Press Release
Attorney General Joins in Urging Department of State to Fight Fentanyl
January 20, 2022
(Anchorage, AK) – Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor has called on the U.S. Department of State to take a tougher approach toward preventing the deadly drug fentanyl from illegally entering the United States.
Attorney General Taylor and attorneys general from 15 other states outlined their concerns about the production and trafficking of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Taylor and others urged Blinken to do more to stop the influx of fentanyl from China and Mexico.
“Chemicals from Chinese labs are making their way into Mexico for the manufacturing of illicit fentanyl that ends up in the United States,” Attorney General Taylor said. “This dangerous, lethal drug is the cause of more and more overdose deaths every year. We must do all we can to stop this scourge.”
In Alaska, like elsewhere in the United States, an increase in drug overdose deaths has been driven by a rise in the use of fentanyl. According to preliminary data from the Alaska Division of Health, six out of every 10 drug overdose deaths in Alaska last year involved fentanyl.
Historically, fentanyl was made in China, but that country started taking action against illicit fentanyl manufacturing within its borders after pressure from the U.S. government in 2019. Now, Chinese labs are diverting precursor chemicals for fentanyl manufacturing to other countries including Mexico.
“Chinese chemical manufacturers are now making and sending the raw ingredients to make fentanyl to Mexican drug cartels, which are in turn making and trafficking fentanyl at an industrial scale,” Attorney General Taylor and other AGs wrote to Secretary Blinken. “But in the face of this evolving and significant problem, the federal government has seemed content to stand by. We therefore write to insist on a fulsome and urgent response to this escalating plague killing our people every day.”
Fentanyl has been smuggled into the United States from Mexico in alarming quantities. Most fentanyl brought into the United States in recent months has been trafficked from Mexico across the U.S. Southwest border. Seizures of fentanyl at the border increased from approximately 1,187 kilograms in 2019 to approximately 2,939 kilograms in 2020.
Attorney General Taylor signed the letter with the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia.
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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.