President Biden’s Remarks at the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats | New York, NY

1:57 PM EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. To all of the — my fellow leaders from countries around the world, thank you for being here. It makes a big difference.

A few years ago, a father I met from a small town here in the United States wrote me a letter about his daughter. Her name was Courtney. She was smart and intelligent, had an infectious laugh, and wanted to travel the world. But in high school, she got addicted to pills.

Her father eventually took her to a treatment center, but his insurance company wouldn’t cover the cost. They said, quote, “It wasn’t a matter of life and death.”

A month later, Courtney died of a fentanyl overdose. She was only 20 years old — 20 years old.

In the letter he wrote to me, he described life without his child. He said, and I quote, “There is no greater pain.” “There is no greater pain.”

I told him I know what it’s like to have lost multiple children myself — two children. There is no greater pain. They still live in your heart, but there is no greater pain.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is why we are here.

Too many people in our country have stories like this. Too many families have suffered unbearable pain and unbearable loss.

Opioids are the deadliest drug threat in our history. I’ve been working on drug control for a long time — since I was a senator, but this is the deadliest of them all.

For years, too little has been done to combat this threat, both at home and around the world.

Before I took office, the number of overdose deaths in our country increased by more than 30 percent compared to the previous year.

But when I became president, I took the fight against opioids endemic (epidemic) a central part of the Unity Agenda, something that our entire country could and has gotten behind.

Over the past four years, we have translated that agenda into action. My administration has made Nal — excuse me, Na — Naloxone, a life-saving overdose medication, available over-the-counter. For the first time, you can buy it without a prescription. We have invested more than $80 billion in 50 states to expand access to addiction treatment and support. I have issued an executive order cutting off cartel leaders from fina — our financial system, including imposing 300 sanctions. And I have deployed hundreds of state-of-the-art X-ray machines to stop the threat of pills and powders crossing our borders.

Because I want to be clear: this is a threat to national security.

In July of this year, I signed a national security memorandum that officially recognized this as a national security threat and called on all branches of our government to do more to stop fentanyl and protect our homeland from this threat.

But as you all know, this is a global challenge that requires global solutions.

That’s why we created the Trilateral Fentanyl Commission with Canada, Mexico and Mexico to prevent narcotics from crossing our border.

I have revitalized counter-narcotics cooperation with China to enhance law enforcement cooperation and tackle supply chains of basic chemicals and pill presses.

And I have directed my team to form this coalition — this Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drugs. As you all know here, this coalition now has, as the Secretary of State said, 150 countries as part of it.

The result of these efforts: More fentanyl has been seized at our border in the past two years than in the previous five years combined — in the previous five years combined. Nearly 60,000 pounds of fentanyl have been seized. That’s enough to kill every American many times over.

Dozens of major cartel leaders and drug traffickers are now behind bars.

And I’m proud to announce that for the first time in five years, overdose deaths in America are actually declining. The latest data shows a 10 percent decline. That’s the largest decline ever.

Folks, this is important. These aren’t just facts and figures. These are families — families that don’t have to suffer the loss of a child, a parent, a spouse — families that remain whole.

But there are still too many dying. So much more needs to be done.

So my message today is very simple: We cannot give up. We cannot give up.

Drug manufacturers and cartels continue to change their practices, develop new chemicals, move quickly to evade our efforts. We must move faster.

They continue to exploit global supply chains to expand their networks. We need to cut them off.

They continue to fuel violence, corruption and instability. We must protect our people and communities.

That is why I am calling on all countries here to commit to our new Global Coalition Pledge, which sets out the actions we must all take to seize more drugs, stop more cartels, and save more lives.

I also want to thank the leaders here who are launching a new initiative today to advance coalition efforts in three key areas. First, disrupting the supply chain, including the production and distribution of illicit drugs. Second, detecting emerging drug threats and increasing information sharing across our countries. And third, preventing more deaths by treating more people through public health interventions, increasing access to life-saving medicines.

It can. It’s about disrupting, detecting, preventing and treating.

Together we make it clear: enough is enough.

I will close with this: As leaders, we all have one solemn responsibility: to protect our people from harm.

Together, through this coalition, I believe we can do it. We can break the cycle of violence and instability that drug traffickers create. We can give our people the care they need and deserve. We can save lives, but only if we come together and work together. The choice is ours.

And I believe there is only one possible answer: we can, we will, and we must.

So, thanks for all of you being here. Let’s get started.

And I want you to listen to the other leaders in this room as well.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.)

2:04 PM EDT