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Families Against Fentanyl
Organization calls for Fentanyl to be a Topic of Presidential Debate
CLEVELAND, OHIO—This week, Families Against Fentanyl, an Akron-based
non-profit, urged Chris Wallace and the Presidential Debate Commission
to include the issue of illegal fentanyl, which is both an abused
substance and a chemical weapon, as a topic for the September 29
Presidential Debate in Cleveland. This call to include discussion of
mitigating the risks of illegal fentanyl in the debate is part of a
broader effort by Families Against Fentanyl to have the U.S. declare
fentanyl and its analogues Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Families Against Fentanyl was founded by James Rauh in 2018, following
the death of their son, Tom, in 2015 due to fentanyl poisoning from
illegal fentanyl that had been manufactured in China.
“As a chemist and engineer, I knew that minuscule amounts of fentanyl,
carfentanyl, and other synthetic opioids, in the wrong form, could kill
people almost instantaneously,” James Rauh said. “What I came to learn
while fighting for justice for my son was that massive amounts of these
chemicals were being smuggled into our country from China and
stockpiled in our neighborhoods by drug dealers. And that’s terrifying.”
A 2mg dose of fentanyl is lethal to the average person. A lethal dose
of carfentanyl is 0.02mg, making it 25 times more deadly than the WMD
Sarin.
“Fentanyl and carfentanyl are the number one cause of overdose deaths
in the U.S. and have been a major driver of the opioid crisis,” Rauh
added. “But the number of overdose deaths pales in comparison to the
potential impact of a mass-casualty event involving these chemicals.
Rauh pointed out that less than a pound of fentanyl or less than a
teaspoon of carfentanyl could kill 200,000 people, roughly the number
of people in the U.S. who have died to date from the COVID-19 pandemic.
He noted that more than 44 pounds of illegal fentanyl had been
recovered from a single drug arrest in the Dayton area last October.
To raise awareness of the even deadlier threat that fentanyl poses, Mr.
Rauh published an op-ed in The Plain Dealer on September 25, 2020.
Families Against Fentanyl also has placed billboards in and around
downtown Cleveland in advance of the upcoming debate, in the hope that
they will be seen by the two Presidential candidates, their campaign
teams, and members of the national and international media.
Families Against Fentanyl has also organized an aerial banner reading
“DECLARE FENTANYL A WMD #FentanylWMD” to be flown on September 27,
2020, in Cleveland. The flight path will make the banner visible from
Browns Stadium and other key locations.
More information is available at https://familiesagainstfentanyl.org/
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