FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF) – Texas Governor Greg Abbott held a roundtable in Fort Worth on Tuesday regarding an increase in fentanyl related deaths nationwide.
During the roundtable, the Governor listened to the stories of families who have lost a loved one to fentanyl overdose as discussed the ways state and local law enforcement are working to stop this deadly drug from entering our communities from across the border.
“Because of President Biden’s open border policies, deadly drugs like fentanyl are flooding our streets and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people,” said Governor Abbott. “But this crisis isn’t unique to Texas—it’s a crisis plaguing our entire country. Communities from coast to coast are mired in this tragedy and we must take action. The families joining me today are helping us put a face to the stark statistics surrounding the fentanyl crisis, and I am grateful to them for sharing their stories to shed light on this horrific tragedy. The State of Texas is committed to working with them and our law enforcement partners to address this crisis and stop the flow of drugs coming into our country in the wake of the Biden Administration’s continued inaction.”
The Governor and roundtable attendees discussed the statistics surrounding the fentanyl crisis. In 2021 alone, there were over 1,334 fentanyl-related deaths in Texas.
Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics documented an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during a 12-month period that ended in April 2021—a significant increase of 28.5% from the same period the year prior. The new data also shows that estimated overdose deaths from opioids, including synthetics like fentanyl, increased to 75,673 in the same 12-month period, up from 56,064 the year before.
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