Ian Patrick, FISM News

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers is tasking themselves with addressing the fentanyl crisis in the U.S.

Republican Reps. Ken Calvert and Darrell Issa and Democrat Reps. Joe Neguse and Madeleine Dean announced the Bipartisan Fentanyl Prevention Caucus earlier this month.

The caucus plans to “coordinate with members from both sides of the aisle to combat the nationwide spike in fentanyl-related overdoses and drug poisonings.”

Rep. Neguse said that lawmakers could not afford to ignore the “deadly crisis” of fentanyl which is “devastating communities throughout America — in every state, and in every region.”

Rep. Dean said the drug “has led to a devastating spike in the already alarming rate of overdoses ravaging every corner of our nation — it is crucial that we commit ourselves to a bipartisan effort to combat fentanyl-related overdoses and drug poisoning.”

“Fentanyl is not a new danger,” said Rep. Issa. “If we don’t win the fentanyl fight, we’re not going to just lose my community or my neighbors, or any one of my colleagues. We’re going to lose this country.”

Rep. Calvert referred to the fentanyl-linked deaths as “a national crisis.” Indeed, reports of overdoses and increasing amounts of seizures can confirm the urgency the lawmakers press for.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that it had seized enough fentanyl in 2022 “to kill every American.”

Another report from January of this year found that children under the age of 14 were dying at a faster rate than other age groups. Jim Rauh, the founder of Families Against Fentanyl, called this report “a wake-up call.”

Even more recently, the DEA discovered some fentanyl mixed with an entirely different drug that eats the flesh — further providing the need to address the problem sooner than later.