There is one problem that is turning a die-hard Democrat against President Joe Biden as leader and Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.
Dawn Allen said her enthusiasm for Joe Biden during the last election campaign was “probably greater than for any other president.”
But that was before her son Benjamin died of a fentanyl overdose last year at age 22.
She’s grown frustrated with what she sees as Biden’s blasé approach to the opioid crisis, so much so that she now says she won’t vote for a Democrat. She’s gone from being a loyal Democrat door-knocker to someone much more aligned with former President Donald Trump, the candidate who talks much more about fentanyl.
Trump has insisted that drugs flow through the US-Mexico border more than anyone else, while Harris has had to relinquish her title as border czar.
“It feels like a really bad breakup,” the 47-year-old mother of three other children said NBC from her home in a Chicago suburb. “I’m really, really hurt.”
Dawn Allen is pictured with her son Benjamin, who died last year at the age of 22 from a fentanyl overdose
Allen has gone from being a loyal Democratic door-to-door candidate to someone much more aligned with former President Donald Trump, the candidate who talks much more about fentanyl
Allen is part of a group of families who have lost relatives to opioids and are pushing government officials to do more to address an epidemic that has claimed many lives. more than 81,000 people last year alone.
Many in that group say they like Trump’s tough approach to stemming the flow of drugs into the U.S.
And this despite the fact that, according to CDC data, opioid deaths increased by 47 percent during Trump’s four years in office.
In 2017, 47,600 people died from opioid overdoses, and in 2020, Trump’s last full year in office, more than 70,000 people died.
Fentanyl deaths continued to rise during Trump’s tenure.
Andrea Thomas, who lost her daughter in 2018 and has become a leader in the movement, told NBC that the fentanyl awareness movement is “leaning to the right — that’s for sure.”
“Our American government is almost complicit, and now that there is such an unlimited supply of this poison, it looks like there is hoarding,” she said.
The GOP convention in July, on the other hand, featured a mother whose 15-year-old son died of an accidental fentanyl overdose. Anne Funder, pictured, gave a moving speech in memory of her son Weston
In contrast, at the Democratic National Convention, not a single primetime speaker mentioned the opioid crisis, let alone fentanyl specifically.
Republicans are seizing on the energy of this movement. Last month, they placed signs at the Democratic National Convention highlighting the fentanyl crisis. They have decided to make it a major campaign issue.
During the DNC, not a single primetime speaker addressed the opioid crisis, let alone fentanyl specifically.
In contrast, the GOP convention in July featured a mother whose 15-year-old son died of an accidental fentanyl overdose.
Anne Funder blamed Democrats for the death of her son Weston.
“I hold Joe Biden, Kamala Harris — the border czar, what a joke — Gavin Newsom and every Democrat who supports open borders responsible for the death of my son,” she told the crowd at the RNC.
Trump himself regularly talks about fentanyl, while Harris remains largely silent on the matter.
Pictured: A billboard in Chicago placed during the DNC to pressure Democrats to take the issue seriously.
Trump has called for expanding the death penalty to drug dealers, deploying the military to crack down on Mexican cartels and drastically restricting border crossings to combat drug trafficking.
“We will break up and dismantle the gangs, the vicious criminal networks, the bloodthirsty cartels. And we will stop the fentanyl,” Trump said during a recent campaign appearance in Michigan.
Trump has also called for expanding the death penalty to drug dealers, deploying the military to crack down on Mexican drug cartels and drastically reducing the number of border crossings to combat drug smuggling.
Experts have tried to block Trump’s proposed solutions to the problem, with some arguing that most fentanyl is smuggled in by Americans through legal entry points.
A DEA Report In 2020, when Trump was still president, he said China was “the primary source” of fentanyl and related substances, not Mexico.
Still, fentanyl activists say Trump is at least drawing attention to the problem, while Biden is not.
Allen, who lost her son Benjamin last year, has his picture hanging on the wall
Allen said she and other parents don’t feel seen or heard by the Biden administration
“We don’t feel seen, we don’t feel heard,” Allen said.
“I’m amazed that no one realizes or understands that this is a huge group of people. If we believe that you’re going to respond to this and do something about it, we can very easily gain your favor.”
The Biden administration responded by saying it has met with hundreds of families affected by opioid use disorder, made historic investments in treatment, and seized record amounts of fentanyl at the border.
But the fact is that Biden is responsible for a massive increase in fentanyl deaths.
In 2021, during Biden’s first year in office — when many Americans were cooped up at home due to the pandemic — fentanyl deaths rose 23 percent to more than 70,000.
In 2019, Trump convinced China, long the largest source of fentanyl smuggling via international mail, to regulate production of the drug.
But Mexican drug cartels adapted and began importing the ingredients from China to make fentanyl pills from scratch.
Fentanyl is often added as a filler to illegal drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine. It is often pressed into pills
According to experts, the increase in fentanyl deaths since then is a direct result of this, as this incredibly powerful substance is found in almost all illegal drugs and counterfeit pills.
This means that if someone thinks they are buying cocaine, methamphetamine, or Percocet, they are likely receiving a lethal dose of fentanyl without even knowing it.
Biden has imposed sanctions on Chinese manufacturers of the chemicals used in fentanyl, but that has failed to stop the flow into Mexico.
Biden has also made Narcan, a drug that can cure overdoses, more widely available.
Experts say this likely contributed to a 2 percent drop in fentanyl deaths last year.
April Babcock, who lost her son in 2019 and founded an advocacy group, says she’s glad Narcan helped, but she doesn’t think it’s the end all be all.
“We’re not going to get out of this on Narcan,” Babcock said.
Babcock said her organization’s parents, Lost Voices of Fentanyl, have already set a date for their 2025 Washington, D.C., rally.
“Whoever gets into that office, we’re going to push them,” she said. “Even if it’s Trump.”