‘Absolutely mind-boggling’: Fresno County’s DA on the battle with fentanyl
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – CBS47’s month-long investigation into the impact fentanyl is having on the community and state continues. At the San Ysidro Port of Entry, one of three ports of entry along the border between California and Mexico, the United States Attorney General reports that more fentanyl is seized here than at any of the more than 300 ports of entry into the country.
District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp is one part of that fight against fentanyl, both in Fresno County and at the border. She says fentanyl is unlike any other drug and it is most concerning for our youth.
The State of Fentanyl: YourCentralValley.com’s complete coverage
“Fentanyl is different from any other street drug that has ever been on the streets of the United States of America. It is an instant killer with alcohol, meth, heroin, cocaine, any drug that they may have any knowledge of. You know, it takes a period of time to from the use phase to the abuse phase to the addiction phase. And, with fentanyl, that happens literally overnight. And every single time that they experiment with one of these pills it is literally an opportunity that that pill has to kill them,” said Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp.
The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office confirms more than 12,000 Californians died of a fentanyl overdose last year. Opiate overdoses in California now kill more people than car crashes, homicides, diabetes, and lung cancer.
Smittcamp says the only way to end this crisis is through a community effort, holding Chinese and Mexican authorities responsible.
Major General Matthew Beevers is with the California National Guard, which is stationed at the border working to stop fentanyl from making its way into California. There are soldiers positioned along the border assisting United States Border Patrol agents in seizing fentanyl pills and powder.
“There are also National Guard members on the other side of that border working through databases and characterizing information to be able to determine what vehicles are likely to have narcotics in them and the work we do on the border at the ports of entry enables CBP to be able to move those officers now in front of the kiosks to they can determine patterns of life,” said Beevers.
The process frees up border agents so they are able to focus on their task at hand, which is to visually examine documents and vehicles that cross the border into California.
The California National Guard has assisted in the seizure of nearly 3.5 million fentanyl pills across the state and at the border since Jan. 1 and 7,100 pounds of fentanyl— about the same weight as a limousine.
Officials say seven out of 10 counterfeit pills are laced with fentanyl. So that pill that may look like oxycontin, percocet, hydrocodone, or xanax could actually be a fentanyl pill that could kill you in just 20 seconds.
Smittcamp says she is doing her part, but there is only so much that officials in Fresno County can do.
“It’s absolutely mind-boggling to me as a U.S. citizen, as an elected district attorney, as a mom, how our elected officials cannot do a better job at the border. I don’t purport to understand the theories and politics, how we can have politicians that literally they’re just soundbites. You know, they pretend when something terrible happens and the media says, you know, pays attention to it. They’ll give a soundbite about how we need to be pro-law enforcement and how we have to protect our borders,” said Smittcamp.
Smittcamp wants more to be done to secure the border and stop fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into California. She says it should not be up to Governor Gavin Newsom and other border state governors to come up with border security policies and adds we must demand more from the Biden administration.
“We also need to take a really strong look at how we view people who are bringing drugs into this country because the way that we’ve gone in the last 10 years, drugs have become an insignificant thing in the big picture of public safety and we have watered down to any drug laws nationwide, not just in California, it’s not just California crazy it’s nationwide and we really have lost the moral fiber,” Smittcamp said.
Smittcamp has been focused on educating young people on the deadly dangers of fentanyl. She speaks to high school students all the time informing them that one pill can kill. She is also focused on litigation. In a first for Fresno County, she has filed murder charges in two cases, where a drug dealer is suspected of selling someone fentanyl pills that lead to their death.
When asked what she thinks needs to be done here at the border, she tells me we need to strengthen our relationships in Mexico to get them to partner with us – and do a better job on our side of the border when it comes to security.
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