McKinsey &amp; Company is under federal criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for their alleged past work advising some of the largest <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/opioid-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opioid manufacturers</a> on how to maximize sales.
The Wall Street Journal broke the story Wednesday evening on the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/mckinsey-faces-criminal-probe-over-opioid-related-consulting-a3f816d4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigation</a> in which prosecutors are also seeking to determine if the company or its employees obstructed justice throughout the course of the multi-year investigation.
Investigators are specifically looking at consulting advice the firm gave to Purdue, Endo International, and Mallinckrodt that government and private plaintiffs have alleged exacerbated the opioid addiction epidemic, the report said. The three companies have filed for bankruptcy in response to lawsuits alleging they marketed the drug in a deceptive way that caused addiction.
The investigation is being run through two U.S. attorney’s offices, the Western District of Virginia and the District of Massachusetts, the report said. A federal grand jury has been impaneled in Virginia.
The company has already paid approximately $1 billion in settlements with all 50 U.S. states, five U.S. territories, Washington, D.C., Native American tribes, public school districts, insurance companies and municipal governments, the report said. They have never admitted any wrongdoing.
McKinsey consultants allegedly told Purdue that it could &#8220;turbocharge&#8221; its sales of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin by making more sales calls to healthcare providers that it knew wrote significantly larger volumes of prescriptions of the drug and spend less time speaking with providers who seldom prescribed it.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/24/business/mckinsey-criminal-investigation.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that senior McKinsey consultants were growing nervous in 2018 that they would be liable for their work helping opioid manufacturers boost their sales.
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The report said that during the summer of 2018, Martin Elling, a leader in the firm’s pharmaceutical practice, allegedly emailed senior McKinsey partner Arnab Ghatak and asked whether they should destroy documents and records related to their opioid work.
&#8220;Thanks for the heads up,&#8221; Ghatak responded. &#8220;Will do.&#8221;
The Times said both men were fired after the newspaper reported on the existence of the emails in 2020.

MWC Logotypes

McKinsey Under Criminal Investigation Over Alleged Role In Opioid Epidemic: Report

Business

Crime

Drugs

Fentanyl

Opioid Crisis

Former U.S. Attorney General <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/william-barr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bill Barr</a> blamed America&#8217;s fentanyl crisis solely on communist China during congressional testimony this week.
Barr made the remarks while testifying on Tuesday in front of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party on a 64-page report titled, &#8220;The CCP&#8217;s Role In The Fentanyl Crisis.&#8221;
Barr said that the death toll in the U.S. every year from drug overdoses was higher than the number of Americans killed during the bloodiest year of World War II.
&#8220;The [People&#8217;s Republic of China] is the source of the fentanyl that is slaughtering Americans,&#8221; he said. &#8220;China produces nearly all the illicit fentanyl precursors used and the fentanyl introduced into the United States. These are the indispensable ingredients that drive the fentanyl trade.&#8221;
&#8220;There is no practical alternative for anywhere near the volume of precursors necessary to fuel this trade,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Simply put, without China&#8217;s production and export of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors, there would be no fentanyl crisis in the United States and the mass slaughter would effectively stop.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“We are now sustaining a casualty rate from drug overdoses that exceeds the death toll we suffered in waging a world war.
We have long known that the PRC is the source of the fentanyl that is slaughtering Americans.” — Former AG William P. Barr <a href="https://t.co/6UCgWUNBB8">pic.twitter.com/6UCgWUNBB8</a>
&mdash; Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (@committeeonccp) <a href="https://twitter.com/committeeonccp/status/1780220062013481087?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Barr said that the Chinese Communist Party was not just a &#8220;bystander&#8221; in the entire ordeal — they are prime movers.
&#8220;They are knee deep and actively sponsoring, encouraging, and facilitating the production and export of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors for distribution in the United States,&#8221; he said. &#8220;First, the committee&#8217;s investigators have found a hidden [Chinese] government website currently fully active that offers complete tax rebates incentivizing the export of all fentanyl analogs and precursors, as well as other synthetic narcotics — drugs that are illegal in the U.S., illegal in China, and have no legitimate purpose.&#8221;
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He said that the tax incentives offered to Chinese companies &#8220;allow companies to effectively operate tax free when they export fentanyl precursors.&#8221;
He added that the investigation found evidence that shows China &#8220;provides grants and awards to companies that are engaged in open and notorious synthetic narcotic manufacturing and drug trafficking.”
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“The CCP are not just bystanders. They are prime movers. 
They are knee-deep in actively sponsoring, encouraging and facilitating the production and export of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors for distribution in the US.”— Former AG Bill Barr <a href="https://t.co/jLYlXICWmx">pic.twitter.com/jLYlXICWmx</a>
&mdash; Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (@committeeonccp) <a href="https://twitter.com/committeeonccp/status/1780233686278926488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Barr said that there was evidence that China was intentionally engaged in this activity and that the U.S. should not expect China to operate in good faith or to have &#8220;goodwill&#8221; toward the U.S.
&#8220;The key point here is that the PRC and the CCP have the capacity to shut this down,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This is not taking place in the rain forests of Burma. This is taking place among a manageable number of companies in industrial parks in a modern surveillance state. The Chinese can push a button with a keystroke find somebody in one of their cities within less than a minute, know exactly where they are. They know what&#8217;s on the internet. There&#8217;s no question they&#8217;re aware of what&#8217;s happening.&#8221;
He also said that since President Joe Biden met with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping that he has not been aware of any changes that China has made in its malicious behavior flooding the U.S. with fentanyl.

