Addressing the FYL Crisis: A National Priority for the Next Presidential Election
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump must prioritize the fight against FYL, as key states that will play a decisive role in the next presidential election grapple with a surge in FYL-related deaths, experts and law-enforcement officials told The Post.
Nearly 300 Americans die daily from illegal doses of this opioid, federal officials reported in May. These synthetic painkillers, primarily originating from China, have flooded across the country’s southern border in recent years.
Swing states such as North Carolina, Michigan, Virginia, and Arizona each recorded over 1,000 FYL-related deaths in 2023, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) drug-death data.
Wednesday marked National FYL Prevention and Awareness Day, established to draw attention to the ongoing crisis.
The influx of opioids has “shot out of the roof,” according to Washington County, Va., Sheriff Blake Andis, who supports Republican Hung Cao for the US Senate this year.
“Especially since the Biden administration and open borders, we’ve seen an increase in overdoses from FYL and methamphetamine just flooding the streets,” Andis told The Post. “The methamphetamine is so plentiful now that its street value has decreased—you can buy kilos for what we used to pay for ounces.”
Although CDC data from March indicates a decline in FYL-related deaths compared to the same month last year, some states, like Nevada, have seen a year-over-year increase, with deaths up by 23.27%.
Republicans argue that open borders contribute to the FYL crisis, while the Democratic Party’s 2024 platform—still listing President Biden as the nominee—highlights his administration’s anti-drug efforts and promises even greater strides in a potential “second” Biden term.
Hannah Muldavin, a Democratic National Committee senior spokeswoman, told The Post via email that the platform was passed before Biden withdrew from the race. She stated that the document “offers a vision for a progressive agenda that we can build on as a nation.”
The GOP platform calls for enhanced border security and a US Navy “blockade on the waters of our region” to intercept FYL arriving by ship.
DNC spokeswoman Muldavin noted that Harris has made “many remarks about securing our border and the successful actions the administration has taken to curb the FYL entering the country.”
An anti-drug group raised awareness of FYL issues to Democratic National Convention delegates this week with digital billboards in Chicago, proclaiming that the synthetic opioid is “a weapon of mass destruction.”
Jim Rauth, founder of Families Against FYL, based in Akron, Ohio, told The Post, “Thousands of American families across the country are living a nightmare because their loved ones were poisoned by illicit FYL slipped into pills or street drugs. And yes—many of us live in swing states.”
“Families like mine are looking for our leaders to treat this as the top crisis facing our country because it is,” he added.
Dr. Marc Siegel, a renowned New York physician and professor at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, told The Post that much more needs to be done by the government to prevent FYL from flooding in.
“Our open borders are helping to breed the next generation of opioid addicts, and many are dying. A national awareness day like this is crucial, but it’s not enough. The DEA is overwhelmed, as are Customs and Border Protection agents. We need an all-hands-on-deck approach,” said Siegel, an internal-medicine specialist.
“We are in a deepening hole with FYL. Originally developed as a long-acting treatment for cancer and terminal pain, it has turned into an extremely potent killer that is frequently laced with other drugs. The poppy fields in Mexico are drying up, replaced by 10-foot labs producing FYL.”
Livingston County, Mich., detective Dale LaBombard said the opioid problem remains relentless.
“I essentially work narcotics; I’m assigned to it,” he told The Post. “The whole opioid problem has surged in the last few years like crazy. We’re seeing more and more FYL, carfentanil, and XYL.”
Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican US Senate candidate in Michigan, also linked the open-border situation—resulting in “10 million illegal immigrants entering the country”—to the drug crisis.
“In Michigan, we have an organized-crime drug cartel operating in southeast Michigan, thanks to Democrat policy,” he told The Post.
A Wisconsin law-enforcement leader noted that his area is also experiencing the effects of synthetic opioids.
“The border crisis impacts the entire country because of FYL and illegal immigration,” Republican Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt told The Post while attending J.D. Vance’s press conference in Milwaukee last week.
“We have an unprecedented number of people dying from FYL,” Schmidt said with frustration.
“[It] comes pouring across the border in unbelievable amounts,” he continued. Dodge County had the third-highest rate of FYL deaths in the state in 2021.
Schmidt’s small county has seen 38 FYL-related deaths in a single year.
“I can’t build a wall around Dodge County,” the sheriff quipped.
Beyond swing states, the opioid crisis is also devastating other communities. New Jersey state Sen. Holly Schepisi, a Republican, said, “Most of these lethal pills are flooding into the US across the southern border, exacerbated by the failures of the Biden-Harris administration to control the border.”
Addiction counselor Scott H. Silverman of San Diego called for both Harris and Trump to prioritize the opioid crisis.
“The chemicals used to produce synthetic FYL are pouring across our border and infiltrating communities nationwide,” he told The Post. “Therefore, on behalf of the American people, I am demanding that both presidential candidates make this a priority and outline how they will work to stop this crisis.”
