Trump’s promise to crack down on fentanyl smugglers is criticized as unrealistic : NPR

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

President-elect Donald Trump is promising to crack down on fentanyl smugglers and drug sellers. Critics say lots of his powerful coverage concepts are unrealistic and will drain help from habit applications which might be saving lives. NPR’s Brian Mann stories.

BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: When Donald Trump talked about avenue fentanyl and overdose deaths in the course of the marketing campaign, he framed it not as a public well being disaster, however as a border downside, against the law downside.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DONALD TRUMP: Sir, I heard you need the demise penalty for drug sellers. Why? Properly, you recognize, I might like to finish the drug epidemic, if that is OK.

MANN: Fentanyl and different avenue medication kill roughly 100,000 individuals within the U.S. yearly. After the election, the person Trump named to function border czar, Tom Homan, promised U.S. navy motion in opposition to Mexican drug cartels throughout an look on Fox Information.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TOM HOMAN: President Trump is dedicated to calling them a terrorist group and utilizing the complete may of the US particular operations to take them out.

MANN: Fentanyl really unfold within the U.S. throughout Trump’s first time period. And most of the people smuggling the lethal opioid into the U.S. are Americans, not Mexicans or migrants. However many habit consultants say Trump’s powerful discuss appealed to voters. Tom Wolf is an activist in California who’s in restoration from opioid habit. He says People need this disaster solved quick.

TOM WOLF: Individuals are uninterested in the theft. They’re uninterested in the open drug use. They usually need some accountability to be injected again into the method.

MANN: Jonathan Caulkins, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon College, agrees People are exhausted by the general public dysfunction and demise that include fentanyl. The query now could be whether or not Trump will comply with via on concepts that may tilt the nation’s response sharply from therapy and restoration towards extra police – and probably navy – motion. Caulkins referred to as a few of these concepts misguided.

JONATHAN CAULKINS: Even invoking the concept of navy motion in Mexico in opposition to drafters is, like, the worst concept anyone has ever, ever had.

MANN: Caulkins believes a U.S. navy strike would do little to sluggish fentanyl smuggling or save American lives however might shatter diplomatic relations and destabilize Mexico. Brandon del Pozo, a former police chief who research drug coverage at Brown College, additionally blasted Trump for his demise penalty plan.

BRANDON DEL POZO: There are hundreds, if not a whole bunch of hundreds, of People who our neighbors are doing one thing that is unlawful, proper? They’re undoubtedly dealing medication, however they may be doing it as a result of they’re hooked on medication. The concept that we’d execute them – that shocks the conscience.

MANN: Even some activists like Tom Wolf, who need more durable drug insurance policies, fear Trump might go too far, deemphasizing drug therapy and restoration whereas reigniting a full-scale drug warfare.

WOLF: I want to see the pendulum cease within the center. Everyone knows that the warfare on medication within the ’80s was over-draconian. Consequently, it failed.

MANN: Trump takes over at a second when there are indicators the general public well being strategy could also be working. Drug deaths dropped sharply during the last 12 months, a development that saved about 16,000 lives in keeping with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Many researchers credit score the Biden administration for pushing higher medical health insurance, therapy and medicines for individuals with habit. Keith Humphreys, a drug coverage professional at Stanford College says it will be a mistake for Trump to chop applications that seem like serving to.

KEITH HUMPHREYS: My worry could be that he continues chopping away on the Reasonably priced Care Act and Medicaid, that are the monetary spine of the American habit therapy system.

MANN: Kassandra Frederique, who heads an advocacy group referred to as the Drug Coverage Alliance, predicts Trump will shift the nation’s fentanyl response away from public well being, hoping for a fast repair.

KASSANDRA FREDERIQUE: Somebody is saying to you that we’ll simply flip off the tap, lower the provision chain. We’re simply going to arrest all of the individuals. Then we can’t must take care of this anymore. And whereas it may be engaging to some individuals, it is a mirage.

MANN: Each professional interviewed by NPR agreed Trump’s promise of a swift finish to the fentanyl disaster is unrealistic. Regardless of latest progress, most mentioned the habit and overdose epidemic will take years, and even a long time, to unravel.

Brian Mann, NPR Information.

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content might not be in its ultimate type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability might differ. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.