Former United States Attorney General Bill Barr

Bill Barr Blasts China During Fentanyl Hearing: Solely Responsible For ‘Mass Slaughter’ In U.S.

Communist China

Global Politics

William Barr

World

A class of drugs even deadlier than fentanyl has contributed to a growing number of deaths in Philadelphia.
Synthetic opioids called nitazene analogues, can be 40 times more powerful than fentanyl, have been connected to at least five deaths in the city, and a dozen more deaths may be attributed to the deadly drugs.
“The health department suspects that a nitazene analogue known as N-desethyl isotonitazene was present in 12 overdose deaths in Philadelphia between November and December 2022,” the Philadelphia Inquirer <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/health/opioid-addiction/nitazenes-philadelphia-drug-overdoses-opioids-20240409.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.inquirer.com/health/opioid-addiction/nitazenes-philadelphia-drug-overdoses-opioids-20240409.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1712761220662000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0RLaCGzkDdLL2Bhk8u9NaE">reported</a>.  Two other nitazene analogues were identified in an overdose victim who died in June 2023.
Although the drug naloxone can be used to reverse the effects of fentanyl,  the normal dose of naloxone may not be enough to combat the effects of nitazenes.
Nitazenes apparently cause withdrawal symptoms so intense that sufferers are not able to bear waiting for inpatient treatment. “Often in Philadelphia, people looking to enter inpatient treatment must first go through an intake process that can take hours and sometimes days, researchers at Jefferson University Hospital <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/health/opioid-addiction/philadelphia-addiction-treatment-study-jefferson-20240319.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.inquirer.com/health/opioid-addiction/philadelphia-addiction-treatment-study-jefferson-20240319.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1712761220662000&amp;usg=AOvVaw30UhSPxFP5CVye35YQCvky">found in a recent study</a>,” the Inquirer noted.
“Someone who’s dependent on a very toxic drug supply has a very small window in which they feel well enough to even consider treatment,” Daniel Teixeira da Silva, the medical director of the city health department’s division of substance use prevention and harm reduction, said. “It’s really a vicious cycle, and this just makes it worse.”
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The U.S. Department of Justice <a href="https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_chem_info/benzimidazole-opioids.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_chem_info/benzimidazole-opioids.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1712761220662000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1i-vA2ikrNUdHNHNNikAWJ">stated</a> in January of nitazenes, also known as Benzimidazole-Opioids, “Recently, a number of synthetic substances of the benzimidazole structural class are being trafficked and abused for their opioid-like effects. &#8230; The population likely to abuse benzimidazole-opioids appears to be the same as those abusing prescription opioid analgesics, heroin, and other synthetic opioid substances. &#8230; In the illicit drug market, some of these benzimidazole-opioids have been identified in drug seizures. &#8230; Since 2019, there have been over 4,300 reports of benzimidazole-opioids to NFLIS-Drug. &#8230; With no approved medical use, the positive identification of these substances in toxicology cases underscore the public health threat associated with their presence in the illicit drug market.”

Hidden Fentanyl Is Driving a Fatal New Phase in US Opioid Epidemic

Drug 40 Times Stronger Than Fentanyl Plagues Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia

U.S.

