As illegal immigration and smuggling continues to plague the Southern border of the U.S., the contraband coming into the country is finding its way to Georgia, leading to thousands of overdose deaths.
Fentanyl is blamed for many of the deaths, and seizures of the drug this year have nearly doubled the amount confiscated in 2020, The Free Beacon reported, citing data from Customs and Border Protection. The drug has found its way to the state, and the Georgia Department of Public Health reported that opioid overdose deaths increased by 36 percent in 2020, according to the Georgia Sun.
“We’re seeing a great deal of fentanyl being used,” Dr. Dan McCollum, a physician at Augusta University Medical Center, told the Georgia Sun. “The scary thing is that it hits so fast. It can stop your breathing so quickly.’’
The Free Beacon reported that the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agency said that agents this year have confiscated nearly 10,000 pounds of fentanyl by late July, up from nearly 4,800 pounds taken during the entire year of 2020. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid often mixed with other drugs.
“Just about everything, from cocaine to meth to heroin, has fentanyl and [its derivative] carfentanil in it,’’ Neil Campbell, executive director of the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse, told the Georgia Sun. “There are some really dangerous chemicals out there that are killing people.’’
The same opioid troubles plaguing Georgia are being felt in other states. The Free Beacon reported that this led to a lawsuit filed by the state of West Virginia against the Department of Homeland Security over a decision by the Biden administration to end migrant protection protocols established by former President Donald Trump.
“By its consequences burdening and distracting the Border Patrol, the termination of the MPP decreases the security of the border against fentanyl trafficking between ports of entry, leading directly to both increased numbers of smuggling attempts and increased rates of success in evading Border Patrol,” the lawsuit said.
Immigration and smuggling issues at the border are having an impact on Georgia. Alive11 reported that Atlanta’s Drug Enforcement Administration Division said that the city has become a hub for East Coast drug trafficking.
In recent years, Atlanta has become a hot spot for drug trafficking because of its central location between the U.S. border with Mexico and the Eastern seaboard, including cities like New York and Philadelphia, according to the Alive11 report.
Amid these trends, the opioid problem continues to grow, with opioid overdoses making up 70 percent of 841,000 drug-related deaths in the United States over the last three decades, according to the Free Beacon, which noted 2021 is on track to set a record for drug overdoses.
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