Last updated : November 18, 2024
Enter the words “fentanyl, deaths, and border crisis” into your search engine and thousands of results pop up. We specified July 2022 in the search and the number of local headlines on page one alone is enough to make you realize—if there’s any way that you hadn’t already—that our country is in serious trouble. In fact, the fentanyl border crisis is every bit as serious as the number of illegal immigrants that are pouring into our country on a daily basis because people are dying.
There’s no doubt whatsoever that our nation is suffering the effects of the current administration’s decision to open the border between the U.S.A and Mexico in numerous ways. We’ll stay focused on drug smuggling. Fentanyl, along with every other type of illicit drug, began pouring into the country to a degree that surpassed alarming months afterward. Worse, fentanyl is being found mixed into every other type of illicit drug thinkable.
That’s right.
People are dying because they overdosed on fentanyl when they had no idea they were ingesting the drug.
Ingesting as little as an amount likened to four grains of salt is lethal to humans. To make matters worse, the drug is extremely toxic for someone handling it without taking proper precautions. There are rising reports of people overdosing on fentanyl after unknowingly handling something that contains remnants of the drug. Of course, stories of children to whom this happens to are the most tragic.
Ill-gotten gains
It’s not breaking news by any means that organized crime in China is responsible for manufacturing the fentanyl that is pouring into the country. They partnered with drug cartels in Mexico who smuggle the drug across the wide open border into the United States in a number of forms.
Drug dealers scoop it up in powder form because they get it cheap. They, then, “cut” the highly potent synthetic opioid into drugs, such as heroin or methamphetamine, to increase their profit margin. Of course, they don’t tell their customers about the secret ingredient. The drug adds a “kick” that can either bring customers back—or kill them.
Either way, it’s a bad deal.
It comes ready mixed in pill form as well. People are purchasing what they think is, say, oxycontin without realizing the pill contains a measure of fentanyl as well. They’re overdosing and the majority don’t survive.
Addicts are in on the fix
Since the fentanyl border crisis has wreaked havoc on the black market, people suffering from drug addiction have taken to using drugs on the buddy system. The plan is for one person to use and for the other to watch over them for signs of overdose. If the person does experience an overdose, the companion is able to call for medical assistance. Moreover, they can initiate the rescue procedure by administering Narcan immediately.
Narcan, also marketed under the name Naloxone, is saving lives. The medication temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. The spray requires no specialized training to administer so many city governments have taken to distributing the medication to addicts who live there.
Still, the rate at which people are dying with fentanyl listed as an underlying cause is unprecedented.
Where does it stop?
Our best defense is a good offense.
At the local level, we have to keep education at the forefront. Teaching our children and young adults about the dangers of drug abuse, the risk of addiction, and the finality of death by overdose is making inroads. We need to do more though. Generational drug use is a huge problem. Children born to people suffering from addiction tend to feel hopeless about life overall.
We have to let kids know life isn’t hopeless. We have to let their parents know the same.
Find ways to reach out to those in need near you. You’re going to be making more of a difference than you may ever realize in peoples’ lives.
On the broader front, contact elected officials at all levels of government telling them that something must be done. Closing the border should be part of their plan, otherwise, the fentanyl border crisis will continue to undermine our country.
Standing with local law enforcement
Local levels of law enforcement realize they’re fighting a losing battle and are calling for help on a larger scale. It’s also apparent that their faith in the current administration’s ability—or willingness, perhaps—to resolve the catastrophe is fading.
Recently, Canyon County, Idaho Sheriff Kieran Donahue spoke out on “Fox & Friends First” telling Carley Shimkus, “We’re at a crisis stage, quite frankly. We have never seen the numbers of seizures and the amounts of any drug, including methamphetamine, like we’re seeing in fentanyl. And of course, we’re still dealing with the methamphetamine crisis we’ve been in for years.”
Sheriff Donahue acknowledged they aren’t just dealing with local drug dealers any longer, either. He stated that they encounter people who are directly affiliated with the Mexican drug cartels every day. If that’s the case in Idaho, you can be certain it’s happening in your state as well.
The sheriff resides in Idaho, hundreds of miles from the southern border, but the fentanyl border crisis is having a devastating effect on his life and the lives of those living in that great state. It’s the same in Florida, Missouri, Texas, and Pennsylvania… sadly, the list would continue to include every state in the nation.
Do you tend to agree with Donahue’s claim that it’s “absolutely ridiculous to think this border is secure, that we’re safe in our communities. We are not. We are on the cusp of complete collapse?” If you haven’t already, determine where you stand on the issue—and, once you do, make your voice heard.
