Secretary Blinken’s Introductory Remarks for President Biden at the Summit of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good afternoon, everyone.
Let me start by thanking all the heads of state, all the leaders, the foreign ministers, who took time during this incredibly busy week to be here today. The exceptional group that’s gathered in this room is a testament to the priority that our countries place on addressing the synthetic drug crisis – and the strength of our partnerships.
Now, for years, the threat of synthetic drugs has been rising around the world: methamphetamines in the East, in Southeast Asia; Captagon in the Middle East, tramadol in Africa; and here in the United States fentanyl, the number-one killer of Americans aged 18-49[1]. And think about that for just a minute – not car accidents, not guns, not cancer, not heart attacks – fentanyl.
This is by definition a global challenge: people ship precursor chemicals, the ingredients that go into fentanyl from one country to another; criminals make them into synthetic drugs, and then sell them in a third country. Every country needs to take steps at home to address this challenge. But no single government can solve it alone.
So last year, in July, the United States and our partners launched this global coalition to mobilize a coordinated response to the threat of synthetic drugs. We started out with 80 countries; today, nearly 160 countries and 15 international organizations.
Over the last year, we’ve consulted with more than 1,600 experts from around the world. And together, this coalition has taken concrete steps to make our communities safer, to make our people healthier.
We’ve created an international network for legislators so that they can share best practices and create laws that make it harder for drug traffickers to buy the precursor chemicals or smuggle products across borders.
Together, we’re tracking and warning law enforcement and health professionals about new trends in drug use.
We’ve trained officials on how to use a new tool that scrapes the internet and finds people who are illegally selling precursor chemicals and other substances.
Members of this coalition are developing new public health measures, whether that’s sharing school curriculums, expanding access to naloxone, creating resources for addiction treatment centers.
Today, the United States is introducing a new pledge, outlining seven lines of effort that will guide our work together for the year ahead, on areas like regulating drugs and chemicals, monitoring supply chains, sharing real-time data on drug use.
These lines of effort can be tailored to every country and every organization. So we welcome you joining us and pledging your support.
In a moment, we’ll also hear from several coalition members about their leadership, their commitments, and we’ll carry this work forward together.
Together, all of our countries’ efforts add up to a stronger global network, a more effective response to synthetic drug threats.
So please, keep it up. We can save lives. We are saving lives. We can protect our communities. We are protecting our communities. And we can make this world we share a little bit healthier and a little bit more secure.
Now, it is my honor to introduce a powerful advocate for this work, someone who spent years building coalitions to deliver on the issues that matter most to people – President of the United States, Joe Biden.
Thank you. (Applause.)
President Bidens Speech
Transcript of the Speech as released by the White House.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. To all the — my fellow leaders from nations around the world, thank you for being here. It makes a big difference.
A couple of years ago, a father who I got to meet from a small town here in the United States wrote me a letter about his daughter. Her name was Courtney. She was bright and smart, she had a laugh that was contagious, and wanted to travel the world. But in high school, she became addicted to pills.
Her father eventually brought her to a treatment facility, but his insurance company wouldn’t cover the cost. They said, quote, “It wasn’t a matter of life and death.”
A month later, Courtney died from a fe- — fentanyl overdose. She was just 20 years old — 20 years old.
In his letter that he wrote to me, he described life without his child. He said, and I quote, “There is no greater pain.” “There is no greater pain.”
I told him I know what it’s like, having lost several children myself — two children. There is no greater pain. They still live in your heart, but there’s no greater pain.
Ladies and gentlemen, that’s why we’re here.
Too many people all across our nation have stories like this. Too many families have suffered unbearable pain and unbearable loss.
Opioids are the deadliest drug threat in our history. I’ve been working on drug control for a long, long time — since the days I was a senator, but this is the deadliest of them all.
For years, too little has been done to beat this threat here at home and around the world.
In fact, before I came to office, overdose deaths in our country were increasing by more than 30 percent year over year.
But when I became president, I made beating the opioid endemic [epidemic] a central part of the Unity Agenda, something that our entire nation could rally around and has.
For over the last four years, we’ve turned that agenda into action. My administration made Nal- — excuse me, Na- — made Naloxone, a lifesaving overdose reversal medicine, available over the counter. You can purchase it over the counter for the first time. We invested over $80 billion across 50 states to expand access to addiction treatment and support. I issued an executive order that cut cartel leaders off from fina- — our financial system, including issuing 300 sanctions. And I’ve deployed hundreds of advanced X-ray ou- — machines to stop the threat of pills and powder coming across our border.
Because I want to be clear: This is — this is a national security threat.
In July of this year, I signed a national security memorandum. It officially recognized that fact, that it is a national security threat. It calls on every part of our government to do more to stop fentanyl and protect our homeland from this threat.
But as all of you know, this a global challenge and it requires a global solutions.
So, we established the Tri- — the Trilateral Fentanyl Committee with Canada and Mexi- — and Mexico to stop narcotics from crossing our border.
I reignited counternarcotics cooperation with China to increase law enforcement cooperation and tackle the supply chains of precursor chemicals and pill presses.
And I directed my team to build this coalition — this Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drugs. As all of you here know, this coalition now has, as the secretary of State said, 150 nations as part of it.
The result of these efforts: More fentanyl has been seized at our border in the last two years than the previous five years combined — in the previous five years combined. Nearly 60,000 pounds of fentanyl have been seized. That’s enough to kill every single American many times over.
Dozens of major cartel leaders and traffickers are now behind bars.
And I’m proud to announce, for the first time in five years, overdose deaths are actually coming down across America. The latest data shows a 10 percent drop. That’s the largest decrease on record.
Folks, this matters. These aren’t just facts and figures. They’re families — families who don’t have to bear the loss of a child, a parent, a spouse — families who are kept whole.
But there are too many that are still dying. There’s so much more that needs to be done.
So, my message today is very simple: We can’t let up. We cannot let up.
Drug manufacturers and cartels continue to adapt their practices, develop new chemicals, move fast to evade our efforts. We have to move faster.
They continue to exploit the global supply chains to expand their networks. We’ve got to cut them off.
They continue to fuel violence, corruption, and instability. We’ve got to protect our people and our communities.
So, that’s why I’m calling on every nation here to commit to our new global coalition pledge. This lays out the action we must all take to seize more drugs, stop more cartels, save more lives.
I also want to thank the leaders here who are stepping up and launching a new initiatives today to advance coalition efforts all across three key — key areas. First, disrupting supply chain, including production and distribution of illicit — of illicit drugs. Secondly, detecting emerging drug threats and increasing information sharing across all our countries. And thirdly, preventing more deaths by treating more people through public health interventions, increased access to lifesaving medications.
It’s possible. It’s about disrupt, detect, prevent, and treat.
Together, we’re making it clear: Enough is enough is enough.
Let me close with this. As leaders, we all have one solemn responsibility: protect our people from harm.
Together, through this coalition, I believe we can do just that. We can disrupt the cycle of violence and instability that drug cr- — traffickers create. We can get our people the care they need and deserve. We can save lives, but only — but only if we come together and work together. The choice is ours.
And I believe there can be only one answer: We can, we will, and we must.
So, thank you all for being here. Let’s get to work.
And I want to — you to hear from other leaders in this room as well.
So, thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.)
Sources: THX News, The White House & US Department of State.
