From PolitiFact Texas/Austin American-Statesman:
Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that of the more than 100,000 people who died from drug overdoses in the U.S. between May 2020 and April 2021, almost two-thirds were linked to fentanyl or similar synthetic opioids.
In an April 1 press release, U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., raised the alarm about fentanyl being smuggled into the United States.
“In Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21), 11,201 pounds of fentanyl were seized by Customs and Border Protection, which is enough to kill every American nearly seven times over,” Tenney said.
Tenney argued that the Biden administration should back off its intention to terminate Title 42, a public health order that has been in place since March 2020 that allows officials to expel migrants at U.S. land borders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. (On April 26, the administration said it would abide by a judge’s order to keep Title 42 in place for now.)
PolitiFact decided to take a closer look at Tenney’s statement about fentanyl and how deadly it is. Tenney’s office did not respond to requests for comment. …
Read the full story and see how Tenney’s claim scored at PolitiFact, and listen to an interview with PolitiFact’s Nusaiba Mizan in the audio player above.
