State border officials fear large spikes in overdose deaths with drug traffic increases
https://www.thecentersquare.com/texas/st...33ed982eda.html
Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor May 27, 2021


FILE - Border Crisis Texas

A Texas Department of Public Safety officer is seen on a boat while patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, Tuesday, March 23, 2021, in Mission, Texas. A surge of migrants on the Southwest border has the Biden administration on the defensive.
Julio Cortez / AP Photo


(The Center Square) – Texas officials said Thursday they're worried about dramatic spikes in drug overdose deaths in some areas of the state as illegal border crossings and drug trafficking have picked up since President Joe Biden took office.

Gov. Greg Abbott joined Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Steve McCraw and Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn on Thursday in Fort Worth to provide an update on the border crisis.

“We’re heading for a 50 percent increase in overdose deaths in Tarrant County alone,” Waybourn warned, noting that the amount of drugs flooding into Tarrant County has skyrocketed even with DPS intervention.

Since January, federal agencies have seized 2,200 pounds of fentanyl in Texas, McCraw says, and DPS has confiscated 95 pounds, more than 21 million lethal doses, compared to 11 pounds it confiscated last year.

At the news conference, Abbott announced he’s about to sign a law that creates a new criminal offense for the manufacture or delivery of fentanyl. The punishment begins as a third-degree felony, “which will make this law one of the toughest drug laws in Texas,” he said.-- excerpt, rest at link above --