A congressional committee heard
testimony this fall on a problem that is on the rise in America: the illegal creation and
abuse of opioids.
Several witnesses testified about the crisis,
including professors and experts from government organizations.
According to Kristen Madison, the
assistant secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement Affairs, illegal opioid production has grown out of control in the
past few years.
“Between 2012 and 2016, the number of overdose
deaths involving synthetic opioids
increased by nearly 640 percent,” Madison told the committee.
increased by nearly 640 percent,” Madison told the committee.
Another witness, Professor Daniel Ciccarone of
UC San Francisco, shared some startling statistics on the subject.
“Annual deaths due to
drug overdoses now exceed deaths due to car accidents, gun violence, and even
HIV at the height of the 1990's HIV epidemic,” he testified.
Ciccarone continued, “The current leading cause
of drug poisoning is due to the family of chemicals called opioids. We are
witnessing a triple wave epidemic of overdoses from three classes of opioids.”
These three types of opioid are prescription
pills, heroin and fentanyl.
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| Opioid Overdose Deaths by Type of Opioid |
Fentanyl in particular was singled out
during the hearing due to the extreme dangers associated with it.
The drug is so dangerous because many new and
potent variants of it are being produced in criminal drug labs on an almost
weekly basis.
As Madison put it, “Criminals are developing new
substances at a rate faster than national and international frameworks can
respond.”
This, combined with the fact that a majority of
these varying forms of fentanyl are being created in China, led Congressman
Smith to submit a bill for authorization by the House and Senate on Oct. 26.
The “Combating Illicit Fentanyl Act” is
intended to stop the production and illegal trafficking of fentanyl and similar
opioids from China and other countries to the U.S.
The bill will accomplish this goal through
financial sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump on China and all other
governments that are found to be complacent with their drug laws.
This bill is currently going through the legislative process in the House and Senate.
-- Andrew Freeman