Op-ed by Assemblyman Joe DeStefan
Albany, New York's Capital City, has seen a spike in overdose deaths from fentanyl and other deadly drugs pouring in from Mexico. The response from those in charge has been to open more treatment centers.
In a city dominated by Democrats in a state where the party controls every level of government, what no official is willing to address, from the governor on down, is the source of the drugs and what the members of their own party should do to cut off the supply.
The ingredients for fentanyl, a drug so powerful a mere speck can kill you, are manufactured in China and shipped to Mexico, where they are mixed into their lethal form. Because of President Biden's open border policy, it's an easy route right into the United States and then to Albany, NY, where the politicians are hustling to open more treatment centers. On the other side of the aisle, the Republicans scream, "Close the Border," but they are ignored as family after family is devastated by an overdose crisis of epic proportions.
The drugs pour in alongside immigrants who are responding to the Sanctuary invites by these very same politicians. The drug cartels know if they flood one part of a sector with migrants, another part will be wide open to walk the drugs in. It's a massive business netting the drug lords billions, all aided and abetted by the Biden administration and the silence of the Democrats. So much fentanyl is coming in that Texas authorities reported the seizure of enough of the drug since 2022 to kill every single American.
Yet we hear nothing from the Democrats–not a word demanding Biden to secure the border from U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, or any of their other colleagues on the federal, state, county, or local level. They lack either the courage to stand up to the White House or agree with the open border policy that is leading directly to the deaths of their constituents in record numbers.
Instead, the state's "Progressive" Democrats made the problem worse by enacting cashless bail laws and spewed enough anti-law enforcement and defund the police rhetoric to embolden drug dealers on every level. Under their bail deal, if you get caught with up to eight ounces of fentanyl–enough to kill a hundred thousand people–you walk, no questions asked. No one said anything about this at the grand opening of the newest treatment center just outside the capital in Troy.
For her part, Governor Hochul has "ramped up" messaging on initiatives meant to reduce and prevent overdose deaths, according to news reports. She's kicked off an inter-agency task force "dedicated to slowing the tide of overdose deaths" as part of a pledge she made in her state-of-the-state address to do something about the problem. She also wants to flood communities with Naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication. We've heard nothing from her about this issue except her current battle with Biden to get more money for the 110,000 he's already flooded into New York City.
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"It's not OK for us as a task force to talk about all the things we're doing when the overdose rate is going up," a task force member said. "We have to be talking about what we're not doing. It's what we're not doing that's leading to more death."
How about stopping the flow of illegal drugs into the country?