t Win

Today, dying of a drug overdose is more likely than it was a year ago. Social media has made it easier than ever before to purchase illicit items, including potent opioids. Sure, these counterfeit pills are stamped and manufactured to look like the real pharmaceutical grade thing but take one to get high and you may die. Why? Because unknown to you and possibly your dealer, these bootlegged fakes may be laced with dangerous amounts of fentanyl that can cause severe side effects or even instant death.

Tragically, deaths from drug overdoses in America have reached epidemic proportions. Fentanyl has a near immediate effect and is 50-100 times more potent than morphine and many types of heroin, meaning as little as two milligrams is enough to prove fatal. Large numbers of the overdose victims in the past have been long-term pain patients who have been forced to seek illegitimate forms of relief because of knee jerk regulations and lawsuits that have shut down many of the companies in the legitimate pain medication supply chain. But now that these opioids can easily be purchased on the internet, even children are increasingly falling victim to drug overdose deaths. Fentanyl deaths tripled among teens over the past two years, leading to numerous news reports of lives cut heartbreakingly short. Among all Americans, the numbers reflect a similarly concerning trend.

America has seen a twentyfold increase in the opioid death rate between the years 1990 and 2020 and for the first time ever in 2021, the number of drug overdose deaths in the United States topped six figures at 107,000. The fact is fentanyl is now found “in everything” as one report from the Florida Medical Examiners Commission put it. Considering a national analysis by the DEA found that least 4 out of 10 illicit pills with fentanyl contained a lethal dose, it is not hard to see how this number has unfortunately jumped so high, so quickly.

In the meantime, the Biden administration has turned a blind eye to this epidemic that is killing Americans one by one. In fact, fentanyl is so deadly that a 2019 Department of Homeland Security memo proposed classifying the drug as a weapon of mass destruction due to the fact it would be “disturbingly easy” to use the drug in a chemical attack. Over ten thousand pounds of fentanyl were seized at the U.S.-Mexican Border in 2021, and so far in 2022, 8,400 pounds of fentanyl have been seized, which means 2022 seizures could easily exceed 2021. But still, the Biden administration refuses to confront the illegal border crossings and influxes of fentanyl that are facilitated by Mexican drug cartels and fueling this overdose crisis. This is a disservice to the country.

The U.S. Border Patrol is vigorously trying to keep control at the border but the limited resources they currently have at their disposal as well as the criticism they are facing from the Biden administration is hurting morale. According to one agent, “You always hear, ‘It doesn't matter,' or, ‘What's the point?' in reference to doing our job. Agents are afraid of…getting in trouble for doing their job.” As a result, the Border Patrol simply has not been able to keep up with the illegal migrants coming from all over the world – not just Central and South America anymore – who are often bringing drugs and mayhem with them.

This issue is not isolated just to border states anymore either. Many migrants caught today are released and others are transported to unsuspecting cities across the country. Even the Mayor of Washington, D.C., of all places, referred to the influx of migrants coming to her city as a “humanitarian crisis.” Order is impossible to keep as local police are shunned, defunded and threatened with arrest themselves for arresting criminals. Seemingly, there is no end to the current opioid dilemma, only an increase in the deaths caused by our government's dereliction of duty to the good and kneeling to the bad and the ugly. The next two years will determine whether we can stop the flow of illicit drugs and once again start rolling back the numbers on death by counterfeit opioids. Hopefully our lawmakers will correct course and empower our nation's law enforcement to end this crisis once and for all.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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