Megyn Kelly reacted with shock to images of the fentanyl crisis ripping through the United States and killing roughly 100,000 Americans annually.
Kelly, host of &#8220;The Megyn Kelly Show,&#8221; interviewed Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro on her show on Monday, asking Shapiro about his new docu-series “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-divided-states-of-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Divided States of Biden</a>,” in which the Daily Wire host investigates the fentanyl epidemic.
“Oh my God, it&#8217;s hard to believe that&#8217;s the United States of America,” Kelly said after viewing the trailer for the latest episode.
Kelly and Shapiro discussed the epidemic, its causes, and potential solutions.
“A lot of people who are dying of fentanyl poisoning don’t even realize they’re ingesting fentanyl,” Shapiro said. “They think that they are taking a vicodin, or they think that they are taking a xanax, or they think that they’re taking an adderall and it turns out that it’s laced with a grain of fentanyl.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a> discusses his investigation of the fentanyl crisis in his new series &#39;The Divided States of Biden&#39; on the <a href="https://twitter.com/MegynKellyShow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MegynKellyShow</a>:  &quot;It&#39;s killing over 100,000 Americans a year. It&#39;s now the number one cause of death for Americans between the ages of about 18 and 40.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ztZvKQNTd3">pic.twitter.com/ztZvKQNTd3</a>
&mdash; Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1774940191016255598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2024</a></blockquote>
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The supply of fentanyl poisoning Americans traces back to China, Shapiro explained. Chinese companies export the components used to make fentanyl to Mexico where drug cartels take them and, with help from Chinese nationals and chinese pill presses, craft the fentanyl into pills that resemble common drugs such as vicodin and adderall.
Cartel members and drug dealers then pack the drugs into the United States, taking advantage of the poorly policed southern border. Shapiro placed a significant amount of blame on President Joe Biden’s border policies for the fentanyl epidemic.
“These two issues are deeply intertwined. With an open border, it is literally impossible to stop the fentanyl epidemic from entering the country,” Shapiro said. “Joe Biden’s border policy is dramatically designed to do everything but stop it at the border. He’s leaving the border wide open.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@megynkelly</a>: &quot;So why are they lacing drugs like Adderall, and Vicodin with fentanyl?&quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a>: &quot;It&#39;s 50 to 100 times more powerful than a typical opioid or heroin. And so that means that if you can get somebody to take a little bit of fentanyl, apparently the high is… <a href="https://t.co/bSNr4nEMzC">pic.twitter.com/bSNr4nEMzC</a>
&mdash; Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1774940767661748526?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Many of the Americans that end up dying from fentanyl poisoning have no idea they’re ingesting the deadly drug to begin with. The black market pills they take are laced with fentanyl unknown to the buyer. Drug dealers operate that way to create fentanyl addicts and build a customer base.
“All of this is, in fact, if not preventable, mitigatable. All you have to do is close the southern border,” Shapiro said. “Again, this stuff is so powerful. It is so easy to transport. You’re talking about tons – literally tons – of fentanyl entering the United States every year, and it takes a grain, two grains of fentanyl to kill somebody.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@megynkelly</a> after watching a clip of <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a>&#39;s &#39;The Divided States of Biden&#39;: &quot;Oh my God, it&#39;s hard to believe that&#39;s the United States of America.&quot;
Ben: &quot;It is&#8230;All you have to do is close the southern border&#8230;Again, this stuff is so powerful, it&#39;s so easy to transport.… <a href="https://t.co/PvEPerFcy7">pic.twitter.com/PvEPerFcy7</a>
&mdash; Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1774941147607007291?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Megyn Kelly/Ben Shapiro

Megyn Kelly, Ben Shapiro React To Fentanyl Crisis: ‘It’s Hard To Believe That’s The United States Of America’

Megyn Kelly, Ben Shapiro React To Fentanyl Crisis Captured In New Daily Wire Doc: ‘It’s Hard To Believe That's The United States Of America’

