Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) is now backing a proposal to classify fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) as he runs for the United States Senate. The plan comes after years of Ryan’s opposition to cracking down on fentanyl.
Ryan, running against best-selling author J.D. Vance (R), who has been endorsed by former President Trump, introduced legislation that would classify fentanyl as a WMD.
The legislation, though, comes after Ryan has spent much of his time in Congress opposing bills that would crack down on fentanyl to combat the nation’s ongoing opioid crisis.
Most recently, in July 2021, Ryan voted against an amendment to a House Appropriations Committee funding measure that would have redirected $75 million meant for President Joe Biden’s executive order that ends federal contracts with private prisons to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to combat fentanyl trafficking.
Likewise, in January 2020, Ryan failed to cast a vote on a measure to extend the DEA’s classification of fentanyl-related drugs as Schedule I controlled substances, thus extending the agency’s prohibition of fentanyl-related drugs.
In 2018, Ryan voted against legislation that created a new category of “Schedule A” drugs for which fentanyl-related drugs would be classified immediately. The legislation established maximum prison penalties for Schedule A drug traffickers as well.
Also in 2018, Ryan voted for the First Step Act, which almost immediately released nearly 1,000 inmates convicted of drug crimes including drug trafficking.
In 2017, Ryan voted against an amendment that would have increased funding for the International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement Division by $30 million by taking the funds from the Fullbright Program for “intercultural relations” and “cultural diplomacy.”
Vance, a fierce populist, has made fighting the nation’s opioid crisis a fixture of his campaign. In his GOP primary victory speech in May, Vance vowed to take on the Republican establishment, elected Democrats, their allies in big business, and the open borders lobby. Vance said:
Think about the drug crisis. An establishment Republican Party that refused to do anything against the Sackler family which poisoned this state with drugs and an establishment Democrat Party that is actively encouraging the Mexican drug cartels to flood us with even worse drugs … how about we put them both in jail.
Among other policy prescriptions, Vance has said he will file legislation to classify the Mexican drug cartels as “a terrorist organization” if elected to the Senate.
“Don’t send the military to Ukraine,” Vance said at CPAC this year. “Send them to Mexico, and let’s fight back against this poison.”
In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that more than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in the prior 12 months. Nearly two-thirds of those deaths were linked to fentanyl.
The issue is particularly grim for Ohio. The latest data reveals that in 2020, 81 percent of drug overdose deaths in the state were linked to fentanyl. This is an increase from 2019, 2018, and 2017 when fentanyl was linked to about 76 to 71 percent of drug overdose deaths.
Months ago, DEA official Anne Milgram said there was enough fentanyl trafficked into American communities last year, via the southern border, “to kill every American” citizen.
Some Senate Republicans have suggested transferring use of the CDC’s Title 42 authority at the southern border, which allows officials to quickly deport many illegal aliens, from a Chinese coronavirus function to a combating fentanyl maneuver.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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