Fentanyl Seized at Ports of Entry Doubled Last Year

U.S. officials seized more than 12 tons of illicit opioids at ports of entry between 2013 and 2017, according to a new report that bolsters FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s call for more international mail facility staff to stem the addiction epidemic.

The amount of fentanyl seized by Customers and Border Protection shot up to nearly 1,400 pounds in 2017, according to the report by minority staff of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

 “There is no silver bullet to solving this influx of opioids, but at the very least we need to ensure that our ports are adequately staffed and equipped to deal with this problem—and right now that’s simply not the case,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), the committee’s ranking member.