Idaho Must Address the Fentanyl Crisis
Nearly four hundred people died of drug overdoses in our state last year, and almost half of these deaths came from fentanyl.
Fentanyl is perhaps the most dangerous epidemic in America today. This synthetic opioid, up to one hundred times more potent than morphine, is being trafficked to communities throughout our country. Nearly 100,000 people died from fentanyl overdoses in the last year, and that number continues to climb.
A miniscule amount of fentanyl can lead to a fatal overdose, and trace amounts are often mixed into other substances without users knowing. This can lead to a very dangerous situation, not only for addicts but for anyone they come into contact with. Even the slightest exposure to fentanyl can cause significant health issues for law enforcement personnel and other first responders.
Unfortunately, Idaho has not been spared from this awful plague. Nearly four hundred people died of drug overdoses in our state last year, and almost half of these deaths came from fentanyl. Many more had non-fatal overdoses, compounding their health problems. This lethal drug is trafficked through our porous southern border and makes its way to Idaho and into the hands of our fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, families and friends.
Addressing this crisis and protecting Idaho families requires more than just roundtable discussions. We must support our fellow legislators in border states to keep fentanyl from entering our country in the first place. We must give law enforcement the tools to intercept this awful drug and get it off our streets. We must give prosecutors and judges the ability to keep dealers out of our communities. We must offer hope and a purpose to the countless people who turn to dangerous drugs in the first place.
Even though fentanyl is a scourge in Idaho, don’t be discouraged. The Idaho Freedom Caucus stands firm and united against the proliferation of this dangerous drug. We plan to address this epidemic in the upcoming session before any more of our citizens succumbs to this killer.
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We've gotta close up those borders tighter. That's step one. This stuff's sneaking in, and it's hitting our communities like a ton of bricks. But we can't just stop there. Our cops need the right tools to catch this junk before it hits the streets too (and when they do nab the dealers, our courts gotta make sure they don't just waltz back out there). No more Idahoans should have to suffer because of this stuff. Let's spread the word that Idaho's worth fighting for, and we're not letting fentanyl take that away from us.
Fentanyl is merely one layer of the onion that is the scourge of an underground cancer here in Idaho. Fentanyl is merely a symptom. They’re not digging deep enough. Unfortunately neither are the City, County, State or Federal law enforcement entities. The underlying cause they need to address immediately is the human trafficking aspect that is the “engine” of our gang and drug problem. Human sex and drug trafficking which go hand-in-hand are not silos. They are inextricably linked and integrated as both gang and individual criminal “strategy and tactics” used to make money rapidly. The Victims of human sex and drug trafficking are forced into exposure by their “handlers” to deliver drugs, burglarize, recruit other victims, etc and who are frequently caught and jailed. These victims should not be punished for activities they were forced to commit by a trafficker. Young victims, including children (Caucasian teenage boys under 12 are a hot commodity right now), are “seasoned in” to do the handlers’ biddings by being forcefully shot up with Heroin and Meth, brutally gang raped, videotaped for blackmail and to sell online. These men and women threaten the victims’ families and the victims are forced to have sex with clients, multiple dealers, groomers and the “Old Ladies” (madam-types), branded, beaten, deprived of food, water and numerous other tortures, some chained to walls, some in cages.
We need to be proactive about seeking out the victims, protecting them and their families, and establishing new laws that incarcerate the perpetrators. It appears that a focus on Fentanyl is just scratching an itch and not solving the deeper, even more hideous reality our citizens face right now. The laws need to be changed if we are to save the victims of sick, heinous abuse.
If they were to focus attention on the victims, they are the ones who possess a vast knowledge about the traffickers’ operations: their clients (catering to a wealthy and well-connected clientele) dealers, RSO’s, churches, tattoo parlors, truck stops/gas stations, hotel/motel, hair and massage salons and other business, groomers, trap and drug house locations, inter and intrastate drug trafficking routes and methodologies, other victims, gang affiliations, deal timing, locations, etc., you could actually have a more potent approach that delivers real results.
Sadly, Idaho scores an F in the 2022 in the Shared Hope International Report Cards. WTF Idaho?