Gov. Greg Abbott launched the “One Pill Kills” campaign in Texas this week, in response to the growing number of deaths attributed to the counterfeit fentanyl pills pouring into the United States across the southern border. It is a growing crisis that is causing alarm throughout the nation, due to growing numbers of unsuspecting people that have been killed by the counterfeit pills, which have the appearance of medical grade pharmaceuticals.

The Texas governor held a roundtable discussion Monday with state and local law enforcement officials. He outlined what the state has done to target the cartels distributing Fentanyl and noted at the discussion that Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat in Texas and across the nation. He said it is killing four Texans every day.

“Across the nation Fentanyl is the number one cause of death in Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. From February 2021 to February 2022, more than 75,000 Americans died as a result of fentanyl-related overdoses. In the past year, Texas law enforcement alone has seized over 342 million lethal doses of fentanyl—enough to kill every man, woman, and child in the United States,”  Abbott’s press release stated.

These facts alone are terrifying. I believe it is essential that every state adopt the ‘One Pill Kills’ campaign. The DEA is also leading the way by implementing a national program earlier this year because in reality we are playing catch up against our enemies. We can’t afford not to do it and every child, man and woman in America needs to understand the seriousness of this crisis.

Abbott’s measure is also more than just talk. It will give the state of Texas the ability to take action against traffickers.

“Fentanyl remains the single deadliest drug threat our state and nation has ever encountered, killing four Texans every day,” said Abbott. “Fentanyl is a clandestine killer, with Mexican drug cartels strategically manufacturing and distributing the drug disguised as painkillers, stimulants, anti-anxiety drugs, and even candy. In the Biden Administration’s negligence to address this national security threat, Texas has designated Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations and is launching a statewide public awareness campaign to fight the fentanyl crisis in our state.”

Abbott added that the ” ‘One Pill Kills’ campaign to remind Texans that just one pill laced with fentanyl can take someone’s life. Together, we will protect more innocent lives from being lost to this deadly drug.”

Further, he announced new laws to be considered this upcoming legislative session that would classify fentanyl as a poisoning. This is exactly what victims families of fentanyl poisoning deaths want and the reason the public must be warned.

New proposed laws would be stringent. These laws  would charge individuals that  distribute fentanyl or drugs laced with fentanyl that kill someone with murder. The proposals will also make NARCAN, used to revive persons of drug overdoses, more readily available across the state for Texans exposed to fentanyl, the Governor’s press release stated.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram has also made it her mission to get the word out about the deadly fentanyl pills pouring into the United States by the drug cartels. In a letter she sent in April to local law enforcement across the nation Milgram stated “fentanyl is killing Americans at an unprecedented rate…Already this year, numerous mass overdose  events have resulted in dozens of overdoses and deaths. Drug traffickers are driving addiction, and increasing their profits, by mixing fentanyl with other illicit drugs.”

In a recent episode of The Sara Carter Show podcast, I interviewed Virginia Krieger. She lost her daughter Tiffany to fentanyl poisoning and has made it her mission to warn parents all across the nation about the dangers of taking any kind of pill that is not prescribed by a personal doctor. In fact, what most people fail to realize is that the majority of precursor chemicals used to produce fentanyl comes from China and is imported into Mexico where the drug cartels mix the batches and create the counterfeit pills before illegally trafficking it to the United States.

Krieger is the co-founder of the ‘Lost Voices of Fentanyl’ Facebook page. It is a space where family members of thousands of victims gather to console and encourage one another and stay resolved to confront this nightmare in our neighborhoods.

She told me during the podcast that her daughters loss “was a shock. It was nothing we expected. She wasn’t what most people believe these victims to be. You know, we’re losing young people from all different walks of life from all financial and racial backgrounds, many of whom do not have an existing addiction problem.”

In Tiffany’s case, she had fallen through a porch and injured her back.

According to Krieger, her daughter “did everything she should do. She went to the doctor in the emergency room, and she got the referral to the neurosurgeon.”

“And while she was waiting for that appointment, someone offered her a Percocet,” said Krieger. It was a friend of Tiffanys.

“She knew what they were, she’d had them before,” Krieger added. “There was no reason to be alarmed by it. And you know, it was an act of compassion by someone who saw that she was in pain that claimed her life. And that pill was a fake pill. It contained illicit fentanyl, and it killed her. And she was on a 26 years old. And this story is playing out over and over and over again. Across the country. These fake pills are everywhere.”

The counterfeit fentanyl pills look like Xanax, Adderall, Vicodin,  Percocet among other pills.

“They’re finding it in ecstasy and cocaine and party drugs that didn’t use to kill people,” she said. “But now they are. And it’s most of the users like Tiffany, were deceived. And so my daughter didn’t overdose and people use that word all the time. That is not what happened to her. The word overdose implies that she went out and sought fentanyl got fentanyl and simply took too much. That isn’t what happened.”

She warned “someone very deliberately disguised fentanyl, as a far less lethal, far less dangerous trademark pharmaceutical product and gave it to her and it killed her and that’s a poisoning. And so that message is resonating with so many families out there who are now part of our bereaved family discussion group, who also lost their children under similar circumstances.”

The DEA also has a One Pill Can Kill initiative. According to the Department of Justice, the administration and law enforcement partners seized more than “10.2 million fentanyl pills and approximately 980 pounds of fentanyl powder during the period of May 23 through Sept. 8, 2022.”

“The amount of fentanyl taken off the streets during this surge is equivalent to more than 36 million lethal doses removed from the illegal drug supply,” the DEA press release stated. “Additionally, 338 weapons were seized, including rifles, shotguns, pistols, and hand grenades.”

In Texas,  almost 1,700 Texans lost their lives because of fentanyl.

DEA

Of the 390 cases investigated during this period, 51 cases are linked to overdose poisonings and 35 cases link directly to one or both of the primary Mexican cartels responsible for the majority of fentanyl in the United States – the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). In addition, 129 investigations are linked to social media platforms, including Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and TikTok. These results build upon the One Pill Can Kill Phase II results announced by DEA Administrator Anne Milgram in December 2021.

You can follow Sara A. Carter on Twitter @SaraCarterDC