Thread by @KimWexlerMAJD

On 1 March 2023, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, chaired by Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona, held a hearing on The Fentanyl Crisis in America. #fentanyl #BidenBorderCrisis

Biggs (0:45): Inaction is no longer an option. Most recent and deadliest wave of opioid deaths began in 2013 with a sharp increase in deaths involving synthetic opioids particularly illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Just 2mg, the amount that fits on the tip of a pencil, is fatal.

Between 1999-2020 approx 564,000 people died from overdoses involving an opioid — prescription or illicit. In 2021 however opioid deaths surpassed 100,000 with 67% of those deaths involving fentanyl. Let that sink in. In just one year we saw more than 100K opioid overdose deaths.

Biggs (2:38): During the last four years while we have seen overdose deaths rise, our colleagues across the aisle have been presented with opportunities to permanently schedule fentanyl-related substances in a bi-partisan manner. Instead, they have punted by temp scheduling.

Biggs: Unfortunately, my home state of Arizona has become the entry point for much of the illicit fentanyl entering our country. Over half of the fentanyl pills seized by the DEA in 2022 were seized in Arizona. Two weeks ago law enforcement seized enough fentanyl to kill 800K+

Arizona police, DEA seize huge quantity of opioid, other drugs in bust targeting powerful Sinaloa cartel
foxnews.com/us/arizona-pol…

This was seized in Tempe, this was found in one pickup truck. A driver was involved in an auto accident, not a drug bust. Law enforcement found 286 pounds, 1.3 million pills, of fentanyl. I commend this was seized, but makes me concerned about how much more we never identify.

Our Democrat friends want us to believe the farcical notion that all of the fentanyl crossing our borders is coming in through the ports of entry. They have said as much in recent hearings.

https://twitter.com/RepKatiePorter/status/1623043926994341888?s=20

Biggs (4:50): Democrats want you to believe we’re doing a good job of detecting and seizing it before it can enter the country and destroy and take lives. THAT’S SIMPLY NOT TRUE. I am told by CBP and others that amount seized is estimated to be 10-15% of the overall introduced.

Biggs: To ignore the smuggling that occurs between our ports of entry is irresponsible and dangerous. Just last month BP Chief Modlin testified last year they seized 700 pounds of fentanyl, enough to kill half the population of the United States. bit.ly/3JdOn5r

Biggs (6:05): The majority (52%) of the 700 pounds of fentanyl seized by Border Patrol Tucson Sector in 2022 was encountered in the field being backpacked through the unsecured gaps in the border. The other 48% was found at the administrative checkpoint.

Biggs: Cartels are smart enough to avoid sending their inventory through x-rays drug-sniffing dogs at the checkpoints. They walk it through our gaping, unguarded holes in the border. The no. 1 sector for opioid smuggling is the Tucson Sector. Combatting it should be bipartisan.

Jackson-Lee (12:04): To disrupt the supply chain, the Biden administration is working with Mexican govt. The omnibus budget included $60M to hire 125 additional CBP officers and support personnel, at ports of entry, and $70M to strengthen non-intrusive systems to scan vehicles.

Jackson-Lee: I intend to introduce a bill that would provide funding for schools to have fentanyl overdose reversal drugs and training. The Biden administration launched a “One Pill Can Kill” public awareness campaign. Cartels manufacture pills to resemble prescription opioids.

Nadler (22:00): Some Republicans want to incarcerate our way out of this problem. Others say tough immigration policies and a border wall can stop fentanyl. Facts are not on their side, it is overwhelmingly U.S. citizens, not migrants, who are bringing it in through legal ports.

Witness opening statements are in the official House record and the video linked below. First witness Dr. Tim Westlake (35:53) is an ER physician, former member of Wisconsin controlled substances board and past chair of Wisconsin medical exam board. bit.ly/3JdD7G4

Dr: Westlake (36:00): Fentanyl related substances (FRS) are highly active opioids almost identical to fentanyl except for a tiny difference in their chemical structure created during synthesis in a lab. Scheduling them as a class is a critical policy tool.

Westlake: FRS scheduling does not address illicit fentanyl. Rather, it removes the incentive for legal Chinese chemical companies to create new FRS opioids thus stopping them from ever existing in the first place. The solution to FRSs is a simple legislative fix (Schedule I).

Westlake: Fentanyls are so lethal they can be classified as chemical weapons. The lethal dose is merely 2mg which is the equivalent of 5 grains of sand. One teaspoon, the amount in this packet of sugar, can kill 2,000 people. This is why our kids are dying.

