National Fentanyl Awareness Day Puts Spotlight on Fentanyl Crisis
The federal government is hoping to shine new light on the fentanyl crisis through National Fentanyl Awareness Day, which was held May 9, 2023.
“Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered,” said Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram. “We must take every opportunity to spread the word to prevent fentanyl-related overdose death and poisonings from claiming scores of American lives every day.”
For the event, DEA created a special exhibit, The Faces of Fentanyl, to commemorate the lives lost from fentanyl poisoning
Fentanyl’s Rising Toll
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 70,000 people in the U.S. died of drug overdoses that involved fentanyl in 2021. That’s a nearly four-fold increase from 2016.
Fentanyl was involved in about two-thirds of all U.S. overdose deaths in that time period. The rate was especially high among people between the ages of 25 and 44. In fact, use of the synthetic opioid is involved in more deaths of Americans under 50 than any other cause of death.
Capitol Hill Reaction
The fentanyl crisis has not been ignored on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers offering a number of bills to tackle different aspects of the crisis.
Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the Fairness in Fentanyl Sentencing Act. The Senator points out that just two milligrams of fentanyl can kill someone, but right now, criminal traffickers can possess 40 grams of fentanyl before triggering a five-year mandatory minimum sentence, meaning a “trafficker can tote enough fentanyl to kill 20,000 before he would face the five-year mandatory minimum sentence.”
The legislation would reduce the fentanyl threshold of 40 grams down to just two grams.
“Like other parents in Louisiana, I want to help fentanyl victims before it’s too late. That’s why this bill would punish the traffickers who are pumping this poison into Louisiana streets, schools, and homes. We must lock these killers away from our communities through punishments proportional to the amount of lives their fentanyl supply could steal,” wrote Senator Kennedy in an op-ed in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser.
Meanwhile, Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act.
It would require the president to sanction drug cartels that are involved in international drug trafficking. It also cracks down on fentanyl-related money laundering and would declare fentanyl trafficking a national emergency to free up additional federal resources to fight fentanyl trafficking.
“The deadly opioid crisis fueled by fentanyl is killing Nevadans and tearing apart families,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m supporting this bipartisan legislation to stop the flow of fentanyl into our country by sanctioning international traffickers and dismantling criminal networks.”