• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Brandon Dunn wipes his eyes during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington Feb. 1, 2023, on the impact of illicit fentanyl use in the U.S. Dunn is sitting with a small urn holding ashes of his late son Noah Dunn, who died from an accidental fentanyl overdose. (OSV News photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)

Catholic experts say U.S. has just one path out of fentanyl crisis

April 23, 2024
By Gina Christian
OSV News
Filed Under: Feature, Health Care, News, U.S. Congress, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Catholics working to address the nation’s fentanyl problem told OSV News a new congressional report naming China — and blaming its government — as the key source of the drug is important but old news, and that healing rising rates of addiction ultimately demands divine assistance.

On April 16, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party released a 64-page document on the CCP’s role in the fentanyl crisis. The synthetic opioid and its analogues claim “over 200 Americans daily,” and hundreds of thousands of lives over the past several years, according to researchers.

The report was presented by committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.

China under the CCP “is the ultimate geographic source of the fentanyl crisis,” with numerous companies producing “nearly all of illicit fentanyl precursors,” chemicals that are then exported to cartels in Mexico for processing and distribution, said the report.

A person holds a pack of fentanyl test strips dispersed from a vending machine in Brooklyn, N.Y., June 7, 2023. Results of a lengthy investigation by a House committee released April 16, 2024, showed that the Chinese government directly subsidizes and encourages manufacturing and export of fentanyl materials. (OSV News photo/Amr Alfiky, Reuters)

Tax rebates, subsidies, ownership of production facilities and open cooperation with manufacturers were all cited in the report as evidence of the CCP’s involvement in the fentanyl trade.

“Fentanyl is such a destructive poison, (and) it’s just a shame it’s taken this long for the people in charge to understand this is a weapon of mass destruction,” said Detective James Wood, a Philadelphia-area narcotics investigator whose 40-year career has included the takedown of notorious abortionist and drug dealer Kermit Gosnell.

Philadelphia’s impoverished Kensington neighborhood has gained international notoriety for its large, open-air drug market and encampments of persons grappling with substance abuse.

Wood, who relies on his deeply held Catholic faith to sustain his work, told OSV News the nation “has to get more involved in fighting” the epidemic of fentanyl addiction, and that “one of the best ways” to do so is through “exposure” of global narcotrafficking.

In 2022, overall drug overdoses in the U.S. totaled just under 108,000, with synthetic opioid deaths rising by 4.1 percent from the previous year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While medically prescribed fentanyl is used in clinical pain management, illicit fentanyl is “the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18-45 and a leading cause in the historic drop in American life expectancy,” said the House report.

In 2022, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seized over 379 million lethal doses of the drug, with law enforcement in California confiscating “enough fentanyl to potentially kill the entire population of North America, twice,” the report said.

In addition to fentanyl, China is the key source for nitazenes and xylazine, deadly new drugs that are often mixed with heroin or cocaine, and that have gained swift traction in the nation’s illegal drug market.

Nitazenes, originally developed in the 1950s but never approved for use, are more potent than fentanyl, while xylazine — an animal sedative known as “tranq” — produces necrotic skin ulcerations in users, something Wood has seen firsthand on the job.

During a recent car stop, Wood noticed the driver, who was transporting illegal drugs, had “at least an eight-by-four-inch wound” on his arm from xylazine use.

“The skin was completely missing on his forearm,” said Wood. “You could see his veins. He looked like a living zombie.”

Despite the massive ulceration, the suspect was reluctant to accept medical attention, Wood said.

Ken Johnston, executive director of Our House Ministries — a Catholic recovery outreach in Philadelphia — has had similar experiences in his work.

“There was one guy I was trying to get to go to rehab for six months … and he’s kind of disappeared. We suspect he died,” Johnston told OSV News. “He didn’t want to get help; he didn’t want to go into the hospital because he had open wounds from the tranq.”

Johnston — who told OSV News he was not surprised by the report’s findings — also pointed out that fentanyl and xylazine are not only plentiful, but inexpensive.

“A bag of heroin used to be $30 or $40, but a bag of fentanyl is maybe $5,” he said.

Our House founder Father Douglas McKay — who lost his brother Anthony to an overdose in 1995 — said that sacramental grace is crucial in healing addiction and its physical, mental and spiritual scars.

“Sacraments are personal encounters with the Lord,” said Father McKay, who also is a papal Missionary of Mercy and rector of Malvern Retreat Center in Malvern, Pennsylvania, where he ministers to hundreds in recovery each year. “We meet Jesus there, and that gives strength and power to conquer drugs and alcohol. … There’s no other power. There’s no other way.”

While the new House report may spark more federal action to stem the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, “the only thing that’s going to fix this (problem of addiction) is the love of God,” said Johnston. “That’s the only answer.”

Read More Health Care

Supreme Court upholds Tennessee’s gender transition ban for minors

Trump administration revokes Biden-era abortion directive for emergency rooms

Archdiocese continues focus on mental health with aim to take away stigma 

Experts flag concerns over EPPC study on dangers of pill used in miscarriage care, abortion

After prostate cancer diagnosis, Delaware diocese offers prayers of intercession for Biden

House GOP budget proposal includes cuts to Medicaid, groups that perform abortions

Copyright © 2024 OSV News

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Gina Christian

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • 3 North Americans named to Vatican dicasteries for ecumenism, interreligious dialogue

  • Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

  • St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

  • St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

  • DUAL ENROLLMENT Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

| Latest Local News |

Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

Radio Interview: Exploring the Nicene Creed – Part Two

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

| Latest World News |

Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit

Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war

care of creation

Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass

sorry baby

Movie Review: Sorry, Baby

ICE

ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Movie Review: Superman
  • Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit
  • Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war
  • Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass
  • Movie Review: Sorry, Baby
  • ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release
  • Come away and rest awhile
  • French woman hopes sharing mystical encounter with Minnesota Benedictine helps sainthood cause
  • Pope: Vatican still ready to host peace talks between Russia, Ukraine

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en