Every single day, Americans are dying  on American soil. 

Since fentanyl overdoses began to rise, we’ve witnessed a staggering and relentless loss of life. Nearly 200 Americans—brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, judges, police officers, the wealthy, the poor, even the healthiest among us—die every single day from accidental fentanyl poisoning.

There are no socioeconomic boundaries.
There are no limits to these acts of deliberate killing.

And yet, this lethal substance continues to flow across our borders with virtually no response from a nation as powerful and proud as ours. Why?

These cartels are knowingly targeting and eliminating American lives, and it appears we are knowingly allowing it—almost inviting their murderous endeavors.

How many more Americans must die before we take a stand?

We have sent billions of dollars to defend Ukraine—yet we ignore the fact that more lives have been lost to fentanyl on U.S. soil than in that war. We are on pace to lose over 100,000 Americans this year alone.

That is more than we lose to COVID.
More than cancer.
More than suicide, homicide, or car accidents.

And yet, these cartels face zero consequences.

Meanwhile, we imprison our own—young people who may have unknowingly shared a counterfeit pill with a friend. These are not hardened criminals or drug lords. They are peers, sons and daughters, often caught up in a system that punishes the wrong people.

One overdose can launch a costly, exhausting investigation that locks up citizens for years, while the true architects of this crisis grow rich and emboldened.

This is not a problem of misguided users.
This is not a problem of low-level distributors.
This is a national security crisis.

It is terrorism.

These organizations are operating with the intent to poison and destabilize the United States. They are exploiting our borders, killing our citizens, and growing in power and wealth while we hesitate to act.

The U.S. must not show the world that it is willing to tolerate this slow-motion slaughter.

Section 802 of the USA PATRIOT Act defines domestic terrorism as acts dangerous to human life that violate criminal laws, and appear intended to:

1. Intimidate or coerce a civilian population,

2. Influence government policy through intimidation or coercion, or

3. Affect government conduct through mass destruction or assassination.

 

If knowingly killing 100,000 Americans annually does not qualify, what does?

Imagine the horror of 9/11 repeated twenty times every year.
You don’t have to imagine.
It’s happening.

The cartels responsible must be officially designated as what they are:
Terrorist organizations.

As of now, only 21 of our 50 states have formally acknowledged this threat. Even Alaska has taken action. The rest must open their eyes.

To those in Washington, and to every elected official in this nation: How many more Americans must die before you act?

This is not a call to criminalize our citizens.
It is a call to protect them.
It is a demand to defend our borders.
It is a plea to value American life.

We know the source.
We know the consequences.
Now we must act.