‘We’re Losing Ground,’ Says Tillis At Opioid Roundtable

By Carolina Journal Staff

• North Carolina ranks number 6 in total drug overdose deaths, with New Hanover County being three times the national average.

U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, R-NC, led a roundtable discussion with local elected officials and law enforcement in Wilmington Wednesday on the opioid crisis. 

“Nearly a hundred thousand lives are lost every year to opioid, first among them fentanyl,” said Tillis. “We’ve got to figure out how to make headway. We’re losing ground.” 

According to a 2020 report from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the majority of the fentanyl that crosses the southern border into the United States originates from China. The report highlights that China remains the primary source of fentanyl, fentanyl-related substances, and fentanyl precursors which are often smuggled through various routes before reaching the U.S. 

However, Tillis told the roundtable stopping production in China is just one piece of the puzzle. 

“Somebody could look at this and say that all I’m suggesting is, if you stop the precursors coming from China, then you solve the problem; No.” he said. “What you try to do is reduce supply that drives up demand that increases the barrier to injury, the cost of it. That by itself will take some person out of the mix potentially. It’s just one piece of the puzzle. And here we have to have trade policies and other things to say ‘we see these ships coming here.’ We know what’s happening when the precursors get to Mexico.” 

North Carolina ranks number 6 in total drug overdose deaths according to 2022 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wilmington City Councilman Luke Waddell said during the roundtable that his city’s overdose rate outpaces the national average. 

“A lot of folks think what’s happening at the border doesn’t really affect us here in southeast North Carolina,” said Waddell who serves on the joint city, county Opioid Settlement Committee. “But the sheer numbers of opioid deaths that we have in New Hanover County are three times the national average, so it certainly is affecting.” 

NC Attorney General Josh Stein, D, has participated in several multistate lawsuits against retailers for their involvement in the opioid crisis, including a $3.1 billion settlement with Walmart. 

Barb Walsh founded the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina after her 24-year-old daughter Sophia was poisoned and killed by fentanyl inside of a water bottle. Walsh told the group a loophole in shipping allows these dangerous substances to flow unchecked into the U.S. 

“Federally, there’s a de minimis bill loophole that allows any package that’s under $800 to come in without an inventory list,” she said. “It doesn’t need to be inspected. Fentanyl and pill presses are coming in the mail and being delivered.” 

In June of 2023, U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, R-LA, and Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, introduced the De Minimis Reciprocity Act of 2023 to stop China and other countries from abusing U.S. trade laws that allow small dollar imports into the U.S. duty free. 

“A trade loophole is allowing Chinese companies to import goods in the U.S. with no oversight – letting them bring in cheap, counterfeit goods that undercut American manufactures and traffic drugs into our communities,” said Baldwin. 

Several roundtable participants emphasized the importance of addressing this issue from a bipartisan perspective. 

“I do not say I’m a Republican or a Democrat or unaffiliated on this issue,” said Walsh. “I am everything. And this problem can only be solved if everything and everybody comes to the table. And says, ‘I want to save a life.’”

“I think one of the reasons why I have a tendency to anger equal proportions of Republicans and Democrats is because I don’t think there are simple questions to complex solutions,” explained Tillis. “If you don’t do your homework, you’re going to come up with a half measure. And I honestly believe that that’s one of the reasons why we’re not making the progress that we should be on fentanyl.” 

Congressman David Rouzer, R-NC7, claimed that we have a pill problem in our society that is only adding fuel to the fire that is the opioid epidemic.  

“When I was growing up, nobody took a pill for anything; If you had a little anxiety or whatever, you went and played ball,” Rouzer said. “It’s just so different now. I run across a lot of young people, particularly here. And I’d venture to say everybody, 30 and younger, they’re either on Xanax or Adderall or two or three other things. Maybe that’s part of the problem.” 

Tillis concluded the conversation by emphasizing that these words must be translated into actions that yield positive results. 

“We’ve got to have people do the work to have it translate into either federal or state legislation that’s moving the needle,” he said. “Since we’ve been there, we really haven’t made that much progress, we’ve lost ground. We need to continue this discussion. Good meetings are great, but you can have a good meeting on any given day. To me, a good meeting is something that results in a positive step in the right direction.”