Ben Shapiro

Border Crisis

Megyn Kelly

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/immigration-and-customs-enforcement-ice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Immigration and Customs Enforcement&#8217;s</a> (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested an illegal alien in Boston who is wanted for murder in the Dominican Republic.
The federal agents arrested the 27-year-old alleged fentanyl trafficker near his residence in Saugus on March 21, ICE said in a statement on Tuesday.
&#8220;The unlawfully present Dominican citizen is currently facing local fentanyl trafficking charges and was previously arrested for strangulation and assault and battery charges,&#8221; the statement said.
ICE did not release the suspect&#8217;s name and blurred out his face in a photo that was taken as he was arrested.
The suspect &#8220;became the subject of a criminal police warrant for the charge of homicide issued by a criminal court in the city of Bani in the Dominican Republic’s state of Peravia&#8221; in November 2021, ICE said.
The next month, he was charged with trafficking fentanyl in the Newburyport District Court.
He was also charged with strangulation/suffocation and assault and battery of a family household member in the West Roxbury District Court. ICE said the charges in the West Roxbury District Court were dropped.
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Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin reported that the suspect fled to the U.S. in 2021 and illegally crossed the border as a &#8220;gotaway.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NEW: ICE Boston arrested a Dominican man wanted for murder in the DR who fled to the U.S. in 2021, when he crossed illegally as a “gotaway”, then went on to be arrested for local crimes in Massachusetts, including fentanyl trafficking &amp; strangulation. ICE arrested him near his… <a href="https://t.co/L1tKbKydSa">pic.twitter.com/L1tKbKydSa</a>
&mdash; Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillMelugin_/status/1775217262737408261?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2024</a></blockquote>
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ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons said that the suspect fled the Dominican Republic to avoid being tried for murder.
&#8220;He made his way to Massachusetts and has been repeatedly apprehended by local authorities and charged with crimes of violence and drug crimes,&#8221; Lyons said. &#8220;ERO Boston will not allow the world’s offenders to take refuge in our communities. We will continue to aggressively arrest and remove any such criminal elements in New England.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/once-deported-illegal-immigrant-charged-with-murder-in-shooting-death-of-25-year-old-michigan-woman" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Once-Deported Illegal Immigrant Charged With Murder In Shooting Death Of 25-Year-Old Michigan Woman</a>

ICE Agents Detain Suspected Undocumented Immigrants In Raids

ICE Arrests Illegal Alien Wanted For Murder In Dominican Republic

Boston

Illegal Immigration

On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping — whose country has been accused of stoking the fentanyl trade with Mexican drug cartels that has killed tens of thousands of Americans — reportedly told President Biden that their two nations “should prioritize stability, not provoke troubles, not cross lines but maintain the overall stability of China-U.S. relations.”
The White House called the phone call between the two leaders “candid and constructive,” according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-xi-china-yellen-ai-taiwan-fentanyl-c3317fae3e45b04cffcda5bb63adee56?taid=660c2585f117680001e24287&amp;utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&amp;utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_source=Twitter">Associated Press</a>, which added, “Xi told Biden that the two countries should adhere to the bottom line of ‘no clash, no confrontation’ as one of the principles for this year.”
Next month, Taiwan will inaugurate Lai Ching-te as its president. He has promised to protect Taiwan’s independence from Communist China. Biden reportedly told Xi that he supported the United States “One China” policy. <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-taiwan/">According</a> to the U.S. State Department, the policy means that the U.S. opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side,” but does not support Taiwan&#8217;s independence and expects cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.
Xi threatened that Taiwan remains the “first red line not to be crossed” and Beijing wouldn’t tolerate any actions from Taiwanese independence supporters, AP reported.
According to investigative journalist and author Peter Schweizer, China is the main driver behind fentanyl being smuggled into the United States by Mexican drug cartels.
Schweizer, author of “Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans,” discussed the crisis on “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fentanyl-america-s-silent-epidemic">Fentanyl: America’s Silent Epidemic</a>,” part of a DailyWire+ series by Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro on The Divided States of Biden. The author said the fentanyl trade that contributes to tens of thousands of American deaths every year begins in China.
“They’re the senior partner. The drug cartels are really the junior partner in the fentanyl trade,” Schweizer told Shapiro, speaking of the Chinese regime led by President Xi Jinping.
Ninety percent of fentanyl precursor chemicals shipped from China to Mexico arrive via Mexico’s Port of Manzanillo. The port is run by a Chinese company, according to Schweizer. From the port, the chemicals are taken to a town in northern Mexico close to the U.S. border. About 2,000 Chinese workers work in cartel labs to craft the precursor chemicals into fentanyl and then the fentanyl into pills resembling common drugs such as Vicodin or Adderall.
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Money from the drug trade is then laundered through the Chinese financial system.
Tim Pearce contributed to this article.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-is-the-senior-partner-directing-the-fentanyl-crisis-killing-americans-author-peter-schweizer-says">Related: China Is The ‘Senior Partner’ Directing The Fentanyl Crisis Killing Americans, Author Peter Schweizer Says</a>

TOPSHOT-US-CHINA-DIPLOMACY-APEC-SUMMIT

As Chinese-Backed Fentanyl Infiltrates America, Xi Tells Biden Not To ‘Provoke Troubles’

