Families stood shoulder to shoulder with law enforcement at National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day in New York.
NEW YORK—They flocked to the city by the hundreds, families and friends from across the country with one thing in common: the fentanyl crisis.
Bagpipes played in Times Square in salute to lost loved ones during the fourth annual National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day held in New York City on Aug. 21.
Andrea Thomas, founder of Project Facing Fentanyl, which organized the event, told a crowd of parents, media, and law enforcement that while the crisis has killed hundreds of thousands of victims, there’s now hope with the drop in fentanyl deaths nationwide.
“This is not just an event—it is a united front. When families, law enforcement, and national leaders stand together in Times Square, the whole country will see that we are not alone in this fight; together, we can end this crisis,” she said in a statement.
John Modlin, acting Deputy Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), told the crowd that 6,000 lbs. of fentanyl, enough to kill every person in the United States, have been seized by CBP since January.
“It is the cartels that are bringing this poison into the United States,” he said.
Designating Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations has given law enforcement more tools, he said.
“Anyone who’s involved in this…with our partners we will go after all of them,” he said.
He noted that 10-year-olds, such as Nathaniel Mendoza, should never die from fentanyl poisoning. Mendoza’s parents, Marcy and Miguel Mendoza, who carried a poster of him in a baseball cap to the rally, struggled to push back tears.
“Behind every number is a story, a story of love, of joy, of promise, cut short—a story like Nathaniel’s,” said Thomas, who lost her daughter to fentanyl.
“His life should have been about playing outside with friends.”
Frank Tarentino, who heads the DEA’s New York Division covering the state of New York, agreed that the crisis was the work of criminal organizations in China and Mexico.
“A tidal wave of deaths and poisonings has rained down on the United States of America. This death and destruction has been primarily caused by Mexico and China,” he said during the event.
