Submitted by: Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs Committee

WHEREAS, The United States is in the midst of an unprecedented fatal and non-fatal overdose epidemic; and

WHEREAS, More than 107,000 deaths were reported in the United States between January 2021to January 2022¹, with the Drug Enforcement Administration warning of the continuing threat: “Already this year, numerous mass-overdose events have resulted in dozens of overdoses and deaths. Drug traffickers are driving addiction, and increasing their profits, by mixing illicit fentanyl with other illicit drugs. Tragically, many overdose victims have no idea they are ingesting deadly fentanyl poison, until it’s too late.”²; and

WHEREAS, The Nation’s drug overdose epidemic affects every state and now is driven by illicit fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, methamphetamine, and cocaine, often in combination or in adulterated forms³; and

WHEREAS, International and domestic criminal drug networks are mass-producing fake pills, falsely marketing them as legitimate prescription pills, and killing unsuspecting Americans⁴; and

WHEREAS, The effects of this epidemic go beyond individuals and families of those who have overdosed, in that ancillary costs for emergency services, addiction counseling and hospitalizations are astronomical. The Joint Economic Committee estimates “that opioid-related costs alone rose to nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020, a $487 billion increase from 2019 and a 37% increase from 2017”⁵; and

WHEREAS, Worldwide, about 500,000 deaths, annually, are attributable to drug use. More than 70% of these deaths are related to opioids⁶; and

WHEREAS, Given the consequences of fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses in the United States, it is essential to enact a comprehensive national anti-drug campaign with messaging warning of the dangers of drug use, illicit fentanyl poisoning, and countering the drug use normalization messaging inundating multiple media outlets and sources; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police, strongly urge Federal, State, and Local Government entities, including public health, public safety, and the educational systems, to work together with the private sector to launch a continuing series of robust anti-drug, anti-illicit fentanyl poisoning and overdoses and dangerous drug messaging to be distributed via public safety alerts on television, social media, billboards, and signage in every school and university across the country.

¹ Advocacy Resource Center, Issue brief: Nation’s Drug-Related Overdose and Death Epidemic Continues to Worsen, American Medical Association, https://end-overdose-epidemic.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/American-Overdose-Epidemic-Select-Research-December-2022-1.pdf (last updated December 22, 2022).

² Press Release: DEA Warns of Increase in Mass-Overdose Events Involving Deadly Fentanyl, Drug Enforcement Administration, (April 6, 2022), https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2022/04/06/dea-warns-increase-mass-overdose-events-involving-deadly-fentanyl

³ American Medical Association, “Issue brief: Nation’s Drug-Related Overdose and Death Epidemic Continues to Worsen,” https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/issue-brief-increases-in-opioid-related-overdose.pdf, accessed November, 2022

⁴ Public Safety Alert: Sharp Increase in Fake Prescription Pills Containing Fentanyl and Meth, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION, , (September 27, 2021), https://www.dea.gov/alert/sharp-increase-fake-prescription-pills-containing-fentanyl-and-meth.

⁵ Joint Economic Committee Democrats, The Economic Toll of the Opioid Crisis Reached Nearly $1.5 Trillion in 2020, JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE, https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/67bced7f-4232-40ea-9263-f033d280c567/jec-cost-of-opioids-issue-brief.pdf (last visited November, 2022).

⁶Opioid Overdose, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, August 4, 2021, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/opioid-overdose.