(CNN photo)
WASHINGTON, D.C.- Congressman Steve King, a leading border security advocate, announces that he has been invited by President Trump to participate in the White House bill signing ceremony for HR 2142, the “International Narcotics Trafficking Emergency Response by Detecting Incoming Contraband with Technology Act” (INTERDICT Act). King voted in favor of the bipartisan bill being signed into law by President Trump today. The INTERDICT Act is designed to combat a nationwide opioid abuse epidemic by providing chemical screening devices to U.S. Customs and Border Protection that will enhance their ability to interdict fentanyl, synthetic opioids, and other narcotics illegally brought into the United States.
“I support this bipartisan effort to combat the opioid abuse epidemic through increased border security efforts,” said King. “According to the State Department, Mexico is among the leading suppliers of fentanyl, synthetic opioids, and heroin to the United States. Giving US Customs and Border Protection additional chemical screening tools to identify and interdict these drugs while they are in transit is a common sense solution to an opioid crisis exacerbated by Mexican drug cartels. Strengthening US-Mexico border enforcement will assist Iowa’s efforts to combat opioid abuse.”
The Iowa Department of Health has created an online tool that can be used to identify locations within the 4th Congressional District that can provide help to those struggling with drug addiction. The tool is accessible at this link.
Background:
Opioid addiction is a growing problem within both the United States generally and within Iowa specifically. According to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “opioids—prescription and illicit—are the main driver of drug overdose deaths. Opioids were involved in 42,249 deaths in 2016, and opioid overdose deaths were five times higher in 2016 than 1999.”
In Iowa, deaths from opioid overdoses have followed national trends, rising from 28 deaths in 2005 to 67 deaths in 2016.
The State Department has concluded that “Mexico is a major source and transit country for heroin, marijuana, and synthetic drugs destined for the United States and a main transit country for cocaine from South America. Mexico is a source of illicit opium poppy and the primary supplier of heroin and opium derivatives to the U.S. domestic market.” These “synthetic drugs” include fentanyl and other opioids.
Addressing the opioid epidemic within Iowa was identified by Governor Kim Reynolds as a priority for the state in her recent Condition of the State Address. King believes federal efforts to interdict the flow of drugs at the US-Mexico border will complement Governor Reynolds’s ongoing efforts to address opioid abuse.
All this will do is raise the price. If you want to stop drugs you need to stop the demand. That means fewer opioid prescriptions getting written by doctors and more treatment options for addicts. Totally don’t get how professed free marketers don’t understand the basics of supply and demand.
Make America Great Again,Not with Trump or King involved these idiots live in a box.And their views are OLD and OBSOLETE.Shit hole what a statement from a Pres. It made him look very uneducated to rest of the world.
No one cares about your shithole opinion.
1 out of 3 liberals are just as STUPID as the other two.
There are approximately 200 million prescriptions for opioids written each year in this country. Most people don’t use the entire prescription and the vast majority don’t get rid of the extra pills. Much of that unused supply ends up on the street. Oxycontin costs about $20 per pill on the street. If one gets a prescription for 30 oxys and pays $90 for that, uses 10 of them that leaves 20 at $20 apiece. $400. Pretty good profit. That is what King should be concerned about. But, politically, it would hurt him because big pharma doesn’t want to curtail their profits.
Steve King should pay attention to information put out by the state he represents; opioids are not illegally coming across the Mexico border, they are prescription based and distributed by U.S. companies: The Iowa Department of Justice Attorney General Tom Millers web page states that: “A report, issued in March by the University of Iowa’s Injury Prevention Research Center, found that prescription opioid use has reached “unprecedented” levels, and that “heroin use is a rapidly growing public health problem and is associated with non-medical use of prescription opioid pain relievers.” According to the report’s findings, “Rates of prescription drug deaths since 1999 have quadrupled (in Iowa), making it only one of four states with such a dramatic increase.”
If this will help stop the problem of these drugs coming across the border, I am all for it. But, don’t stop there. When people are caught bringing this poison across the border, they should be exterminated, not just slapped on the hand and let go, just to do it again. Soon the word will get out and nobody will want to bring drugs across. Also, how many of the Opioid deaths can be attributed to prescription drugs obtained through doctors here in the U.S. Prescription Opioids need to be controlled also.
Tell us more about your proposal to exterminate people Allen. You sound like the gestapo. What’s wrong with you buddy, are you trying to be cute or a tuff guy?
McKesson is one of the biggest suppliers of opioids.
Then McKesson may end up getting sued. A lot of states are filing suits against them.
most drugs that come in thru mexico come in thru u.s. checkpoints.also they use drones that can fly over any wall that we build.
B.S. they bring them in thru tunnels and even use submarines. They use airplanes and well a a few drones, but drones by their nature can not transport very much. They carry a lot across the desert, much more than ever comes thru checkpoints.
So how does a wall stop tunnels and submarines?
Read the last sentence.
Tunnels and submarines??An awful lot of crimes go unsolved, so why do we even bother with laws?…IDIOT!
I don’t know if it will curb it, but it should certainly help slow it down a lot.