Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), the Chair of the Republican Policy Committee, pulled no punches Friday on China’s role in the fentanyl epidemic. Interviewed by CBS News, she declared that the nation is selling precursor chemicals into Mexico.
From there, the Republican explained that Mexican drug cartels are producing the fentanyl and smuggling it into the U.S.
President Joe Biden’s open borders make that process easy enough, and that results in tens of thousands of Americans dying unnecessarily each year.
Ernst went on to declare, “I think the Chinese are intentionally poisoning America. And, of course, the Chinese do not want to assist us with this.” She called it “disconcerting” to see this adversary “poisoning our communities.”
Ernst called for more education of the public to the dangers of the synthetic opioid. She also urged working closely with our Mexican counterparts to fight both the cartels and the Chinese sources of raw materials.
China is taking advantage of a compromised Biden Administration and his weak stance on border security. This is an act of war. It never would have happened if President Trump was in office. https://t.co/UHpFdNGapM
— Scott4Trump (@Scott_4Trump) February 12, 2023
The Republican added “we can’t continue to lose our children to this fentanyl epidemic. It is extremely important that we push back.”
The CBS report revealed information from the Drug Enforcement Agency’s top official confirming a working relationship between Chinese chemical manufacturers and drug cartels in Mexico.
The situation is dire. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that in 2021, 106,000 Americans died from drug overdoses. That marked a 15% increase over the pandemic-stricken 2020 that also saw a spike in drug fatalities.
This crisis had been developing for at least two decades.
The opioid epidemic sprouted in the late 1990s with what CNN described as the overprescribing of prescription painkillers. This not only led to a massive surge in prescription drug abuse but was followed by the introduction of more readily available heroin around 2010.
From there came the debut of fentanyl in the black market. Developed to treat severe and chronic pain, the synthetic opioid quickly led to higher death rates among mostly unsuspecting users.
Now law enforcement finds it mixed with both illegal drugs, such as heroin and cocaine and fake prescription medications designed to look like many that are commonly used to fight pain. Even Adderall, largely prescribed to young people, is duplicated with often deadly results.