Joe Biden

Taiwan

Xi Jinping

Oregon has made possessing small amounts of hard drugs a crime again after a failed experiment with decriminalization.
Governor Tina Kotek, a Democrat, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/oregon-drug-recriminalization-law-signed-governor-96e36ed60e999572bbf47c160b412a73" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> a bill into law on Monday that makes personal use possession a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail.
The new bill rolls back Measure 110, which was approved by about 58% of Oregon voters in 2020, and scrapped criminal charges for possessing small amounts of any drug, even hard drugs like fentanyl. The measure was the first of its kind in the country.
Instead of criminal penalties, offenders were hit with a maximum fine of $100 that was rarely enforced. Drug users could also get their fine dismissed if they called a hotline to get an addiction screening, but in the law’s first year, only 1% of people who received tickets for drug possession called the hotline, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-health/ap-oregons-first-in-the-nation-drug-decriminalization-law-faces-growing-pushback-amid-fentanyl-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to state auditors.
In the years since Measure 110 took effect, however, the law has become increasingly unpopular as residents deal with public drug use in their daily lives.
Two years later, more than 6 in 10 voters said they thought decriminalization has made drug addiction, homelessness, and crime worse in Oregon, according to a May <a href="https://www.dhmresearch.com/oregon-voters-support-bringing-back-criminal-penalties-for-drug-possession/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> from DMH Research. A combined 63% said they “strongly” supported or would be “somewhat” interested in once again criminalizing hard drugs.
Meanwhile, fatal drug overdoses in Oregon have spiked, driven by the fentanyl crisis.
The state is on track for 1,250 overdose deaths last year, <a href="https://www.opb.org/article/2024/01/28/data-show-overdoses-deaths-rising-in-oregon/#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20280%20people%20died,year%2C%20reaching%20628%20in%20June." target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to data that is still being compiled. This is a stark rise from the 280 people who died of an overdose back in 2019.
Some of the worst scenes of the drug crisis come out of Portland, where addicts shoot up daily in broad daylight downtown.
In September, the Portland City Council passed a ban on using hard drugs on public property.
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However, Portland&#8217;s new rules have been in limbo while drugs were still decriminalized at the state level.
Mayor Ted Wheeler, another Democrat, has expressed support for Oregon&#8217;s new law, which takes effect on September 1.
&#8220;People are exhausted from feeling like they’re under siege. They want order restored to their environment,&#8221; Wheeler <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/01/us/oregon-drug-law-portland-mayor.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
Although the new state law brings back criminal penalties for drug possession, it also encourages law enforcement to establish programs to send drug users to addiction and mental health services rather than the criminal justice system if possible.

US-HEALTH-DRUGS-OREGON

Oregon Recriminalizes Drug Possession

General

Oregon

Portland

Republican lawmakers said that the United States needs to tackle the fentanyl crisis by going after the source of the deadly drug abroad and taking action domestically to safeguard against the effects of the drug. 
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), the chair of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) spoke about potential legislative solutions on “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fentanyl-america-s-silent-epidemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fentanyl: America’s Silent Epidemic</a>,” part of a DailyWire+ docu-series on The Divided States of Biden. In 2023, more than 100,000 Americans <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/12/28/1220881380/overdose-fentanyl-drugs-addiction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">died</a> from a drug overdose, with many of the deaths being related to fentanyl poisoning. 
Gallagher said that the Biden administration needed to be doing more to push China to crack down on the illicit fentanyl coming out of its country and into the United States. 
“For years, China has been the fentanyl factory of the world, and for years Xi Jinping has pledged to do something about it,” Gallagher told Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro. “But that hasn&#8217;t happened. The Biden administration wants us to believe that another verbal commitment from Xi and more so-called task forces will finally stem the deadly tide of precursor production from China. But are we really to believe that the most powerful techno-totalitarian state in human history couldn&#8217;t stop this plague in a heartbeat if it wanted to?”
<h3><a class="c-link" href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fentanyl-america-s-silent-epidemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fentanyl-america-s-silent-epidemic" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-1928">WATCH: Fentanyl: America’s Silent Epidemic</a></h3>
Gallagher proposed that one way to combat the drugs would be to crack down on the money laundering that fuels the industry, as well as going after payment processors that allow drug trafficking payments. He also suggested putting sanctions on port operators and the shipping companies that facilitate fentanyl trafficking into the United States. 
“But even that, I think, will not be effective unless we secure our southern border,” he said. “If we are not strong at the southern border, districts like mine are going to continue to be effectively border districts, and sons, daughters, parents are going to suffer as a result of this ongoing fentanyl crisis we face in America.”
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Newhouse has proposed policies that would make Narcan, a treatment that can help reverse a drug overdose, available in all schools. He also proposed adjusting the law so that all fentanyl-related substances are classified as a Schedule One drug, meaning they can be targeted for stiffer punishments. In January, he <a href="https://newhouse.house.gov/issues/fentanyl-crisis#:~:text=I%20have%20also%20introduced%20the,and%20out%20of%20our%20neighborhoods.">introduced</a> a bill called the &#8220;Save Americans from the Fentanyl Emergency Act&#8221; to upgrade the classification of all fentanyl-related substances. He said the current system allows drug cartels to bypass current laws by using a different combination of substances that aren’t technically fentanyl. 
&#8220;And so prosecutors who are trying to nail dealers for selling illegal substances are faced with a much higher burden of proof,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If we can regulate that by including all fentanyl-related substances under a Schedule One classification, that will eliminate that problem and reduce the amount of time we can it takes to prosecute and convict drug dealers.&#8221;

