Local leaders banding together to try to combat fentanyl

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. – Local leaders are banding together to take aim at a killer.

A new report says fentanyl deaths in the US have skyrocketed 1,000 percent in 5 years. Now there’s a new push to banish it from our borders.

At 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin, just a few grains of fentanyl can be fatal.

“Just last year the US Customs and Border Patrol seized 110 pounds of fentanyl at the port of Philadelphia. 110 pounds. That’s enough to kill every man woman and child in Pennsylvania. Twice,“ US Senator Pat Toomey said.

To stem the tide of illegal fentanyl imports, Toomey has co-sponsored legislation to penalize countries that don’t take appropriate action to keep the deadly drug from flowing across US borders.

“While China is the principal producer a lot of the fentanyl all that is coming into this country is also coming in from Mexico,“ Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said.

Lehigh and Northampton County law enforcement leaders say the legislation is just one piece of the equation.

“The United States is indeed facing its worse public health crisis in almost a generation,“ Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez said.

Officials say treatment, prevention, mental health care and law enforcement support are also key.

Toomey says without the cooperation of foreign governments, stopping the illegal imports is near impossible.

Drug dealers often tweak fentanyl formulas to avoid prosecution.

Toomey says establishing a class of drugs like fentanyl and cutting aid to non-compliant countries will work.

Although China does not get aid, “they do get export import bank financing for acquisitions of various American products that would end if China is deemed to be insufficiently cooperative in this effort,“ Toomey said.

Toomey says he expects the bill to be passed later this year.