Erin Rachwal’s son Logan died of fentanyl poisoning in his university dorm room. She started the Love, Logan foundation. “The aftermath is unexplainable until you experience it. There is a growing need to confront the growing threat of fentanyl from every angle.”

Dr. Jeffrey A. Singer, Senior Fellow in Health Policy Studies, CATO Institute, testified against adding “fentanyl analog” drugs to Schedule I. “Prohibition is what makes the black market dangerous because buyers can never be sure of the drug’s purity, dosage” or even what it is.

Derek Maltz, Special Agent in Charge, DEA’s Special Operations Division, Retired, stated the fentanyl crisis is an “unprecedented national security and public health disaster.” Mexican cartels, one of the greatest threats to the US, have grown into narco-terrorist organizations.

Maltz (55:05): “The president should immediately declare a national security and public health emergency. We have chemical substances all over our streets. Jalisco New Generation and the Sinaloa Cartel are the enemy of our children. In my view fentanyl is a chemical weapon.”

Maltz: The narco-terrorists in Mexico are destroying our country. They need to be held accountable even if it means using our U.S. military. The cartels have taken advantage of weak security at the porous border, killing more Americans than any terrorist organization in history.

Maltz: Kids use social media platforms to get drugs. It’s as simple as ordering food. The cartels have invaded our homes. Kids are supposed to learn from their mistakes, not die for their mistakes. Where is the Department of Education? dea.gov/onepill

Maltz: Where are the public service announcements? Why can’t the White House team up with professional athletes and celebrities to get videos out to the kids on social media — because that’s what they’ll see, that’s what they’ll respond to. Protecting the kids must be number one.

Maltz: Last week in New York the Mexcico FBI director equivalent #GarciaLuna was convicted, sent to life in prison, because of his role with the cartels. You can no longer rely on corrupt, soft on crime leaders in Mexico to save our kids. The crisis needs an Operation Warp Speed.

Nehls (1:00:53): Jose Oliverez, arrested in Fort Bend County, Texas. In a roadside investigation one of my officers found 10 bundles containing 10K tablets of fentanyl. Law enforcement, we save lives. Are you telling me, Dr. Singer, we should not have saved those 25,000 lives?

Moore: There’s a price for human beings to be smuggled across the border. For most it’s $6,000 a head, if you’re coming from Russia it’s $19,000. Many people don’t have the money, so they cut a deal with the cartel. They go to be indentured servants, or they backpack opioids.

Maltz: The cartels run a multi-billion dollar enterprise. They do whatever it takes to get their drugs into the country. This is like nothing we have ever seen. Put more x-ray machines at the points of entry, that’s not going to stop the TSUNAMI. Destroy the production labs.

Moore: We saw the them drop children over the 15’ wall. They use children as decoys. As the CBP agents ran to that spot there was an opening one mile away where they were shipping their drugs through. CBP are too busy trying to process people, they can’t focus on stopping drugs.

Biggs (1:17:00): Drugs are coming through ports of entry. Why is that? Because cartels are hiring U.S. citizens, it’s easier for a U.S. citizen to drive through a port of entry than a foreign national, but it’s the cartel that’s controlling it. We don’t control our own border.

Gaetz: Fentanyl is laced into counterfeit Percocet, Xanax? Cocaine, Heroin, methamphetamine… You’d think about something as an overdose if someone was seeking out fentanyl, end up taking more, but if someone thinks they’re using a different drug, that strikes me as a poisoning.

Dean: Those who are just experimenting are at grave risk of death. We have a new Bi-Partisan Fentanyl Prevention Caucus, so I’m delighted to join Reps. Issa, Neguse and Calvert to work on this issue to save lives.

Tiffany: Death by fentanyl is similar to chemical execution? Dr. Westlake, can you explain why it’s important to keep fentanyl related substances (FRS) on Schedule I permanently?

Westlake: Criminal penalties do not stop demand. Traffickers are going to traffic. Schedule I closes the spigot of fentanyl-related substances. No new FRS are being created. This stops chemical companies in China from making FRS. Illicit fentanyl is a huge problem but FRS is not.

Westlake: People with substance abuse disorders are going to use drugs, but I think that the 2,500 people that died in Florida from fentanyl related substances that were legal in 2016 and 2017 would disagree that FRS is a “shiny object.”

Tiffany: We heard from the other side that immigration is not a problem. We didn’t hear that in the testimony of Sheriff Dannels from Cochise County, or Sheriff Wilmot in Yuma County. Do you agree that migration has fostered this increase in fentanyl coming across the border?

Maltz: This country is being invaded. Migrants coming from over 160 countries, they come for a better life, many of them, but we also have terrorists, we have rapists, sexual predators, criminals coming every day. Over 1M gotaways. People in this town don’t listen to the experts.