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman Announces Large Heroin Bust

GOP Lawmakers Explain Two-Pronged Strategy They Would Take To End The Fentanyl Crisis

Biden Administration

China

Congress

DailyWire+

Politics

Southern Border

China is the main driver behind fentanyl being smuggled into the United States by Mexican drug cartels, according to investigative journalist and author Peter Schweizer.
Schweizer, author of “Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans,” discussed the crisis on “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fentanyl-america-s-silent-epidemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fentanyl: America’s Silent Epidemic</a>,” part of a DailyWire+ series by Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro on The Divided States of Biden. The author said the fentanyl trade that contributes to tens of thousands of American deaths every year begins in China. 
“They’re the senior partner. The drug cartels are really the junior partner in the fentanyl trade,” Schweizer told Shapiro, speaking of the Chinese regime led by President Xi Jinping.
Ninety percent of fentanyl precursor chemicals shipped from China to Mexico arrive via Mexico’s Port of Manzanillo. The port is run by a Chinese company, according to Schweizer. From the port, the chemicals are taken to a town in northern Mexico close to the U.S. border. About 2,000 Chinese workers work in cartel labs to craft the precursor chemicals into fentanyl and then the fentanyl into pills resembling common drugs such as Vicodin or Adderall.
“Now the drug cartels want to distribute their product in the United States. What do they do? They use Chinese apps. They use Chinese communications devices because they know that China will not share that information with U.S. law enforcement,” Schweizer said.
Money from the drug trade is then laundered through the Chinese financial system.
“The Mexican drug cartels now launder their money in Chinese state-owned banks, and, according to our government, they use Chinese students in the United States on education visas to do this,” Schweizer said.
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China will continue to fuel the fentanyl trade in the United States until U.S. political leadership decides to make China feel real consequences from participating in it, according to Schweizer.
“We need to start looking at punitive actions we can take to damage them. I’m generally a free trade guy, but do you want to have free trade with somebody who is poisoning your citizens in such a systematic way? I don’t think so,” he said. “We’ve got to get tough and we’ve got to make clear: you are going to suffer consequences and real damage until you stop doing this to our people.”

China Is The ‘Senior Partner’ Directing The Fentanyl Crisis Killing Americans, Author Peter Schweizer Says

Cartels

Drug Cartels

Mexico

Peter Schweizer

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO, claimed during an interview that aired on Sunday that he has ended corruption in Mexico and that the hundreds of political assassinations that are carried out every year in his country are not a threat to democracy.
AMLO made the claims during a &#8220;60 Minutes&#8221; interview about the crisis on the U.S. southern border and about the Mexican drug cartels.
The left-wing news program noted that AMLO takes a &#8220;bare knuckle brawls with the press&#8221; which it said was in &#8220;sharp contrast to the softer approach he&#8217;s taken with the drug cartels.&#8221;
AMLO claimed that his &#8220;hugs not bullets&#8221; method for dealing with the cartels has worked out &#8220;very well,&#8221; even though violence remains high and the cartels have grown in size.
When asked about the more than 30,000 murders that happen in Mexico every year, AMLO claimed that the Mexican government prosecuted &#8220;all&#8221; of the cases, even though only around 5% are actually prosecuted.
AMLO deflected blame for the role his country has played in the fentanyl crisis in the United States since nearly all of the illicit fentanyl that ends up killing Americans is manufactured by cartels in Mexico.
&#8220;Fentanyl is produced in the United States, in Canada, and in Mexico,&#8221; he claimed, ignoring the fact that the illicit fentanyl used in street drugs comes from his country. &#8220;And the chemical precursors come from Asia. You know why we don&#8217;t have the drug consumption that you have in the United States? Because we have customs, traditions, and we don&#8217;t have the problem of the disintegration of the family.&#8221;
He also falsely claimed that drug consumption in Mexico was not a problem.
When asked if he has &#8220;completely&#8221; eliminated &#8220;corruption&#8221; in Mexico, AMLO claimed: &#8220;Yes, basically, because corruption in Mexico started from the top down.&#8221;
&#8220;60 Minutes&#8221; noted that independent organizations have found there has been &#8220;no improvement in the corruption problems that have plagued Mexico for decades&#8221; under AMLO.
When asked about the 355 government officials and political candidates who were murdered last year in his country, he downplayed the matter, saying there were only &#8220;some specific instances.&#8221;
He said that the assassinations posed no threat to democracy.
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador: The 60 Minutes Interview" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/04WBPile_lA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

