An estimated 20 million Americans are addicted to drugs. Fentanyl, which alone accounted for two-thirds of the 110,236 overdose deaths and killed over 73,000 Americans in 2021, is now the main narcotic that Mexican cartels are smuggling into the United States.
The flow of illegal drugs through the southern border is the largest security threat to our nation and the one that the Biden administration is doing the least about.
More drugs are being seized at the southern border than anywhere else in the nation, with over 5,000 pounds seized in San Diego alone. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports that Mexican cartels are increasingly importing precursor chemicals from China and manufacturing fentanyl to be sold in the United States.
U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman described fentanyl as a “national crisis” in an August 2022 report.
“The amount of fentanyl we are seizing at the border is staggering. The number of seizures and fentanyl-related deaths in our district are unprecedented.”
According to the DEA, 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder were seized in 2022. Additionally, the agency confiscated nearly 131,000 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 4,300 pounds of heroin, and 444,000 pounds of cocaine.
