How do you stop fentanyl from coming into Oklahoma?
“The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics is all over that issue, but we have to find out where it is coming from and slow that supply down,” said Gov. Kevin Stitt.
Stitt said he believes that supply is coming from Mexico.
“We are seeing a lot of that coming from across the southern border,” he said.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 107,000 people died due to an overdose in 2021, 15 percent more than the year before. More than 71,000 of those are believed to be from fentanyl, it’s being found more frequently in Tulsa County.
This week, Broken Arrow Police arrested Luis Banderos, who they believe is an undocumented immigrant and is on hold for the Immigration Customs Enforcement Agency suspected of trafficking fentanyl.
Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler also said he believes the problem is with the border.
“If we can’t at least govern our border to where we can slow down human trafficking and drugs, then all we are doing is bringing that devil to our doorstep,” Kunzweiler told FOX23.
According to a press release from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), it seized 379 million Deadly Doses of Fentanyl in 2022.
Most of the fentanyl trafficked by the Sinaloa and CJNG Cartels is being mass-produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemicals sourced largely from China. In 2021, the DEA issued a Public Safety Alert on the widespread drug trafficking of fentanyl in the form of fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills.
Stitt said the goal is to catch them before they get to Oklahoma, but punish the people bringing in the drugs if they make it here.
“We have got some pretty tough laws here in Oklahoma so when we catch them, we punish those folks, but we also need to make sure we are getting those traffickers and people bringing it into our state,” Stitt said.
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