President Lopez Obrador Meets Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

AMLO Claims He Ended Corruption In Mexico, Not Worried About Hundreds Of Political Assassinations

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

Corruption

Democracy

On Sunday night on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of Mexico, explained that Mexico is going to continue to give the United States the runaround, on everything from mass illegal immigration being facilitated by the drug cartels across America through the southern border, to the importation of literally tons of fentanyl, which is killing over 100,000 Americans every single year.
It&#8217;s very clear that Mexico has been giving the United States the runaround. Even a senior fellow at the Left-wing Brookings Institution  — who directs the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors and the Brookings series ”The Opioid Crisis in America: Domestic and International Dimensions” — <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/china-mexico-and-americas-fight-against-the-fentanyl-epidemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said last week</a>,  “Mexico eviscerated cooperation to a bare minimum because President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration has been unwilling and uninterested in mounting any serious law enforcement policy toward Mexican criminal groups.”
It&#8217;s important to understand that Mexico is run by the drug cartels that bring in all the revenue. They kill anyone who gets in their way. They control the entirety of the length of the southern border of the United States.
I have visited that border, and I can confirm they are flying Mexican drug cartel drones above American territory because they control the border.
According to that Brookings Institute representative, “Mexico continues to calculate that it can get away with only sporadic, minimal, and inadequate counternarcotics collaboration as long as it leverages its ability to hamper or permit the flow of undocumented migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border and as long as the United States depends on it for migration control.”
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1932-isis-attacks-moscow-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
Obrador was asked if the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was wrong in saying that the drug cartels were mass-producing fentanyl and if the State Department was wrong in saying most of the fentanyl was coming out of Mexico.
He answered that the DEA and the State Department were, indeed, wrong, then added, “Or rather, they don’t have all the information because fentanyl is also produced in the United States. … Fentanyl is produced in the United States, in Canada, and in Mexico. And the chemical precursors come from Asia.”
He&#8217;s lying. The vast majority of fentanyl is being trafficked across America&#8217;s southern border. The cartels are in league with China, who is sending the precursor chemicals for fentanyl creation to Mexico.
They used to pour pure, uncut fentanyl into Mexico for it to then be trafficked across the southern American border. But the United States put a bit of pressure on China under the Trump administration, and the Chinese government decided they were going to send precursors instead. They would use a legal fiction that would send all the ingredients, process all of it in Mexico, and then press it into pill form. That pill form doesn&#8217;t always look like fentanyl pills; sometimes it looks like drugs such as Adderall, which is why you&#8217;re seeing people who are being poisoned by fentanyl.
Obrador was asked, “What would happen to the U.S. if they closed the border?”
“You would not be able to buy inexpensive cars if the border is closed,” he answered. “That is, you would have to pay $10,000, $15,000, more for a car. There are factories in Mexico and there are factories in the United States that are fundamental for all the consumers in the United States and all the consumers in Mexico.”
When he says the United States can&#8217;t shut the border, what he is referring to is the flow of cars across the border. That is not the same thing as the United States being unable to stop the illegal migration across the border.
What the drug cartels are doing right now, as we saw in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/invasion-on-the-southern-border" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the first episode</a> of our series “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-divided-states-of-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Divided States of Biden</a>,” is dropping off hundreds of illegal immigrants at weigh stations in the desert, waiting for Border Patrol to congregate at those stations, and then sending people with backpacks filled with fentanyl over the border into the United States.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fentanyl-america-s-silent-epidemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: &#8220;The Divided States of Biden&#8221; on DailyWire+</a></h4>
We examine all of this in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fentanyl-america-s-silent-epidemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the second episode</a> of the series, which is a groundbreaking piece of investigative work. We investigate everything from the Chinese-Mexican-American trafficking relationship to the fentanyl crisis in Kensington, an area of Philadelphia.
This is on Joe Biden. Our wide-open southern border is on Joe Biden. He&#8217;s not using leverage against the Mexican government. He&#8217;s not doing anything.
How do we know this? Because Obrador said that in order for him to stop the illegal immigration wave across the southern border, he wants the United States to commit $20 billion a year to poor countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, to lift all sanctions on Venezuela (a communist regime), end the embargo on Cuba (another communist regime), and legalize anyone who&#8217;s an illegal immigrant living in the United States.
He&#8217;s now holding up — at point of fentanyl gun — the United States.
And Joe Biden is doing nothing about it.

