The scourge of drug abuse and trafficking continues with the recent massive bust of fentanyl in Southern California, in an amount that is enough to un-alive millions of Americans.
While major drug busts are a huge success for law enforcement, it just highlights how much is getting past them, and harming Americans.
Fox News reports. In the San Diego Sector, Border Patrol agents seized 232 pounds of fentanyl with a street value of about $3 million from a single vehicle.
Multiple Border Patrol sources told Fox News the massive drug bust took place during a traffic stop in San Clemente, a wealthy enclave about 75 miles inland from the US-Mexico border.
This is the third major fentanyl bust this month by Border Patrol between ports of entry, which means that the drugs were successfully smuggled past CBP in a vehicle or were backpacked in by mules.
Yuma Border Patrol agents seized 93 pounds of fentanyl from a single smuggler on Feb. 15, while Nogales Border Patrol agents seized 24 pounds of fentanyl from a group of smugglers on Feb. 14.
Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz took to Twitter to congratulate agents and police officers on the seizure he added “The amount of fentanyl seized in Monday’s bust was enough to kill 50 million people”.
The trafficking of fentanyl, a highly addictive opioid 50 times more potent than heroin, has increased in recent years.
CBP seized 14,700 pounds of fentanyl last year, up from 4,800 pounds in 2020. In the first four months of fiscal year 2023, which began last October, at least 12,500 pounds of fentanyl have been seized.
As a result, fentanyl-related drug overdose deaths in 2021 increased by 22% from 2020. The drug was involved in about two-thirds of the record 106,699 drug overdose deaths nationwide in 2021.
In most cases, fentanyl and the precursors used to manufacture it originate in China and make their way into the U.S. through the border, which is experiencing an unprecedented surge in illegal crossings since Biden’s election.
Recently a mother who lost her sons blasted lawmakers over their inaction to the fentanyl crisis.
Fox News reports, on Tuesday, a mother who lost two children to fentanyl poisoning testified at a House hearing on the ongoing crisis at the southern border that lawmakers need to do more to combat the opioid epidemic.
Caleb and Kyler Kiessling, who died from fentanyl overdoses in 2020, had been told that the drug crossed the southern border.
Increased seizures at the ports of entry under the Biden administration have been cited by Democrats as evidence that efforts to stop the drug are succeeding. However, Republicans have warned that an open border is allowing drugs to flood in.
According to Kiessling, tens of thousands of Americans die each year, but it does not receive as much attention as other events, such as the recent Chinese balloon drifting over Americans.
This is yet another stark example of how unchecked illegal drugs and trafficking continues to wreak havoc along our southern border. It’s clear that cartels are running the show along these unenforced borders and urgent action needs to be taken in order to put an end to this scourge. We must do more to ensure our border remains secure and free from these drug traffickers or else we risk seeing these numbers continue to climb.
Let’s continue this conversation, in the comments below.
