Rebecca Kiesling had a hard time speaking when she told members of Congress about the deaths of her two adult sons who were killed by fentanyl in 2020.
“You are talking about welcoming those who cross borders in search of protection…[but] You are welcoming drug dealers across our borders and giving them protection. Kiesling testified before the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday.
“This is war,” she said. “Behave like that. Do something about it.”
Kiesling, a Michigan resident, was one of four witnesses who testified at a hearing titled “Every State Is a Border State: Commissioner Majorcas’ Border Crisis Investigation.”
“We are the Homeland Security Committee. We must secure our homeland now,” said the panel’s chairman, Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, in his opening remarks.
Kiesling’s two sons, aged 18 and 20, bought what turned out to be “fake percocet” from drug dealers, she said, referring to the brand name of oxycodone acetaminophen. .
“There was absolutely no percocet in it,” the mother said, adding that each of her sons’ deaths were “murder, not overdose.”
“My children were taken from me,” said Kiesling.
The mother said the drug dealer who sold the pills to her sons also took them, but was saved by the synthetic drug naloxone, marketed under the brand name Narcan and used in cases of opioid overdose.
Because the drug dealer survived, investigators were able to figure out where he got the pills, eventually “turning out that this fentanyl came from Mexico,” the mother said. I got
“Drug overdose deaths have increased five-fold over the past 20 years,” writes the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. report Released in December
In 2000, fewer than 20,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States, according to the WHO. National Institute on Drug AbuseTwenty years later, in 2020, there were a total of 91,799 fatal drug overdoses. reportFentanyl and other opioids were responsible for 68,630 of these overdose deaths, or 75%.
According to the CDC, more than 107,000 drug overdose or intoxication deaths will be recorded in the United States in 2021, nearly 70% of which will be from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
A drug overdose is Major cause Mortality rates for Americans ages 18 to 45.
Two milligrams of fentanyl is potentially lethal to the average adult, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
US Customs and Border Protection Report It seized just over £14,000 of fentanyl in fiscal year 2022, which ended September 30, and more than £12,000 between October and the end of January.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Florida) said at a hearing that the federal government should do more to stop cartels from smuggling fentanyl and other drugs into the country. .
“A little over 20 years ago, a terrorist organization came and killed about 3,000 Americans,” Gimenez said of the 9/11 attacks, adding that the government’s response was a 20-year war in Afghanistan. I was.
“We are doing absolutely nothing against terrorist organizations that are killing far more Americans every year,” said a Florida Republican.
Mark Lamb, sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona, testified, “I’ve seen a 600% increase in fentanyl in my area.”
Located between Phoenix and Tuscon, Pinal County is just 50 miles from the US border with Mexico.
“In 2019, there were about 700 tablets. [seized]In 2020, we exceeded 200,000 tablets,” Lam said. “In 2021, we’ll have over 1.2 million pills. And last year, my community received over 1.4 million of her pills.”
While Kiesling and Lamb stressed the need for increased border security, David Beer, associate director of immigration studies at the Kate Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, DC, told the committee: ”
Bier argued that the crackdown on illegal immigration has forced the cartels to produce stronger drugs.
“The trade and travel restrictions that began in 2020 will only exacerbate the problem,” he said. So in 2020 and 2021, less travel, more surveillance, traffickers switching from heroin to fentanyl, doubling the number of fentanyl deaths.”
“Rather than tightening the crackdown, we should focus on protecting drug users,” Bier told committee members. No, it’s not the solution to this problem,” he added.
Some time later, Congressman Michael Guest, R-Miss., asked Lamb what he thought of the Beer debate.
“I agree we have to curb demand, but this is like mopping the bathroom floor without stopping the bathtub,” said the Arizona sheriff.
The sheriff added that “the fortitude of defending the border has created opportunities for cartels.”
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