Bladine: Chemical weapons kill 70K Americans

Suppose that militarized crime syndicates in Mexico are manufacturing chemical weapons for delivery to launch points in the United States, where they are deployed to kill an estimated 70,000 Americans per year.

Would we use all necessary forces to close the border? Would we consider a military invasion to stop the flow of those weapons?

Apparently not, because that scenario is happening today with the criminal influx of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. As per the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration:

“Fentanyl is driving the nationwide overdose epidemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the 12-month period ending in October 2021, more than 105,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, with 66 percent of those deaths related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Last year, the United States suffered more fentanyl-related deaths than gun- and auto-related deaths combined.”

The CDC describes fentanyl as a synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, often added to other drugs because its extreme potency makes them cheaper, more powerful, more addictive and more dangerous. It is available as liquid, powder and, most recently, in brightly colored pills thought to be targeting children.

“Fentanyl available in the United States,” states the CDC, “is primarily supplied by two criminal drug networks, the (Mexico-based) Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel.”

A 2020 DEA intelligence report traced the fentanyl crisis back to 2014, naming China as the primary source of fentanyl-related substances provided to the Mexican cartels. The report said India was “emerging as a source for finished fentanyl powder and fentanyl precursor chemicals,” and said new measures were being taken in China to limit fentanyl production and trafficking.

In April 2022, the DEA issued nationwide warnings of a “spike in fentanyl-related mass-overdose events … (that are) killing Americans at an unprecedented rate.”

In August, the DEA alerted Americans to an alarming trend – “a new method by the drug cartels to sell highly addictive and potentially deadly fentanyl made to look like candy to children and young people.” The report was accompanied by photos of colored fentanyl pills seized in Tigard and Multnomah County.

Today, the DEA says Mexican drug cartels “are responsible for the vast majority of the fentanyl that is being trafficked in the United States.”

We need to reduce demand for illegal drugs and secure our borders. We need to consider dramatic expansion of warfare against Mexican cartels that are killing an unprecedented number of Americans.

Jeb Bladine can be reached at jbladine@newsregister.com or 503-687-1223.