Since launching #OperationLoneStar in 2021, Texas law enforcement has seized more than half a BILLION lethal doses of fentanyl.
That’s enough to kill every man, woman, & child in the United States & Mexico combined.
Texas continues our efforts to combat the fentanyl crisis.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 7, 2024
Operation Lone Star, Abbott’s $11 million brainchild, deployed state authorities to curb the influx of undocumented immigration and to deter drug and human trafficking.
Speaking on efforts to combat the fentanyl crisis, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told Newsweek: “CBP is leading the nation’s fight against fentanyl and has prioritized its counter-fentanyl efforts, addressing this challenge head-on in all of its operational environments.
“CBP interdicts illegal narcotics every day through a layered, multifaceted approach, using a variety of tools, including officer intuition, canine detection, non-intrusive inspection equipment, artificial intelligence, intelligence gathering, and analysis and targeting to combat illicit fentanyl and other dangerous drugs.
“In addition to adding more NII technology and adopting artificial intelligence for use in inspections at ports of entry, CBP has evolved and adapted its counter-fentanyl strategy over the last several years with operations that leverage intelligence analysis with domestic and foreign law enforcement partners to dismantle the operations of criminal networks that ship fentanyl, its precursors, and pill press parts into our country.”
Tablets believed to be laced with fentanyl are displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration Northeast Regional Laboratory on October 8, 2019, in New York. Texas has seized enough fentanyl in the last three years to…
Tablets believed to be laced with fentanyl are displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration Northeast Regional Laboratory on October 8, 2019, in New York. Texas has seized enough fentanyl in the last three years to kill every man, woman, and child in the United States and Mexico.
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There has been a series of high-profile drug busts in recent months.
In the last two fiscal years, border agents seized nearly 50,000 pounds of fentanyl, enough to produce more than 2 billion lethal doses, according to CBP.
CBP agents uncovered a massive drug haul of blue fentanyl pills worth more than $11 million stashed in a vehicle in California.
Officers discovered 122 pounds of narcotics concealed within the vehicle’s quarter panel during a routine inspection at the Calexico West Port of Entry on October 9, the agency said in a statement dated yesterday.
Fentanyl poisoning deaths have dropped by nearly 20 percent, according to recent data from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).
The DSHS reports that 1,925 Texans lost their lives to fentanyl-related poisoning in 2022-2023, a decrease of 438 deaths from the previous year.
This 18 percent decline in fatalities occurred between July 31, 2022, and August 1, 2023.
According to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 107,941 people died from a drug overdose in 2022.
Meanwhile, the mother of a woman who lost her life to fentanyl believes that the United States is under chemical attack, and she called for sanctions on China over its role in the crisis.
Andrea Thomas, whose daughter Ashley Romero died in 2018 from an accidental overdose of the synthetic opioid, is asking the U.S. Trade Representative, or USTR, to investigate China’s role in the manufacturing of the illicit substance.
“I know what my family has experienced; I don’t have to do this,” Thomas told Newsweek. “I can go back to my house and enjoy my grandchildren, the life that we’ve missed fighting this.
“There is nothing we can do to bring her back. Nothing. This is so horrific that we cannot risk another family experiencing this, and that’s why we do it.”
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Publish date : 2024-11-07 04:31:00
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