As U.S.Attorney, I have a lot of heavy days.
There is no joy in sending people to prison, no matter how much they deserve it.But the greatest weight comes from meeting families who have lost someone they love.
More often than not, the killer is not a person.It’s fentanyl.Fentanyl is a ruthless killer, targeting the very young.
It is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.Think about that: if you have reached age 18, but are not yet 45, you are more likely to die of fentanyl than anything else.
Every day, fentanyl claims the lives of more than 100 Americans with only a tiny amount — a lethal dose fits on the tip of a sharpened pencil.In my office, fentanyl has become a daily reality in all types of cases.Other drugs are laced with fentanyl — making it more potent and addictive, driving more business to drug dealers — and counterfeit pills marketed as prescriptions for sleep or focus are nothing more than fentanyl in disguise.
Fentanyl has been found in fake candy and baby bottles.I even met a mother who lost her daughter after taking a sip from a water bottle that had been contaminated with fentanyl.
It is an epidemic.TRUMP 'DRUG CZAR' WARNS OF DEADLY 'RHINO TRANQUILIZER' KILLING AMERICANS AS CARTEL CRACKDOWN ESCALATESPresident Trump has recognized the problem and taken extensive executive action — five executive orders in addition to other proclamations and determinations.Those efforts, along with stronger border security, have produced measurable results.
Less fentanyl is making it to the streets and drug dealers are using less of it in their products, resulting in lives saved.The number of fentanyl pills containing a lethal dose has dropped dramatically, from 76% in 2023 to just 29% now.
The same is true in powder form, where purity dropped from 19.5% to 10.3%.But to truly dismantle drug trafficking organizations, prosecutors must have the tools to remove the most dangerous dealers from the streets and deter ot...