Grieving parents and a top former drug agent warned Congress on Wednesday of a major disconnect between the risk of fentanyl overdoses and the level of awareness in America, but lawmakers didn’t agree on the right way to thwart trafficking and the drug threat.
Erin Rachwal, whose 19-year-old son, Logan, died from fentanyl in February 2021, told members of the House Judiciary Committee she meets “way too many parents” who are unaware of the synthetic opioid and its presence in fake pills, which can kill with one dose.
“Unfortunately, we have met way too many parents who have lost children to this deadly poison. They were all unaware, as we also were,” she told lawmakers. “These kids are not able to learn from their mistakes as they once used to.”
With fentanyl driving an overdose problem that kills over 100,000 Americans per year, members of the House Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Surveillance agreed that inaction is not an option.
Yet the lawmakers were divided on whether get-tough criminal penalties are the answer as opposed to expanded treatment, plus if lax border policies are to blame or if most drugs are smuggled by U.S. citizens through normal ports of entry.
Rep. Troy Nehls, Texas Republican, said he agrees with former President Donald Trump’s push to implement the death penalty on fentanyl traffickers.
“If you start strapping a few of these ruthless bastards to a gurney and start filling them with the same drug they were selling to kill Americans, it would bring me a great deal of satisfaction,” Mr. Nehls said.
He was responding to Dr. Jeffrey A. Singer, a senior fellow in health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute who warned lawmakers about the “iron law” of drug use and trafficking in which tougher laws often push dealers to deal deadlier substances.
“The harder the law enforcement, the harder the drug,” he said.
He pointed to the emergence of xylazine, an animal tranquilizer that is added to opioids, and a powerful synthetic opioid — known as nitazene — as proof that traffickers will adapt.
Democrats on Wednesday said they cannot incarcerate and punish their way out of the overdose problem, adding that the focus needs to be on the treatment of addiction so there is no longer demand.
For now, Congress is grappling with a push to permanently schedule fentanyl-related substances, or FRS, on the Schedule I list of drugs that have a high risk of abuse so manufacturers and dealers recognize that every illicit form of the deadly drug is banned.
President Biden wants Congress to send him a bill that does just that before temporary scheduling expires in December 2024. However, Democrats, including the administration, want to exempt quantity-related fentanyl offenses from mandatory criminal penalties, saying judges need flexibility in sentencing offenders.
GOP lawmakers say that would make the rules toothless and defeat the purpose.
Dr. Timothy Westlake, an emergency physician, said classwide scheduling of fentanyl-related substances would not stop drug use but would let chemical companies know there is no legal justification for making new fentanyl substances.
“There is a time and a place for criminal-justice reform, but FRS scheduling is neither,” he said.
Ms. Rachwal urged lawmakers not to be distracted by worries about excessive punishment.
“I’m going to ask you, how can you focus on the theoretical rights of criminals over the rights of our children?” she said.
In dissent, Dr. Singer said scheduling wouldn’t solve much.
“Placing a drug on Schedule I won’t deter drug cartels. Heroin’s been on Schedule I for more than 50 years; it’s not deterred heroin trafficking. There’s no evidence that placing fentanyl analogs on Schedule I drugs will work any better to reduce overdose deaths,” he said.
He also looked askance at efforts to implement the death penalty for traffickers, saying most dealers are more concerned about being killed by a rival than law-enforcement action.
Concerns that get-tough actions could backfire resonated across the Capitol.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said that he supported an effort decades ago to stiffen penalties for crack cocaine, though it didn’t work out.
“The price of the drug on the street went down, the usage went up and we filled federal prisons primarily with African American prisoners. It backfired on us. I don’t want to make that same mistake when it comes to fentanyl,” Mr. Durbin told Attorney General Merrick Garland at a Justice Department oversight hearing.
As a senior lawmaker who holds a committee gavel, Mr. Durbin’s reticence may impact the debate over scheduling and mandatory minimums as Congress pursues a solution.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas Democrat, said her most pressing concern is the rate of counterfeit pills that have fentanyl in them, particularly because teenagers tend to use them. She asked witnesses to appraise the level of fentanyl awareness in America.
Ms. Rachwal said she spoke to 120 young people this week and “over half of the room had never heard about fentanyl.”
An even greater share never heard about naloxone, an opioid overdose-reversing drug.
She urged lawmakers to consider an all-of-the-above approach that includes an aggressive awareness campaign.
“We have to hit it at all angles,” she said.
Derek Maltz, a retired special agent who used to run the DEA’s special operations division, said the administration hasn’t been aggressive enough.
“Mental illness is on the rise, and kids are sadly turning to these pills for help. They’re using social media platforms to get what they need; it’s as simple as ordering food,” he testified. “Why can’t the White House team up with professional athletes and celebrities to get video reels to the kids on social media? Because that’s what they’ll see and that’s what they’ll respond to.”
The panel also struggled to find agreement on the source of the problem. Democrats said U.S. citizens generally are the ones who bring the drugs into the country through points of entry, rather than through migrants crossing into the country illegally via the desert.
Rep. Andy Biggs, Arizona Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Surveillance, said Democrats are too quick to ignore drugs that are sneaked across the border. He said many traffickers are slipping through corridors in his home state.
“They walk it through the gaping unguarded holes in our border,” Mr. Biggs said.
Mr. Maltz said Mr. Biden’s push for increased scrutiny at ports of entry would be helpful but ultimately the U.S. will need to get tough with Mexican cartels at the source. He said the Mexican government hasn’t been a willing partner.
“In my view, fentanyl is a chemical weapon, and the narco-terrorists in Mexico are destroying our country,” he said. “They need to be held accountable even if it means using our U.S. military.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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