“Instead of addressing this growing problem, President Biden, VP Harris, and Senator Tammy Baldwin have only made it worse” – Eric Hovde.
This is an opinion column by Eric Hovde, businessman and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate
Our country is facing a drug epidemic crisis of catastrophic proportions, with more than 100,000 Americans — largely young people — dying each year from drug overdoses driven by fentanyl poisonings.
According to the CDC, nearly 108,000 Americans died from fatal drug overdoses in 2022. In 2023, the death toll rose to 112,000, a new record high. On average, an American is now dying from fentanyl poisoning every seven minutes.
To put these numbers in perspective, America lost 58,000 young men in the eight years the U.S. was directly involved in the Vietnam War. There were widespread protests on college campuses and extensive media coverage from the press about the loss of life. Today, we are losing almost twice the number of young Americans every single year, yet both the press and Washington remain silent.
Sadly, the growing drug crisis disproportionately affects our state and nation’s youth. Across the United States, fentanyl is the leading cause of death for individuals 18-45, and in Wisconsin, it is the number one killer for those 25-54.
Every county in Wisconsin, from Dane and La Crosse to Vilas and Douglas, has experienced an alarming spike in overdose deaths.
Many people mistakenly believe that those dying from fentanyl are drug addicts, but that is not true.
According to the DEA, fentanyl is often mixed with other drugs and sold as powders or nasal sprays, frequently pressed into pills to disguise the poison as legitimate prescription medications such as OxyContin, Percocet, or Xanax. Young Americans who have never used illicit drugs and have no tolerance for any amount of fentanyl are taking one pill that they bought online through social media or from a local drug dealer, only to be killed from what they thought was safe medication.
Young Americans are not dying from overdosing as chronic drug users; they are being poisoned.
How is the deadly fentanyl getting into America?
It is estimated China is responsible for over 90 percent of the illicit fentanyl found in the United States. A recent congressional investigation found that the Chinese government is directly subsidizing the production of fentanyl precursors, even going as far as to provide tax rebates to companies that manufacture these poisons and other synthetic narcotics, provided they sell them outside of China.
Who is China selling the fentanyl to? Mexican drug cartels.
China ships the poison they produce to Mexican drug cartels, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco Cartel, which then mass-produce fentanyl-laced pills to look identical to real prescription medications. The drugs are smuggled across the United States’ open southern border and are distributed across communities nationwide.
Instead of addressing this growing problem, President Biden, VP Harris, and Senator Tammy Baldwin have only made it worse. Throughout Sen. Baldwin’s career, she has opposed securing the border, even going as far as to say we spend too much on border security and has refused to hold China accountable.
This deadly drug crisis has gone on for far too long. We must immediately address the root problems fueling this drug epidemic to save the future of our nation.
As your Senator, my first step will be to hold China accountable by working in a bipartisan effort with Senate colleagues to impose economic sanctions on the Bank of China and other Chinese financial institutions that actively circumvent U.S. counternarcotics efforts.
Additionally, I will push to designate China as a Major Illicit Drug Producing Country, enhancing law enforcement’s ability to monitor and combat fentanyl production while also advocating for the prosecution of any Chinese company that is caught supplying fentanyl precursor chemicals to drug cartels.
To secure the southern border, I will reverse failed policies that have dismantled U.S. border protection standards, leaving border patrol agents understaffed and under-resourced.
By ending the dangerous Harris-Baldwin ‘catch and release’ policy that allows known criminals and terrorists to enter the country and roam free, and reinstating the successful ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, we can begin to restore law and order at the southern border.
I will also fund Border Patrol agents with the necessary tools and technology to halt the flow of drugs while ensuring all local and state law enforcement agencies are permitted to coordinate with federal immigration officials.
And lastly, I will advocate for stiffer sentencing guidelines for those convicted of lacing medication with fentanyl and distributing the poison leading to deaths. By imposing more severe penalties on those killing America’s youth with fentanyl we can deter criminal networks and keep killers behind bars and off the streets.
Securing the southern border, holding China accountable, and cracking down on drug dealers will be among my first actions as your Senator, so our nation can immediately take steps in the right direction to end the deadly drug epidemic.
Career politicians in Washington have continually ignored the urgent pleas of families and individuals impacted by the fentanyl crisis, allowing the epidemic to not only continue but to worsen. Immediate and real change is needed.
This fall, we must demand a new approach. I will fight relentlessly to deliver effective solutions and ensure Congress takes concrete steps to confront and end the fentanyl crisis once and for all. This should not be a Republican priority or a Democratic priority, but an American priority. Ending the fentanyl crisis is a moral imperative, and I am committed to leading the change needed as your next United States Senator.
