ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown officials on Monday threw their full support behind U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s efforts to stem the flow of fentanyl and reduce overdoses, which he called “a grave issue for so many families across our state and across the country.”
Overdose deaths rates are at all-time highs more than two decades after the start of the opioid epidemic, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Those rates started to spike about a decade ago because of “increases in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, particularly those involving illicitly manufactured fentanyl,” the CDC says.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be up to 50 times as strong as heroin and 100 times as strong as morphine.
The drug — which can be found in combination with heroin, counterfeit pills and cocaine — is “a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the U.S.,” the CDC says.
"Making fentenyl harder to get and reducing overdoses from it is “the [top] issue for us."Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk
Casey said during a Monday news conference at Allentown Police Department that more than 4,000 people died from fentanyl overdoses in Pennsylvania in 2022, representing more than three-quarters of all overdose deaths in the state that year.
Allentown recorded 66 overdoses — not all of which were fatal — in 2023, up from 56 the year before, Mayor Matt Tuerk told LehighValleyNews.com. That number hit about 120 in 2021, Tuerk said.
But each person who died of an overdose in Allentown last year had fentanyl in their system, Tuerk said.
Making the drug harder to get and reducing overdoses from it is “the [top] issue for us,” he said.
Pending legislation
Casey last week introduced the “Stop Fentanyl at the Border Act” in the Senate. The bill would provide funding to hire more U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and officers along the country’s border with Mexico.
“We have to hire thousands more [agents] at the border,” Casey said.
Casey’s bill — co-sponsored by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona — also would boost funding for inspection technology, “technology which we know works at the border.”
President Joe Biden in October requested $1.2 billion to fund measures to stop fentanyl from crossing the southern border, including 100 inspection machines that can detect the drug.
“This detection capability allows us to find fentanyl in a car tire, in a compartment, anywhere it is in a vehicle or cargo," Casey said.
More than 1 billion doses of fentanyl were seized in 2023 by U.S. Customs and Border Protections, Casey said.
“We've got to make sure that those bad guys in China and Mexico are hit hard with sanctions."U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.
“That seems like a big number, but it is in no way high enough,” Casey said.
Casey, Pennsylvania’s senior senator, also is pushing for his colleagues to pass the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence Off Fentanyl Act.
The FEND Act is an anti-money-laundering bill that would authorize the president to sanction members of criminal organizations and drug cartels that traffic fentanyl.
The bill “goes after the bad guys and hits them where it hurts — the bad guys in China for producing the precursor chemicals that are the foundation of the fentanyl production that comes through Mexico and then across our border at ports of entry,” Casey said.
“We've got to make sure that those bad guys in China and Mexico are hit hard with sanctions.”
Chief: Collaboration is key
Allentown Police Chief Charles Roca said funding for border agents “is pivotal … to stem the flow of fentanyl to the United States.”
"Funding for the border is important to us because it stops the flow of fentanyl into the United States."Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk
“I support my brothers and sisters on the border in stopping this epidemic because it does spill into our communities, not just in Pennsylvania, but throughout the United States,” Roca said.
The chief called for a “collaborative approach” among leaders of all levels to reduce the availability of fentanyl on local streets.
Allentown police made 125 arrests involving fentanyl in 2023, seizing about 1,900 pills or about 100 grams of the drug, he said.
Drug trafficking across the border between the United States and Mexico is “obviously an Allentown problem,” and “funding for the border is important to us because it stops the flow of fentanyl into the United States,” Mayor Tuerk said.
