Kansas City Fentanyl Fight Favors Addiction Help Vs. Border Debate

This week insiders expressed frustration that Mayor Q's recent Kansas City fentanyl conference didn't include much guidance or even much mention of the border crisis which facilitates the current American opioid epidemic.   

Here's the word . . .

"Mexico is the biggest source of fentanyl trafficked into the United States but I didn't hear anything about how Mayor Q is going to work to help authorities combat illegal immigration that is often used to smuggle drugs into the country. In fact, instead of helping to thwart the flow of illegal immigrants, the mayor is promoting municipal ID cards to anyone regardless of citizenship. Sorry, but it was obvious to many of the law enforcement people who attend the meeting that any conversation about fentanyl isn't serious if it doesn't at least consider the crisis at the border, how local governments are impacted by it and what they can do to help curb the crisis." 

In fairness . . . Here's the word from the mayor which focuses on community outreach, prevention and re  . . .

“We will continue to reach out to high schoolers, young people,” Lucas said, “we will continue to reach out to those who are unhoused in our community, and we will share the message that not only one pill can kill, but that your life is valuable.”

Lucas said there was a nearly 1,000 percent increase in opioid related deaths from 2017 to 2021 — that’s hundreds of Kansas Citians.

An even more recent tweet from Mayor Q on the topic . . .

"On Friday, we listened, learned, and came together to save lives and fight against the scourge of fentanyl in our community. My thanks to the families—from all over our city—who shared the impact of loss to them."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Mayor Quinton Lucas hosts fentanyl summit to address growing overdose problem

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says fentanyl overdose deaths are at epidemic levels locally.

'We're committed to fight it': Law enforcement, Kansas City officials gather for summit on fentanyl

On July 17, 2022, Holly Yokum's life changed forever. That day her daughter Jaden Anderson, 21, died of fentanyl poisoning.

Kansas City leaders working to find solutions to fight fentanyl epidemic

More than 50 Kansas City leaders and families are working to find life-saving solutions to the fentanyl epidemic.

Related . . .

Border officials seize a lot of fentanyl but say it's complicated problem to solve

As tens of thousands of Americans die each year from synthetic opioids, namely fentanyl, federal officials say the illicit narcotics trade remains a critical problem

AI is helping catch fentanyl traffickers

Customs and Border Protection Agents are using machine learning to track down the precursor chemicals used in synthetic opioids .

Developing . . .