Global coalition to tackle the threat of synthetic drugs

“Opioids pose the deadliest drug threat in our history,” President Joe Biden said at a recent meeting of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drugs in New York. “For years, too little has been done to address this threat here at home and around the world.”

“But as you all know, this is a global challenge and it requires global solutions,” President Biden said. That’s why the United States and its partners launched the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drugs last July. In just over a year, the Global Coalition has grown to nearly 160 countries and 15 international organizations.

The United States has worked separately with Canada and Mexico to prevent narcotics from crossing the border and has revived counter-narcotics cooperation with China to tackle precursor and pill-pressing supply chains. As a result of these efforts, more fentanyl has been seized at the U.S. border in the past two years than in the previous five years combined, President Biden said.

“Nearly 60,000 pounds of fentanyl has been seized. That’s enough to kill every American many times over. Dozens of major cartel leaders and human traffickers are now behind bars. And I’m proud to announce that for the first time in five years, overdose deaths are declining across America. The latest data shows a decline of 10 percent.”

But much more needs to be done to combat the scourge of synthetic drugs, President Biden emphasized.

“Drug manufacturers and cartels continue to adapt their practices, develop new chemicals and move quickly to circumvent our efforts. We must act faster. They continue to exploit global supply chains to expand their networks. We have to cut them off. They continue to fuel violence, corruption and instability. We must protect our people and our communities. That’s why I’m calling on every nation here to commit to our new global coalition pledge. This describes the action we are all taking to seize more drugs, stop more cartels and save more lives.”

President Biden thanked his fellow coalition members for launching new initiatives to disrupt supply chains, track emerging drug threats and prevent deaths by treating people through public health interventions.

“Together we make it clear: enough is enough is enough,” President Biden declared. “As leaders, we all have one solemn responsibility: to protect our people from harm. I believe we can do that together, through this coalition.”