Rep. August Pfluger on Border Crossings and Enough Fentanyl To Kill Every Person in U.S. 7Xs

On October 26, 2021, Rep. August Pfluger posted on Twitter: “Over 1.7 million illegal immigrants were apprehended crossing the southwest border this year—the highest number ever. CBP also seized enough fentanyl to kill every person in the U.S. seven times.

Transcript

Rep. August Pfluger: Crisis after crisis after crisis. We now know that 2.1 million people have illegally entered this country this year. That’s 1.7 million who’ve been apprehended. The highest number ever on record. And four hundred thousand additional got-aways that the administration is now owning up to. Yet we know nothing about them. We know nothing about their intents for this country. We know nothing about what they’re doing. And more Fentanyl has been seized by CBP ay our Southern border to kill 7 times over, every single American. Even as migrant caravans with thousands of migrants march towards our border, this administration continues to mislead and deny that we have a crisis. I’m extremely concerned about who is facilitating these caravans and what organizations are involved in the drug and human trafficking along the way. The blame for this crisis fall squarely on the Biden administration and his open border policies. He has abandoned Texans in this administration’s blatant disregard and incompetence for border security is endangering every single American, and let me again say that the president is abandoning not just Texans but every American

The gentlemen’s time is expired.

Rep. August Pfluger: This Administration needs to get back to work and I urge Democrats to come to the table. I yield back.

Drug Overdose Deaths in the U.S. Top 100,000 Annually

Provisional data from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate that there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 12-month period ending in April 2021, an increase of 28.5% from the 78,056 deaths during the same period the year before.

The new data documents that estimated overdose deaths from opioids increased to 75,673 in the 12-month period ending in April 2021, up from 56,064 the year before. Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl) and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine also increased in the 12-month period ending in April 2021. Cocaine deaths also increased, as did deaths from natural and semi-synthetic opioids (such as prescription pain medication).

The provisional data presented in this visualization include: the reported and predicted (estimated) provisional counts of deaths due to drug overdose occurring nationally and in each jurisdiction; a U.S. map of the percentage changes in provisional drug overdose deaths for the current 12-month ending period compared with the 12-month period ending in the same month of the previous year, by jurisdiction; and the reported and predicted provisional counts of drug overdose deaths involving specific drugs or drug classes occurring nationally and in selected jurisdictions.

The reported and predicted provisional counts represent the numbers of deaths due to drug overdose occurring in the 12-month periods ending in the month indicated. These counts include all seasons of the year and are insensitive to variations by seasonality. Deaths are reported by the jurisdiction in which the death occurred.

The interactive web dashboard is available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm.

Drug overdose deaths hit record high

More than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses between May 2020 and April 2021—the most ever recorded in a single year—according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of drug overdose deaths was up almost 30% from the 78,000 deaths in the prior year, and was nearly three times that of traffic accident deaths and twice that of gun deaths during the same period.

Most of the deaths were due to opioids, fueled by the powerful drug fentanyl, which is often added to illegal drugs to enhance their potency.

Michael Barnett, assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, commented on the deaths in a November 18, 2021 story on CBS News. “The pandemic has been in many ways a perfect storm,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do to expand access to lifesaving treatments like naloxone or buprenorphine, which can really save lives in addiction, but are not widely available for people that need them.”

Barnett was also quoted on the drug overdose problem in a November 10, 2021 Newsweek article. He noted that the pandemic likely accelerated drug addiction. “People face enormous financial difficulties, mass unemployment, isolation, the fear and anxiety and uncertainty of the pandemic itself,” he said. “All of those things can test anyone’s resilience to addiction.”

He estimated that “hundreds of billions” of dollars will be needed to stem the overdose crisis in the coming years.

Listen to the CBS News article: Overdose deaths hit record high during pandemic

Read the Newsweek article: 93,000 Died From Opioid Overdoses in 2020, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars Needed to Fix It

Learn more

A crisis on top of a crisis: COVID-19 and the opioid epidemic (Harvard Chan School feature)