Lopez Obrador Daily Morning Press Conference

Joe Biden Is Being Played By The Mexican Government

60 Minutes

Opinion

Readers Pass

Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro visited one of America’s forgotten cities devastated by the fentanyl crisis to speak with family members of people who have died from drug overdoses in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fentanyl-america-s-silent-epidemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest episode</a> of his docu-series, “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-divided-states-of-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Divided States of Biden</a>.” 
In the episode, Shapiro traveled to Camden, New Jersey, a city that has been completely ravaged by drugs, overdose deaths, and homelessness. He spoke with those who have been negatively impacted and why advocates are demanding that the Biden administration do more to fight the spread of fentanyl throughout America. 
“In the heart of America&#8217;s towns and cities, a silent crisis brews, one that knows no boundaries, spares no community, and leaves a trail of devastation in its wake,” Shapiro said. “The fentanyl crisis has become America&#8217;s deadliest drug epidemic, claiming lives with unprecedented potency and stealth. Behind the statistics lie the real stories of loss and despair, and a growing sense of abandonment by those who know that Joe Biden and his administration have not done nearly enough to protect American citizens.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
China sends it to Mexico. The Mexican drug cartels move it across our border. 100,000+ Americans die of fentanyl poisoning every year &#8211; it kills more Americans 18-45 than any other cause. This is the on-the-ground story of America’s silent epidemic &#8211; an act of war against the… <a href="https://t.co/nml57CtMJw">pic.twitter.com/nml57CtMJw</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1772299767428620460?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The episode “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fentanyl-america-s-silent-epidemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fentanyl: America’s Silent Epidemic</a>” features interviews with advocates, lawmakers, and investigators who have dug into the worsening crisis. It was released on Sunday on DailyWire+. 
Fentanyl overdoses have skyrocketed in recent years, rising from just 3,000 in 2013 to more than 73,000 in 2022. Death by fentanyl overdose is, by many estimates, the leading cause of death for those ages 18 to 45. To get a firsthand look at the crisis, Shapiro went to Kensington Avenue in Camden, where drug use is rampant and out in the open. Shapiro said that once someone enters the area, “all hell breaks loose.” 
“It&#8217;s just miles of drug addicts, people who are missing limbs and toes and fingers,” Shapiro said. “You&#8217;re seeing people who are bent over at the waist because the drugs have done such horrific things to their body they&#8217;re not capable of standing up straight. It looks like something out of ‘The Walking Dead.’”
<h3><a class="c-link" href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fentanyl-america-s-silent-epidemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fentanyl-america-s-silent-epidemic" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-1928">WATCH: Fentanyl: America’s Silent Epidemic</a></h3>
During the episode, Shapiro spoke with several women who lost family members to drug overdoses. They are now advocates for cracking down on those who distribute illicit drugs and called on the Biden administration to do more to shut down the flow of drugs coming over the U.S. southern border. 
April Babcock, whose son Austen died of fentanyl poisoning, said Biden’s border policies are a “punch” to her face. 
“I thought the sitting president is supposed to put Americans first,” she told Shapiro. “He has given operational control to the Mexican cartels. That&#8217;s exactly what he&#8217;s done.”
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Shapiro agreed, saying that decisive action was needed to stop the flow of fentanyl across the border. 
“It&#8217;s simply not in China&#8217;s and Mexico&#8217;s interest to stop the fentanyl trafficking, which means that absent strong American action, nothing is going to get done,” Shapiro said. “Solutions like increased funding for detection technology at our border or say, you know, shutting down the border itself haven&#8217;t been tried either. All of this information leads to the same conclusion: Joe Biden is unserious about fentanyl, and people are dying in unprecedented numbers because of it.”

Screen Shot 2024-03-18 at 1.19.04 PM

Ben Shapiro Shows How Biden Has Made Fentanyl Crisis Worse In New Docu-Series Episode

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