“This is a very special time because we’ve worked very hard to put ourselves in this position to strike a righteous blow to the drug dealers, narcotic traffickers, and criminal cartels that we’ve heard about for so many years,” Trump said.
“It’s a big deal,” Trump said. “We’ll be getting the drug dealers, pushers, and peddlers off our streets, and we will not rest until we have ended the drug overdose epidemic … we’re going to end it once and for all.”
Trump has targeted fentanyl distribution with several policy decisions since taking office for a second term, including designating cartel syndicates as foreign terrorist organizations and imposing tariffs against China, Canada, and Mexico for facilitating production or failing to prevent the precursor chemicals from reaching the United States.
“On day one of the Trump Administration, we declared an all-out war on the dealers, smugglers, traffickers, and cartels,” he said, suggesting that China will soon impose the death penalty on fentanyl traffickers.
“Those who traffic in these deadly poisons will be put behind bars for a very long time.”
The new law will help close loopholes that have allowed cartels and other criminal syndicates to create closely related substances, including carfentanyl, which is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, according to the DEA.
“For years, the monsters who manufacture illicit fentanyl have sought to skirt legal restrictions by making minor variations of the chemical compound, and in the process, they’ve developed even more toxic versions of the drug,” Trump said.
“President Trump, for four years we felt ignored, but you changed that, and we appreciate it so much,” Funder said. “Thank you for keeping our children safe.”
Some of those who succumbed to the drug, including Funder’s son and Drew Swan, the young son of Greg Swan, who spoke at the event, were unaware they were consuming fentanyl or a related substance, with many counterfeit pharmaceutical products laced with opioids sold to individuals who believed they were purchasing Adderall, Xanax, or another name brand pill.
State governments across the country, including in California, where the bulk of overdose deaths occurred, are passing similar legislation meant to mitigate the flow of dangerous drugs by increasing penalties and spreading awareness about the risks associated with fentanyl exposure.
Critics argue that increasing penalties for selling drugs could negatively impact marginalized communities by leading to increased rates of incarceration.