In the Jan. 10 issue of The Gazette, Delaware County Treasurer Donald E, Rankey Jr. wrote: “Ohio’s sanctimonious Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown “prattled on about his efforts to protect Ohio from fentanyl trafficking.” He said, further, that “the primary reason that we have a fentanyl epidemic in this country … is our porous southern border.”
First, some facts about the “porous southern border” in relation to fentanyl trafficking:
• 90% of fentanyl seizures occurred in legal ports of entry.
• 88% of fentanyl traffickers are U.S. citizens who obtain their fentanyl materials in high class tourist areas of Mexico, not through border asylum seekers.
• Only 0.02% of people arrested by Border Patrol crossing illegally into the United States possessed fentanyl.
These facts are on public record in the Brookings Institute testimony on July 19, 2023, before the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security.
Rankey disparages Sen. Brown’s “word-salad press releases” – but let’s look at that original press release, from last May, 2023:
“U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), the committee’s ranking member, highlight the rapidly growing support for the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act.” Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) of the Senate Committee on Armed Services also co-sponsored this bill.
Other Republican sponsors include Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations James E. Risch (R-ID) and Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), John Kennedy (R-LA), Bill Hagerty(R-TN), Cynthia Lummis, (R-WY), Steve Daines (R-MT), Katie Britt (R-AL), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Susan Collins (R-ME), and JD Vance (R-OH)!
Major national organizations also support Brown’s bold initiative, including:
The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence: “(AATOD), representing more than 1,300 Opioid Treatment Programs in the United States, expresses its strong support for Senator Tim Scott and Sherrod Brown’s FEND Off Fentanyl Act. (…) By giving law enforcement and regulators greater authority to sanction transnational criminal organizations involved in production of fentanyl precursors and trafficking fentanyl into the U.S., the FEND OFF Fentanyl Act would help treatment providers and individuals with Fentanyl Use Disorder by reducing overdose deaths so that evidence-based opioid treatment programs can help people stop drug use and return to work, family and their communities on their path to recovery.”
Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police: “Senators Tim Scott and Sherrod Brown have developed a comprehensive approach that codifies an existing Executive Order giving the President broad authority to attack fentanyl trafficking by using all the resources of the United States.”
Sheriff Jim Skinner, Collin County, TX (National Sheriffs’ Association): “Sheriffs across the country… praise Senators Scott, Brown, Reed and Wicker for their leadership and this legislation that would help stop the flow of this deadly drug.”
Ohio is blessed that Sen. Brown is such a strong bipartisan leader.
Jon R. Powers
Delaware
