[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 115 (Thursday, July 1, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H3590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          DRUG OVERDOSE DEATHS

  (Mr. GROTHMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, recently, if you look at the CDC numbers, 
we hit an all-time record in drug overdoses for a 12-month period at 
90,000. That is up from 45,000 only 6 years ago.
  There are two dangerous trends that are going the exact opposite way 
than you would think, if we care about the people who died and their 
families.
  First of all, because of the antipolice hysteria out there, the 
number of police are being reduced; and for that reason, at least in my 
area, they are no longer doing criminal investigations in some cities 
when there are drug overdoses.
  Secondly, I think the major reason for the massive increase in deaths 
is the increase in fentanyl deaths--fentanyl being actually much more 
dangerous than heroin.
  We now have this happening at a time when the Border Patrol is being 
pulled off the border to process unaccompanied minors and we have the 
horrible situation of not even increasing the budget of the Border 
Patrol.
  Mr. Speaker, if we care about the 90,000 people who die every year of 
drug overdoses, it is time to start caring a little bit more about the 
border and care a little bit more about the number of police we have in 
our country.

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