Long Island's Fight Against Fentanyl

The bipartisan FEND Off Fentanyl Act, introduced in the United States Senate, would get local law enforcement more resources to track the source of the drug, impose sanctions on cartels and locate supply chains. While the drug initially entered our drug market in 2010, Fentanyl devastated Long Island when it flooded the market as the preferred drug for cutting pure products in 2017, killing scores of youth when they consumed Fentanyl-laced marijuana vapes and cocaine. Most famously, Long Beach musician Lil Peep had his life claimed after ingesting Fentanyl-laced Xanax.

Carole Trottere supports the bipartisan effort after she lost her son Alex to a heroin and Fentanyl overdose in 2018. “We must hit them where it hurts and that is what this bill will do. It will save lives and prevent parents from becoming a member of that club that nobody wants to join." The drug is so dangerous that in 2021 it killed double the amount of people that died in car accidents. The frequency of these overdoses has prompted the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to crack down on the drugs importation into the country. In 2022, the DEA seized 379 million doses of the drug which were responsible for 70% of overdoses in Nassau County.

Senator Gillibrand said of the bill that, “It would empower law enforcement to better address this situation, it would declare the international trafficking of Fentanyl is a national emergency and require President Biden to sanction key members of criminal organizations." This silent killer came as a complete shock to many Americans, and questions as to its origins began to be asked by the public.

Fentanyl is a Chinese-made drug that is mass produced as a medicine for treatment of extreme pain post surgery. Like all legal drug production markets, there is a percentage of the mass-produced product that seeps into the black market. After the illegally sold Fentanyl made its way from China, the drug was sold to Mexican drug cartels who cut cocaine and marijuana vapes to produce more product at less cost. They then smuggled these laced products through the southern border to be sold to their smaller drug dealers in the United States and inevitably sold to their clientele.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney File Photo

The Chinese government found out about the black market emerging around this drug and cracked down on the illicit trade, resulting in a slowdown of the drug's entry into the US. China’s Foreign Ministry said China has “decided to schedule the entire category of Fentanyl-type substances as controlled substances, and start the process of revising relevant laws and regulations.” Further, the US and China have “agreed to take active measures to strengthen cooperation on law enforcement and narcotics control,” stated the Chinese Foreign Ministry. While the rare cooperation of Chinese and American officials led to a major slowdown in the drugs importation to the US, further action is still needed to combat what drug production and smuggling of Fentanyl still remains on Long Island.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney gives us a hyperlocal perspective on his office’s efforts to combat the Fentanyl crisis which is facing an increasing difficulty in the face of the massive demand New York City has for laced products. According to DA Tierney, “Since Long Island is in such close proximity to New York City, this makes abating the flow of Fentanyl into our county an impossible task. We have also added additional staffing resources into our Fentanyl Task Force, East End Drug Task Force, and Narcotics Bureau, which has allowed us to prioritize securing significant incarceration sentences.” The DA explained that the surging tide of this drug's presence is due to the complex network of who is supplying the drug. “Although it is cartel-driven at its inception, no one group or groups control or monopolize its distribution at the local levels.” The DA blames bail reform as another major component to Suffolk County’s Fentanyl problem. The county cannot ask for bail unless a dealer sells 8 oz. of the product, which is enough to kill over 110 million people.

The legal and logistical hurdles to stopping Fentanyl’s spread on Long Island is why this bipartisan bill is seen as a major benefit and necessity to Long Islanders and our collective health. If the bill is passed, it can severely limit the presence of the drug on the island by targeting supply lines and distributors in the hopes of saving countless lives.