(HorizonPost.com) – The opioid crisis in the United States hit an all-time high in 2021 as the number one cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 45, according to government data analyzed by Families Against Fentanyl. On February 14, the Chief Patrol Agent with border control in Tucson, Arizona, reported the arrest of a Mexican national who was allegedly attempting to smuggle $85,000 worth of fentanyl into the US from Mexico. Luckily, Customs and Border Protection Officers caught the man with the illegal pills hidden under his clothes before his bus traveled to its destination in Tucson.
Arizona CBP officers arrest Mexican national with $85K worth of fentanyl pills https://t.co/sJuBRxmmgc pic.twitter.com/BjmA6ptgul
— New York Post (@nypost) February 15, 2022
According to reports, smuggled fentanyl is the most common confiscation at the southern border; it increased by a startling 1,066% during 2021. To try and get a handle on the epidemic, more than 100 lawmakers joined together to write a letter to President Joe Biden about the drug’s classification. They wrote of fentanyl overdoses, asking the American leader to classify it as a permanent Schedule 1 drug (i.e., no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse). Doing so should help law enforcement “properly combat” the current and growing crisis.
Hopefully, the renewed classification coupled with the border control agents continuing their tireless work of catching smugglers at the border will help decrease the number of drug-related deaths in America.
Copyright 2022, HorizonPost.com
