Senate Doctors Release Fentanyl PSA: ‘Deadliest Drug Nation Has Ever Seen’

U.S. Senators who are also doctors released a public service announcement (PSA) about the fentanyl crisis on Friday, calling it the “deadliest drug our nation has ever seen.” 

“I come to you today, not only as a U.S. Senator, but as a physician concerned for the health and safety of our nation. Fentanyl is killing over 200 Americans every day,” the PSA from Republican Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS), John Barrasso (R-WY), John Boozman (R-AR), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Rand Paul (R-KY) says in part. “Unfortunately, many Americans who have died from an overdose didn’t even know they were taking the deadliest drug our nation has ever seen. … They didn’t know that just one pill can kill…”

“As physicians in the Senate, we know fentanyl is everywhere – no community is spared. … Never take any drug except those personally prescribed by your physician and filled by your pharmacist. Parents, teachers: please talk to your children before it’s too late. … By working together we can make a difference and stop the drug traffickers that are driving addiction and poisoning our neighbors and children,” they continued. 

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The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) cites Mexico and China as the main sources of fentanyl trafficking into the Unites States. As Breitbart News reported in April, four times as much fentanyl is flowing across the United States-Mexico border under President Joe Biden compared to two years ago when former President Trump was in office.

In a statement accompanying the PSA, senators included harrowing statistics about fentanyl in the United States:

• Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 80-100 times stronger than morphine.
• Nationwide, four in 10 pills examined by DEA labs contain a deadly amount of fentanyl-related substance, an amount that can fit on the tip of a pencil.
• Since Joe Biden took office, nearly 14,000 pounds of fentanyl have been seized from criminals at the southern border – and a record 1,300 pounds were discovered just this past April – much more made it over the border undetected.
• 15,000 pounds of fentanyl-related substances were seized in 2021 – enough to supply a potentially lethal dose to every member of the U.S. population.
• 64 percent of overdose deaths in the U.S. involved synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl-related substances.
• 12 month period ending in October 2021: 105,000 overdose deaths – 66 percent were due to fentanyl-related substances, synthetic opioids.

Government data analysis from opioid awareness organization Families Against Fentanyl showed that fentanyl overdoses were the leading cause of deaths for adults ages 18 to 45 in 2020 — more than cancer, suicide, COVID-19, or motor vehicle accidents, Fox News reported. 

“Fentanyl also killed more Americans in general in 2020 than car accidents, gun violence, breast cancer or suicide, according to the analysis of CDC data from Families Against Fentanyl,” according to the report. 

Republicans are increasingly urging President Joe Biden to stop his efforts to end Title 42, the public health authority used at the United States-Mexico border to stem illegal immigration, and instead use the policy to fight the nation’s deadly fentanyl crisis.