Biden Mistakenly Urges Blanket Fentanyl Ban After 200K Died On His Watch

[Sugar Cookie]

President Biden called Tuesday for fentanyl to be made a Schedule I drug, which would end common medical uses — before aides clarified that he only wants to restrict fentanyl-related compounds.

About 200,000 Americans have died during Biden’s term from synthetic opioids, shipped largely from China, and Biden made the remark while seeking to put the ball back in Congress’s court after criticism from Republicans.

“Look, I also urge Congress to permanently make fentanyl and related substances Schedule I drugs,” Biden said at a White House meeting with executive branch officials following a summit last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping — who agreed to halt exports of the drugs, even though his prior pledges didn’t slow a surge in US deaths.

Biden has stoked outrage with prior imprecise remarks about the crisis, including a trio of errors in January and February when he twice misstated the US death toll and incorrectly described fentanyl’s potency.

“He is either clueless about this deadly crisis or simply doesn’t care,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) tweeted earlier this year after one of the factual errors.

Fentanyl has a specific chemical formula — C22H28N2O — and like cocaine is a Schedule II drug, meaning it can be legally used with medical authorization to treat pain.

Schedule I drugs are defined as having no allowed medical use and cannot be prescribed.

Biden administration officials clarified to The Post that he was not actually calling for a ban on fentanyl, but for Congress to make permanent a 2018 emergency action that declared fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs.

The administration aides insisted to The Post that the president didn’t misspeak when he called on Congress to make fentanyl a Schedule I drug because, they said, he was thinking about illicit street fentanyl, which may or may not contain fentanyl-related substances.

White House spokeswoman Kelly Scully said, “This is exactly what he intended to say. Today’s event is specifically about illicit fentanyl not medical fentanyl.”

Fentanyl-related substances have slightly different chemical compositions than fentanyl itself, which in the past allowed traffickers to avoid penalties.

In recent weeks, Biden has increased his focus on fentanyl and said he knows multiple families who have had a relative die from contraband synthetic opioids, which generally are smuggled into the country rather than diverted from domestic medical supplies.

“Too many are going to face looking at an empty chair for the first time at Thanksgiving because so many people have died. It’s heartbreaking. It really is an American tragedy,” Biden said Tuesday.

“I’m committed to doing everything in my power as president to get this crisis under control,” he said.

Biden also urged Congress to approve $1.2 billion for fentanyl-screening equipment as part of a larger funding request in which he is seeking $14.3 billion to finance Israel’s war with Hamas and $61.4 billion to back Ukraine in its war with Russia.

A second Biden administration official, who specializes in the subject matter, told The Post that he didn’t consider Biden’s words inaccurate.

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Biden mistakenly urges blanket fentanyl ban after 200K died on his watch

The president called for fentanyl to be designated a Schedule I drug, but aides say he was just referring to related compounds.

nypost.com

 

[knockout]

For sure, you don’t have to twist Brandon’s words to make him look bad. Sure takes a lot of effort to try and make what he says seem rational

 

[cubby]

 

[thuumpr]

What Joe says 'watch', is he looking at his?

 

[thatsmallgrl]

Because you know making crack, cocaine, pot, meth, so and so forth illegal has worked wonders too...

What he said and what he meant doesn't really make much of a different here, honestly. While drugs are bad mmmkay, it's how they get here more so that's the problem.