(The Center Square) – Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall told the U.S. Senate on Wednesday that the economic toll of fentanyl is staggering as China smuggles precursors into Mexico for the cartels to ship north.
His testimony followed a news release Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, predicting a 24% national decline in recent drug overdose deaths. Hall painted a different picture as overdose deaths rise in Spokane and across the Pacific Northwest.
Last year, the Spokane Fire Department experienced a 30% increase in overdose calls, with over 75% of opioid-related fatalities attributed to fentanyl. Hall previously served 32 years with the Tucson Police Department and testified on his experience combating illicit drug networks.
“Since 2019, the annual number of opioid drug overdoses has doubled in Washington state, and Spokane’s opioid deaths have surpassed the state’s average,” Hall testified. “Recent reports by the CDC and DEA illustrating national declines in fatal drug overdoses are not the reality in Washington state.”
He reminded the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that the opioid crisis cost U.S. taxpayers $1.5 trillion in 2020 alone. Hall said much of the fentanyl comes into the country through legal ports of entry, highlighting Tucson’s recent seizure of 1.7 million pills.
Hall urged Congress to pass the Stop Smuggling Illicit Synthetic Drugs on U.S. Transportation Networks Act. U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., introduced the legislation with several other lawmakers last September to “create first-ever inspection strategies to stop drug smuggling.”
If approved, the bill would mandate drug screenings for all vehicles and trains entering the U.S., and at least 50% of air and maritime shipments, increasing annually until reaching 100%. It also establishes inspection programs for trains, commercial trucks and other ships.
The proposal would combine nonintrusive screening technology with artificial intelligence and quantum computing. The bill addresses trafficking in several ways, pushing for collaboration among enforcement agencies at different levels with help from private and public entities.
“The supply chain is clear: the Chinese Triad sells precursor chemicals to Mexican drug cartels, hidden on ships and in air cargoes, and cartels make fentanyl and smuggle it through,” Cantwell said. “They hide fentanyl [in] personal vehicles, commercial trucks, buses, trains, planes and even on unmanned aerial vehicles; so, this is a danger to our national security.”
Hall said any tool would help to stop narcotics along the border and U.S. interstates. He spoke on instances of Spokane law enforcement seizing pounds of powder fentanyl, bulk shipments from Tri-Cities and one bust of more than 500,000 pills and 60 pounds of methamphetamine.
Trafficking extends to other parts of the state, too. Last year, the Burien Police Department seized more than $1 million worth of fentanyl, meth and heroin from a commercial truck. In 2023, a bust at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport found more than 400,000 fentanyl pills.
Despite efforts, the chief said law enforcement is only stopping a fraction of the narcotics entering the country.
“The fight against fentanyl is urgent. It’s real,” Hall said. “Strengthening our enforcement capabilities will save lives.”
