The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday rolled out what it is calling a comprehensive guide to combating illicit opioids from coming into the country.
The report, titled “Strategy for Combating Illicit Opioids,” outlines four goals the Department hopes will stop opioids from coming into the country.
Primary elements of the strategy include: Reducing the international supply of illicit opioids, reducing the supply of opioids in the United States, attacking the enablers of the drug trafficking organizations and working with the private sector to better stop drugs from getting into the United States.
Full story: DHS looks to combat illicit drugs inside and out of the United States through targeted strategy
We’ve had an unprecedented epidemic of deaths from drugs since the war on drugs was declared. Mandatory minimums didn’t do anything but piss people off. We definitely need to do something else about it, and combatting it further is definitely what we need to do. Too many people are dying. Over 20,000 LBS of fentanyl was recovered in 2022. Imagine how many times over that could kill the population. They need to focus on everything, foreign and domestic. How long will it take to stop?
I understand that there is an opioid crisis in the United States and we are trying to find ways to settle the matter. Opioids are a leading cause of death in the U.S. and have infiltrated our streets for years on end. But the way that the DHS seems to “combat” and use “target strategies” is very vague. Their first two primary elements of strategy are to reduce the international supply of illicit opioids and to reduce the supply of opioids in the United States. My question is how? Yes these two things need to happen but how exactly is the DHS going to reduce the supply that is coming in and out of the U.S? These strategies do not give us a clear answer.