Secretary of State Blinken: No quick solution to fentanyl crisis, but US is leading the fight
In addition to its clear and present threat to public health, the synthetic drug crisis also is an urgent foreign policy challenge that requires U.S. leadership to rally a global response.
Synthetic drugs are linked to more deaths of Americans ages 18 to 49 than any other cause. Last year, nearly 110,000 Americans died of a drug overdose – with more than two-thirds of those deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Far too many families and communities have experienced the immeasurable pain of this loss, as this crisis increasingly touches every corner of our country.
The United States is far from alone, however. Every region across the globe is experiencing an alarming rise in synthetic drugs: from tramadol in Africa, to fake Captagon pills in the Middle East, to ketamine and methamphetamine in Asia.
The synthetic drug crisis is a global problem – one no country can solve alone. The criminal organizations trafficking drugs are extremely effective at finding and exploiting gaps in our interconnected world. When one country restricts a precursor chemical used to manufacture fentanyl, traffickers buy it elsewhere. When one country closes off a transit route, traffickers shift to another.
In addition to its clear and present threat to public health, the synthetic drug crisis also is an urgent foreign policy challenge that requires U.S. leadership to rally a global response.
The U.S. State Department is deploying the full force of our diplomatic power to ensure that the world is working together on coordinated strategies and practical solutions, and ultimately, reducing the devastating effects of synthetic drugs on the American people.
Global coalition is working to stop drug trafficking
Last month, I launched the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, a group of more than 95 countries and regional and international organizations focused on confronting this crisis by stopping illegal drug manufacturing and trafficking, detecting new and emerging drugs, preventing and reducing drug use, and supporting recovery.
The coalition’s work is well underway.
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With Mexico, we’ve set up new ways to make sure our law enforcement teams are partnering more closely and effectively, including through better information sharing about criminal organizations and traffickers. We're supporting Mexico as it digitally monitors legal chemical precursors coming into the country, so we can detect – and stop – those chemicals from being diverted for illicit purposes. And we're deploying new technology at the U.S-Mexico border, where more than 80% of the fentanyl that was seized coming in from Mexico last year passed through legal ports of entry.
We’re advancing similar efforts with other partners in every region around the world and enlisting new partners, in and out of government. We’re working with countries that manufacture chemical precursors to prevent their diversion to the illicit production of opioids.
This year, I hosted the first ever Cities Summit of the Americas in Denver, where we brought together more than 250 mayors, as well as thousands of other local leaders from across the hemisphere, to tackle the fentanyl epidemic and other shared challenges.
During one meeting, officials from Denver’s crime lab shared how they track new synthetic drugs and overdoses in their community. Counterparts from cities across our hemisphere then shared their own experiences – such as how to use rapid testing technology to detect the emergence of drugs and the best ways to enact public health solutions like fentanyl test strips, Narcan and mental health counseling to help those in need.
That’s precisely the kind of collaboration we plan to scale with this coalition.
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I’ll reconvene coalition members in New York City on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in September. We welcome all countries who want to contribute to international solutions to this challenge to join the coalition.
As we deepen and broaden global cooperation, the U.S. government will continue our work at home. We’ll keep deploying investments to strengthen substance abuse prevention and treatment efforts.
And we’ll keep bolstering our law enforcement efforts, which helped the Drug Enforcement Administration to seize twice as many fentanyl-laced pills last year than it did in 2021.
There are no quick solutions to ending this crisis – it will require sustained commitment and effort. But by working with the world, we are taking concrete steps that can help save the lives of our fellow citizens.
Antony J. Blinken is the U.S. secretary of State.