As Washington D.C. policy-makers promote a deliberately chaotic open southern border policy, Mainer’s are dying of drug overdose deaths in record numbers from trafficked non-pharmaceutical fentanyl.

On September 27, 2021, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) issued its first public safety alert in over 6 years. The DEA alerted Americans to the sharp increase in fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and meth. The DEA warned that international and domestic criminal drug networks are flooding the United States with lethal counterfeit pills.

To combat our substance use disorder epidemic, Maine embraced a comprehensive strategy focused on law enforcement, prevention, treatment and recovery. In spite of this, Maine’s drug overdose death rate has precipitately increased over the last two years. Most alarmingly, the open southern border crisis has made enforcement increasingly difficult.

According to Maine’s Attorney General, Maine experienced a 33% increase in drug overdose deaths in 2020 (504 deaths in 2020 vs. 380 in 2019) and 336 of those deaths were due to non-pharmaceutical fentanyl, a 30% increase over 2019. Furthermore, the AG pointed out that of the drug overdose deaths through April of 2021, 76% are due to non-pharmaceutical fentanyl. 

The DEA informs us that fentanyl is similar to morphine but about 100 times more potent and that “illicit fentanyl is primarily manufactured in foreign clandestine labs and smuggled into the United States through Mexico.” A recent report published by the DEA indicates, “The Sinaloa and the New Generation Jalisco (Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación or CJNG) cartels are likely the primary trafficking groups responsible for smuggling fentanyl into the United States from Mexico.”

The current federal enforcement strategy is collapsing and in addition to horrific human trafficking, drug smugglers are poisoning and killing American’s in record numbers. Maine People Before Politics calls on Maine policy-makers to hold our federal government leadership accountable for their failed and intentionally chaotic policies that are leading to the loss of so many lives.