In June, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized more than 2,100 pounds of illicit fentanyl
In June, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized approximately 2,100 pounds of illicit fentanyl at the U.S. southern border, according to the agency’s latest report. The amount is enough to kill every American and then some.
One kilogram (2.2 pounds) of fentanyl can potentially kill 500,000 people, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“I don’t think the public is really aware of what a challenge this is,” said Dr. Donna Nelson, an organic chemist and professor at the University of Oklahoma.
“You have to assume that the border agents are not catching everything that’s coming into our country,” she told The Epoch Times.
“And the amount that’s coming in keeps increasing—not steadily, but it is increasing over time.”
Ms. Nelson was also the science adviser for the show, “Breaking Bad,” and the 2016 president of the American Chemical Society. She was also pivotal in showing how the chemical structure in “bath salts,” “spice,” and related designer drugs impact a person in a similar manner as illegal drugs.
Today, however, she’s turned her research prowess to what she considers an even bigger problem: illicit fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, which she says should be declared a weapon of mass destruction.
Prescription fentanyl is generally prescribed by doctors to treat patients suffering from severe or chronic pain, however, illicit fentanyl has become the source of the majority of overdose deaths in the United States.
Fentanyl and the Border
In fiscal year 2020, CBP seized an average of 445 pounds of fentanyl per month at the southern border. In fiscal 2021, that amount increased to approximately 882 pounds per month. In fiscal 2022, the average amount of fentanyl seized per month was 1,175 pounds.
The total amount for fiscal year 2023 won’t be available until October, but CBP has already seized more fentanyl in the first nine months than it did for all of 2022, for an average of 2,427 pounds per month.
In less than three years, the amount of fentanyl seized at the southern border per month has increased more than fivefold.
“Every month, that’s enough to kill every person in the United States,” Ms. Nelson said.
By Katie Spence
