U.S. Attorney General addresses families of fentanyl victims

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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram look at photographs of deceased drug overdose victims. Associated Press/Photo by Jose Luis Magana

U.S. Attorney General addresses families of fentanyl victims

Merrick Garland on Tuesday told families who lost loved ones to fentanyl that the Department of Justice wouldn’t stop pursuing those trafficking and selling the drug. Speaking at the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Family Summit on fentanyl, Garland said the DEA this year has seized more than 55 million fentanyl pills and more than 9,000 pounds of fentanyl powder. That’s equivalent to roughly 266 million lethal doses, according to the DEA.

How big of a problem are fentanyl-related deaths? More than 150 people die every day from fentanyl overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A one-year-old baby earlier this month died of a drug overdose at a daycare in New York after exposure to fentanyl.

Dig deeper: Read Brad Littlejohn’s column in WORLD Opinions about one of the causes of America’s fentanyl crisis.