Sean Morrison, Cook County Commissioner and Cook County GOP Chairman, blames the southern border for the influx of Fentanyl.
Morrison said in a Facebook post that the crisis at the southern border has led to increased fentanyl deaths.
"No matter your politics, our border crisis is very real. The last two years, we have seen year-over-year record Fentanyl overdoses. Nearly 100% of this comes through our southern border. It's not just heroin, they are putting Fentanyl on candy-based products targeting children on TikTok. It's time to ACT!" said Morrison on Facebook.
2,944 Illinoisans died from opioid overdoses in 2020, which was a 33% increase from 2019, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). Of all the drug overdose deaths in 2020, 83% involved synthetic opioids. Synthetic opioid overdose deaths increased by 2,736% from 2013 to 2020. Opioids killed more than twice as many Illinoisans as car crashes in 2020.
From March 2020 to March 2021, 97,779 Americans died from drug overdoses, according to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics (NCDAS). Opioids were a factor in almost 70% of those deaths.
In 2021, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol seized 10,586 pounds of Fentanyl at the Southwest U.S. border– in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California– or 132 percent over the 4,558 pounds of Fentanyl seized in 2020.
Dante Sorianello, the assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in the San Antonio district, told KTXS-TV (ABC) in Sept. 2021 that "we're seeing quantities of narcotics in the United States right now that we are actually seizing that is higher than I have seen throughout my career." "What I can tell you is that the DEA offices in Del Rio and Eagle Pass are extremely busy," he said.
In Jan 2021, investigative journalist Sara Carter reported on a Houston-area Texas Department of Public Safety facility "reportedly holding $10 million in narcotic contraband" seized from illegal immigrants and Mexican drug trafficking cartels. A TXDPS agent told Carter "we are seeing counterfeit pills that are being manufactured by drug traffickers. We know the precursors are coming from China into Mexico — and then the cartels manufacture that drug and move it across into our states."
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