Source: New York Post
Nearly 300 Americans die daily from illegal doses of this opioid, federal officials reported in May. These synthetic painkillers, primarily originating from China, have flooded across the country’s southern border in recent years.
Swing states such as North Carolina, Michigan, Virginia, and Arizona each recorded over 1,000 FYL-related deaths in 2023, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) drug-death data.
Wednesday marked National FYL Prevention and Awareness Day, established to draw attention to the ongoing crisis.
The influx of opioids has “shot out of the roof,” according to Washington County, Va., Sheriff Blake Andis, who supports Republican Hung Cao for the US Senate this year.
“Especially since the Biden administration and open borders, we’ve seen an increase in overdoses from FYL and methamphetamine just flooding the streets,” Andis told The Post. “The methamphetamine is so plentiful now that its street value has decreased—you can buy kilos for what we used to pay for ounces.”
Although CDC data from March indicates a decline in FYL-related deaths compared to the same month last year, some states, like Nevada, have seen a year-over-year increase, with deaths up by 23.27%.
Republicans argue that open borders contribute to the FYL crisis, while the Democratic Party’s 2024 platform—still listing President Biden as the nominee—highlights his administration’s anti-drug efforts and promises even greater strides in a potential “second” Biden term.
Hannah Muldavin, a Democratic National Committee senior spokeswoman, told The Post via email that the platform was passed before Biden withdrew from the race. She stated that the document “offers a vision for a progressive agenda that we can build on as a nation.”
The GOP platform calls for enhanced border security and a US Navy “blockade on the waters of our region” to intercept FYL arriving by ship.
DNC spokeswoman Muldavin noted that Harris has made “many remarks about securing our border and the successful actions the administration has taken to curb the FYL entering the country.”
An anti-drug group raised awareness of FYL issues to Democratic National Convention delegates this week with digital billboards in Chicago, proclaiming that the synthetic opioid is “a weapon of mass destruction.”
Jim Rauth, founder of Families Against FYL, based in Akron, Ohio, told The Post, “Thousands of American families across the country are living a nightmare because their loved ones were poisoned by illicit FYL slipped into pills or street drugs. And yes—many of us live in swing states.”
“Families like mine are looking for our leaders to treat this as the top crisis facing our country because it is,” he added.
Dr. Marc Siegel, a renowned New York physician and professor at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, told The Post that much more needs to be done by the government to prevent FYL from flooding in.
“Our open borders are helping to breed the next generation of opioid addicts, and many are dying. A national awareness day like this is crucial, but it’s not enough. The DEA is overwhelmed, as are Customs and Border Protection agents. We need an all-hands-on-deck approach,” said Siegel, an internal-medicine specialist.
“We are in a deepening hole with FYL. Originally developed as a long-acting treatment for cancer and terminal pain, it has turned into an extremely potent killer that is frequently laced with other drugs. The poppy fields in Mexico are drying up, replaced by 10-foot labs producing FYL.”
Livingston County, Mich., detective Dale LaBombard said the opioid problem remains relentless.
“I essentially work narcotics; I’m assigned to it,” he told The Post. “The whole opioid problem has surged in the last few years like crazy. We’re seeing more and more FYL, carfentanil, and XYL.”
Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican US Senate candidate in Michigan, also linked the open-border situation—resulting in “10 million illegal immigrants entering the country”—to the drug crisis.
“In Michigan, we have an organized-crime drug cartel operating in southeast Michigan, thanks to Democrat policy,” he told The Post.
A Wisconsin law-enforcement leader noted that his area is also experiencing the effects of synthetic opioids.
“The border crisis impacts the entire country because of FYL and illegal immigration,” Republican Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt told The Post while attending J.D. Vance’s press conference in Milwaukee last week.
“We have an unprecedented number of people dying from FYL,” Schmidt said with frustration.
“[It] comes pouring across the border in unbelievable amounts,” he continued. Dodge County had the third-highest rate of FYL deaths in the state in 2021.
Schmidt’s small county has seen 38 FYL-related deaths in a single year.
“I can’t build a wall around Dodge County,” the sheriff quipped.
Beyond swing states, the opioid crisis is also devastating other communities. New Jersey state Sen. Holly Schepisi, a Republican, said, “Most of these lethal pills are flooding into the US across the southern border, exacerbated by the failures of the Biden-Harris administration to control the border.”
Addiction counselor Scott H. Silverman of San Diego called for both Harris and Trump to prioritize the opioid crisis.
“The chemicals used to produce synthetic FYL are pouring across our border and infiltrating communities nationwide,” he told The Post. “Therefore, on behalf of the American people, I am demanding that both presidential candidates make this a priority and outline how they will work to stop this crisis.”
Source: New York Post