Maltz: People in this town don’t listen to the experts that know what they’re talking about that have been there on the border. Chairman Biggs goes down, like many of you, go down there and talk to the experts, not reading it in the Washington Post.

Cohen: I don’t know if the death penalty is a good idea. I don’t think people who buy fentanyl think they’re going to overdose. They think it’s a good trip or whatever. People who deal don’t think they’re going to get caught. We have busted a lot of the cartels, have we not?

Maltz: I apologize for yelling, but you know, I’ve been dealing with the families for many years and there’s no action in this town. I would appreciate it if you would stop calling it an overdose, it’s a poisoning, and it’s a war against our kids. Stop with the “overdosing.”

Issa: The title of this hearing should be, “Inaction is no longer an option.” We’ve had inaction. When we look at what we need to do, what would you have us do, on a bi-partisan basis, that would be the most effective single item?

Maltz: We have to declare this a public health and national security emergency from the White House. Then we get professional athletes, celebrities, role models to make videos to get to the kids on social media. Why are social media allowed to facilitate death and destruction?

Issa: Mexico is currently enjoying a gang success in the billions of dollars that is eroding the ability of their government to manage the country because the cartels have more money than the government. How should we stem the flow from China though Mexico?

Westlake (2:55:04): The spigot of illicit fentanyl, that’s a huge issue, I’m focused on fentanyl-related substances, and one thing Congress can do tomorrow is permanently close that loophole (i.e. make Schedule I classification permanent for FRS).

Kiley: First and foremost securing the border, raising awareness, but holding criminals accountable is a very important dimension. Cade Webb, 20, died in Placer Co. of fentanyl. The DA has been very aggressive in using criminal laws to hold dealers accountable, charging murder.

Maltz: The DOJ is putting out more guidance and restrictions to charge mandatory minimum sentences for people that are killing our kids. They need to feel the pain and go to jail. So many kids are addicted, they’re turning to pills, they need to be told the pills will kill you.

Fry: We cannot get a handle on this problem unless we deal with the source. South Carolina Dept of Health reports 69% of all overdose [deaths] are related to fentanyl. Every state, every community is a border town. What firsthand experiences have the DEA had from the field?

Maltz: They’re very frustrated from lack of support. DOJ added requirements for putting people in jail that are killing our kids. The conviction of Garcia Luna highlighted the systemic corruption in Mexico. The cartels run Mexico. And now with migrant smuggling it‘s overwhelming.

Maltz: We’ve got to shut the valve in Mexico. Offer support to the Mexican government to use technology to shut down these production labs. Then we will see a disruption in the supply in this country. Law enforcement putting lives on the line, they don’t get the proper support.

Maltz: But more importantly is that it’s just getting worse because the cartels are operating with impunity, working with China that wants to destroy America forever.

Lee: In my community in Florida, we recently seized more than 11 pounds of fentanyl — that was enough to kill 2.7 million people. How has this problem grown? What is the difference between organized crime and narco-terrorism? What is a narco terrorist?

Maltz: They’re building up capabilities, weapon systems, they’re dropping C4 on their adversaries, I went down to the border and there were 9,000 drones coming into America surveilling our brave men and women in Border Patrol. This is unacceptable. We’re at war with the cartels.

Maltz: But we’re still treating it like they’re drug traffickers. Please stop saying drug cartels, they’re NARCO TERRORISTS LIKE WE’VE NEVER SEEN. They run the country in Mexico. They intimidate, they corrupt, they are slaughtering people.

Maltz: Kids got addicted because of big pharma, and big pharma never got held accountable. Because it’s all about the money. Now, the cartels and China are the focus of our problem and we need to deal with them.

Lee: In light of the escalation of the severity of this type of organization, how does that change what you need, and what we should be doing here in Congress to equip DEA and your law enforcement partners to fight this fight?

Maltz: DEA needs resources but so do all the agencies. As far as manpower, a lot of people are quitting, they are sick and tired of lack of action. Why is CDC not putting out timely and accurate stats on the greatest crisis in the history of this country?

Biggs: We heard several of our colleagues say they gave $60M here and $70M there.

Biggs: They’re not being detained. Migrants at our border are being transported to wherever they want to be in the country. Over 5M encounters over the last two years. About 1.2M KNOWN GOTAWAYS between ports of entry, and it’s about 1:1 on the UKNOWN GOTAWAYS.

Biggs: We need to make it more dangerous for the people who are producing and distributing this drug.

My apologies for misspelling Kade Webb’s name. 🙏💔

https://twitter.com/amymartinsouth/status/1632410587459141632