Claims of 'Historic US Fentanyl Lows' Draws Online Criticism of White House Press Sec
© AP Photo / Susan Walsh
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While Karine Jean-Pierre appeared to praise Joe Biden's efforts to tackle the fentanyl problem in the United States, many social media users vocally disagreed with her assessment.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has come under fire online after making a rather bold claim about the Biden administration’s handling of the fentanyl crisis in the United States.
Jean-Pierre's claim came while responding to a reporter who quizzed her about the recent attack on a group of Americans on Mexican soil not far from the US border and was supposedly perpetrated by members of a Mexican drug cartel.
"So cartels kill Americans on this side of the border with drugs, and now they're killing Americans on the other side of the border with guns. Why is President Biden so comfortable with cartels operating so close to the US?" the reporter inquired.
In response, the press secretary insisted that fentanyl is at “historic lows” thanks to Biden’s efforts.
"Because of the work that this president has done, because of what we’ve done specifically on fentanyl at the border, it’s at historic lows — historic levels that we have been able to record a number of personnel working to secure the border because of what we’ve been able to do, seizing that fentanyl," she said.
“Because of the work that this President has done, because of what we've done specifically on fentanyl at the border, it's at historic lows, historic levels, that we have been able to record a number of personnel working to secure the border”
— Mariana (@lonestarherd) March 8, 2023
Do people even believe anything… https://t.co/ndRoWjOcap pic.twitter.com/Bwr4048jZw
Quite a few social media users, however, were quick to challenge Jean-Pierre’s claims, pointing out that the situation with fentanyl in the United States does not seem to be getting better.
“Overdoses on Fentanyl are a recent trend and they're absolutely skyrocketing,” one netizen tweeted, citing data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
"Historic lows?" Wait, what? This is insulting.
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) March 7, 2023
Overdoses on Fentanyl are a recent trend and they're absolutely skyrocketing. Here is a chart from NIDA through 2021 showing overdose deaths involving synthetic OPIODS (primarily Fentanyl). Does this look like record lows? https://t.co/gWIPMwiYkv pic.twitter.com/gPT8hwChBi
“Historic lows of fentanyl? Record HIGH seizures are happening every day! An American is dying from fentanyl every 9 minutes,” another fumed.
Likewise, another netizen suggested that Jean-Pierre actually corrected herself, saying “historic lows” first and then calling it “historic levels” instead.
“I agree that record high fentanyl seizures likely means record amounts of fentanyl getting in, so I think it's a weird thing for the WH to be proud of, but it's clear she didn't mean historic lows,” they wrote.
Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden also found himself catching flak over a fentanyl-related topic after he laughed while giving his opinion on a matter related to the deaths of two young American men who perished from the drug.
The number of synthetic opioid overdose deaths in the United States skyrocketed in recent years, with the CDC identifying illicitly-made fentanyl as a substance that played a considerable role in this crisis.
