Claim: fentanyl is at 'historic lows'

Question

Is Fentanyl at historic lows, or highs?

And what does that even mean, is it border seizures? If they are catching more, does that mean they are doing a better job, or more is being shipped?

Answer 1

This is false. Source from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/fentanyl.html)
 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a major government website that is a United States federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services that preserves the public's health. Their Fentanyl statistics are substantially higher, contrary to the allegation. This site presents verifiable data that shows an increase in fentanyl overdoses and deaths.

Rates of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, which includes fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, increased over 56% from 2019 to 2020. The number of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids in 2020 was more than 18 times the number in 2013. More than 56,000 people died from overdoses involving synthetic opioids in 2020. The latest provisional drug overdose death counts through June 2021 suggest an acceleration of overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comments

I like that you've extracted important data from your source and included it in your explanation. Nice work!

Answer 2

"Today, at a press conference, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram announced a significant law enforcement surge to protect American communities from the flood of fentanyl and fentanyl-laced pills across the United States. Illicit fentanyl, a synthetic opioid found in most of the fake pills that were seized, is the primary driver of the recent increase in U.S. overdose deaths." 

Apparently from the DEA, there has been a recent increase in overdose deaths, so I believe that the amount of fentanyl has actually risen. 

https://www.justice.gov/opa/video/department-justice-announces-dea-seizures-historic-amounts-deadly-fentanyl-laced-fake

Comments

Nice job including a quote. You can also dig deeper and see if you find something more recent from 2022 or 2023. I found this https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2022/04/06/dea-warns-increase-mass-overdose-events-involving-deadly-fentanyl

Which is a year newer than your source and supports your stance that the claim is false.

Answer 3

Fentanyl levels itself are not at any historical records. However, in terms of seizure at the border, that is at record highs under the Biden administration. However, these seizures have not had a lot of impact on the drug crisis within our nation indicating that the flow of narcotics in is still strong.  

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/karine-jean-pierre-fentanyl-at-the-border-its-at-historic-lows/

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/fact-check-bidens-press-sec-says-fentanyl-at-the-southern-border-is-at-historic-lows/

Comments

Adding some pertinent statistics or background information to show how today's numbers are higher than the past would bolster your fact-check. Also quotes or data directly pulled from your sources would be helpful.

Answer 4

This is false. Fentanyl is at a high causing more overdose cases. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2021, overdoses due to Fentanyl was at an all time high of over 100,000 overdose cases. 

Answer 5

Fentanyl has certainly not decreased in more recent years. It has increased tremendously and the amount of overdoses has increased as well. 

Drug Abuse Statistics said, " Fentanyl ODs increased from 2,600 in 2012 to 31,335 in 2018." 

Fentanyl Abuse Statistics - NCDAS (drugabusestatistics.org)

Answer 6

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, fentanyl overdoses are at an all time high. There were over 106,000 drug overdoses pertaining to fentanyl in 2021, and this number continues to rise. These overdoses led to almost 71,000 deaths. Fentanyl overdoses are becoming increasingly common because almost all drugs have been found to be laced with fentanyl, even the "safer" ones. The chart below demonstrates the national drug overdose deaths over the last 22 years. While all other drugs stayed relatively the same, fentanyl overdose deaths skyrocketed. From my understanding of the situation, fentanyl has become so widespread because it makes drugs stronger and cheaper to produce and buy. However, the consequences of this are much worse than the benefits considering so many people are dying because of it.

Answer 7

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, fentanyl is "up to 50 time stronger than heroin and up to 100 times stronger than morphine." You cannot smell, taste, or see it either. The article talks about how fentanyl is cheap to produce, so manufacturers often mix it with the drug they are trying to produce to make their drug more powerful and less expensive to produce. Fentanyl is also being found in illegally produced pills like adderall, so if you don't get adderall from a pharmacy, you are at risk of a fentanyl overdose.  Therefore fentanyl can be found in anything.

https://dhs.wisconsin.gov/opioids/facts.htm

Comments

The facts you provided, while important, don't quite correlate to the claim that "fentanyl is at historic lows." Your explanation should be addressing why that is true or false, and of course should include related supporting data and information.

Answer 8

The highly addictive synthetic opioid, fentanyl is at a historic high. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, "In 2022, DEA seized more than 57.7 million fentanyl-lace fake pills and more than 13,700 pounds of fentanyl powder. The 2022 seizures are equivalent to more than 410 million lethal doses of fentanyl. The below 2023 fentanyl seizures represent over 47.2 million deadly doses." They continue, "Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered," This is true. 

https://www.dea.gov/

https://www.dea.gov/fentanylawareness

Comments

Thanks for providing valuable data that supports your fact-check. If fentanyl is at a historic high, the claim would be false then, right? You've marked the claim as true -- that's why I'm asking.

Answer 9

Fentanyl levels are definitely not at historic lows. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, fentanyl has been the main driver in recent deaths from drug overdoses. Those deaths, with fentanyl's increased involvement, have increased 7.5 times from 2015 to 2021. According to Figure 2 in the article, overdose deaths from fentanyl are increasing at the highest rate. These statistics show that fentanyl is certainly not at "historic lows"; it's actually leading to more deaths than ever.

However, I also think that the way this tweet and the Fox News article it links to is describing the claim made is not completely accurate either. In the White house briefing where Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, maes this statement, she's not necessarily saying that general fentanyl levels in the US are at a low. She states that border seizures are at historic levels, which probably mean both that seizures are more effective than they have been before, but also that more fentanyl is being shipped than before.

https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/03/07/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-18/