FBI Director Kash Patel joined a group of state and federal law enforcement officers Wednesday in Allentown to brainstorm solutions to the fentanyl crisis.
Hosted by U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, the closed-door session included the families of young people who have died after taking the cheap synthetic opioid, which is often mixed with other drugs leading to accidental overdoses.
While overdose deaths in Pennsylvania are decreasing — down from an average 4,000 deaths per year in 2020-24 to about 1,500 deaths last year, according to McCormick — more needs to be done to stem the flow into our region, the Pennsylvania Republican senator said.
“While there is more to do, we are making a lot of progress,” McCormick said. “That is what a whole-of-government approach looks like, and I am grateful to Director Patel, the FBI, and state and local partners for their partnership in this fight.”
With Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan, state Attorney General Dave Sunday and Berks County District Attorney John Adams at the table, much of the roundtable’s agenda focused on law enforcement efforts to disrupt the flow of fentanyl into the Lehigh Valley and beyond. Treatment trends were also discussed, such at Holihan’s efforts to use opioid lawsuit settlement funds to increase access to rehabilitation programs including medication-assisted treatment.
Patel told the group that FBI fentanyl seizures were up 31% since this time last year, with nearly 5,000 pounds of the drug taken off the streets. He and McCormick credited $165 billion in Department of Homeland Security funding that was part of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” with stemming the flow of fentanyl, which is usually manufactured in China.
“This is a tremendous reminder that we’ve done good work, but we have a heck of a lot more to do,” Patel said.
Blair County Sheriff Jim Ott, a friend of McCormick’s whose 33-year-old son died from a fentanyl overdose, shared his story with the group. McCormick called Ott a hero for turning his family’s tragedy into a mission to help others.
McCormick co-sponsored the Halt Fentanyl Act, which permanently classifies fentanyl-related substances as schedule 1 drugs, and bills to stop the flow of new substances that are emerging threats, including the veterinary tranquilizer Xylazine, which is often mixed with fentanyl and causes severe tissue damage.