When it comes to the record amount of lethal fentanyl streaming into the United States from Mexico and China, Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina believes "every city is a border city," as the opioid crisis "affects every community" in the nation.
In an interview with Fox News on Saturday, the congressman said that "the fact that this has been opened up along a very porous border" emphasizes once more "the fact that every city in this country is a border city, every street a border street."
"And so as the Biden administration continues to ignore this, which is what they're doing," he said. "They're hoping it will just go away, and that people won't talk about it. … The mainstream media is not talking about it because again, as usual, they're protecting and the Democratic arm of this government. And that's a tragedy."
The incumbent administration, according to the North Carolina lawmaker, is "very complicit in the death and destruction not only of life but of living for a generation of Americans." He went on to say that the issue of the country's soaring overdoses "does not know any political affiliation" or "geographic affiliation," since the drug kills "indiscriminately."
"Addiction itself is a disease that changes the chemistry of the brain, and it changes it irreparably," Murphy underscored. "So now, we may be facing not only overdose deaths — what we're doing is we're creating a mental health and substance abuse problem in a generation that will have to be fought hard for the entire lifetime of that individual and the entire lifetime of a generation, so allowing the circumstances to make it so much easier for this to occur is tragic."
Earlier this month, Murphy, who is himself a doctor, led a group of GOP Doctors Caucus members in writing to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, pressing him to address the escalating southern border problem that is worsening the illicit fentanyl flow into the United States.
Murphy recently led a group of his fellow GOP Doctors Caucus members in sending a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, urging him to address the compounding southern border crisis exacerbating the illicit fentanyl stream into America.
"Counterfeit fentanyl and fentanyl-laced poisons are flooding across our border in record numbers. It is our duty and obligation to get this crisis under control as matters of national security and public health," the members of Congress wrote.
They stressed that it is "no secret that our adversaries are taking advantage of President Biden's open border policies."
"We know that Mexican drug cartels are working with Chinese transnational criminals to rapidly produce fentanyl in record numbers to poison Americans," they continued. "Along some parts of the border, federal agents have reported a 4,000 percent increase in fentanyl seizures over the last three years."
President Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday permitting sanctions on any foreigner involved in illicit drug trafficking or production, which Murphy dismissed as "a lot of hot air" that will accomplish "nothing."
"We know where these countries are. It's from China. We know that a lot of this is coming now out of Afghanistan. We know it's coming in from Mexico. Mexico's actually started now producing some of this stuff," Murphy explained. "So this is absolute nonsense, especially in the light of the fact that he's open his southern borders."
According to a recent analysis of preliminary Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data released by the opioid awareness nonprofit Families Against Fentanyl, fentanyl has become the most common cause of death among US individuals aged 18 to 45.
The second most common cause of death is suicide, while COVID-19 closes the top three mortality causes.
According to the group's study of CDC data, this year the number of drug overdose deaths reached a record high of 100,000, almost doubling since 2019. And fatalities from this synthetic opioid drug increased by 49.4% over a year in this age group, accounting for about 64% of all drug fatalities.
"We have to keep talking about this because the administration's not," Murphy told the outlet. "And this is something that I care dearly about — not only because I'm a professional [but] because I'm a father, I'm a neighbor, I'm a church member that knows families who have been decimated because of the loss of a loved one. And we're not going to stop talking about it."
According to the latest CBP data, border agents have confiscated more than 11,200 pounds (over 5 metric tonnes) of fentanyl this year, compared to the 4,791 pounds (more than 2,100 kg) seized in fiscal 2020. During fiscal 2022, which began in October, border agents have already intercepted more than 2,100 pounds (approximately 950 kg) of the drug.
However, since 2018, CBP seizures of other substances, including marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, have typically decreased.