Josh Stein Continues Fight Against Fentanyl, Calls for Increased Investment in Fentanyl Detection At The Border

“This is no time to play politics with border security. Too many lives are at stake.”

This week, Attorney General and Democratic nominee for Governor Josh Stein is continuing his fight against the fentanyl crisis by calling on Congress to invest $300 million in fentanyl detection at the border. 

In a letter to congressional leadership, Stein wrote that the necessary equipment to detect fentanyl in personal vehicles has already been purchased using taxpayer dollars, but that he was “dismayed and disheartened” to learn that the equipment had not yet been installed. Saying that too many North Carolinians are dying because of fentanyl, Stein wrote: “This is no time to play politics with border security. Too many lives are at stake.”

Attorney General Stein has spent years leading a national, bi-partisan coalition of state attorneys general to take opioid manufacturers and distributors to court. These efforts have led to more than $55 billion nationally in settlement funds to go towards addiction treatment and recovery – $1.5 of which are designated for North Carolinians.

Last year, Josh called for funding for a Fentanyl Control Unit to help local district attorneys handle large-scale fentanyl trafficking, wiretap, and overdose cases and has worked alongside Republicans in the legislature to crack down on fentanyl through the Stop Counterfeit Pill Act and Novel Opioid Control Act. Now, Stein is leading a Fentanyl Task Force, bringing local, state, and federal law enforcement leaders together to collaborate on ridding North Carolina communities of this deadly drug.

Read more about Attorney General Stein’s call to stem the tide of fentanyl at the border: 

Public Radio East: NC AG urges congress to fund to installation of equipment to detect fentanyl in vehicles entering the US

• North Carolina’s attorney general has asked congressional leaders to give U.S. Customs and Border Protection about $300 million in funding to install equipment to detect fentanyl in vehicles entering the United States.

• Attorney General Josh Stein said they already have the equipment to do it but C-B-P cannot install it without additional funding.

• Agents would be able to x-ray more cars and trucks using massive drive-through screeners at the border with the technology, and while lawmakers included the funding in the bipartisan border security legislation, congressional Republicans blocked the bill earlier this year.

• More than 95 percent of fentanyl seized at the border arrives in personal vehicles, and Stein said more than 27,000 pounds of fentanyl was seized at the border and ports of entry from October 2022 to the end of last September.

• Stein said too many North Carolinians are dying after taking the drug and, “Playing politics with border security is disgraceful.”

The Center Square: North Carolina attorney general requests fentanyl aid at border

• Josh Stein, a gubernatorial candidate, penned a letter to majority and minority leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives – respectively, Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Reps. Mike Johnson, R-La., and Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

• In it, Stein writes “the tide of illicit fentanyl flowing across our borders” could be prevented in part if equipment already purchased with taxpayers’ money was installed and used.

• Stein says Non-Intrusive Inspection, also known as NII, would enable the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to “X-ray a higher percentage of cars and trucks using massive drive-through screeners at the border.”
  
• Stein, relying on a network news report, says he is “dismayed and disheartened” knowing some of the equipment needed is already purchased. He’s asking Congress for $300 million, saying that’s what is needed to get the equipment installed.

• Stein writes, “As more than 150 Americans die each day from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, this is no time to play politics with border security. Too many lives are at stake.”

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