Taking Steps to Stop Fentanyl Poisoning Deaths

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, in 2022, we saw the highest number of opioid overdose deaths in our Nation's history. These deaths are the result of soft-on-crime policies from the Biden administration that have failed to enforce strict penalties on the traffickers who continue to deal in fentanyl-laced drugs.

Mr. Speaker, 1 year ago, I received an email from Ray Cullen, a resident of Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Ray, along with his wife, Deb, had raised their children in Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District. Ray told me a story about his son, Zach, who had been out with his friends. Zach was sold a combination of cocaine laced with fentanyl, a deadly poison that took Zach's life.

Zach was a victim of fentanyl poisoning that night. He didn't know that the drugs that he and his friends had purchased were laced with this deadly synthetic opioid.

Because of how lethal fentanyl is in small quantities, it has become the leading cause of death of Americans between the ages of 18 and 49 years.

Earlier this year, I was honored to be joined by Deb and Ray when the House passed the HALT Fentanyl Act. This legislation would permanently classify these drugs as schedule I narcotics and impose strict penalties for those who are caught trafficking these deadly poisons.

For far too long, we have seen fentanyl components manufactured in China and shipped to Mexico, where they are pressed into counterfeit pills and trafficked across our porous southern border.

Addressing these supply chains at every level must become a top priority for the Biden administration. Appeasing the Chinese Communist Party with halfhearted requests to ``cut back'' on the production of fentanyl is doing nothing to protect families in Pennsylvania. These half measures are doing nothing to support our border towns that continue to deal with the constant threat of cartel operations moving north into the United States while Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed with illegal immigrants.

We cannot afford to wait any longer to address the opioid crisis. It is time for the Senate to pass the HALT Fentanyl Act and finally take positive, concrete steps to stop the fentanyl poisoning deaths that have continued to occur throughout the United States.

During this holiday season, we remember families like the Cullens who have borne the brunt of these policy failures. We pray for them, and we hold them in our hearts as they prepare for another Christmas without a loved member of their family.

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