Voices for Voices®

How China Is Fueling America's Fentanyl Crisis | Episode 172

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 172

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How China Is Fueling America's Fentanyl Crisis | Episode 172

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Chapter Markers
0:00 The Dangers of Fentanyl Trafficking
26:14 Voices for Voices® TV Show

Discover the unsettling reality of fentanyl's role in the drug trade and how it fuels the cycle of addiction. We promise you an eye-opening exploration of how this potent substance is used to cut drugs, creating a dangerous landscape for those battling addiction. Learn about the monumental challenges the United States faces in curbing fentanyl's flow across the border and the complex policy implications that arise. This episode sheds light on the broader societal issues that exacerbate addiction, offering you a comprehensive understanding of this urgent crisis and sparking a conversation about potential solutions.

On a brighter note, we share our commitment to impactful storytelling through the Voices for Voices® TV show and podcast. We're joined by a diverse range of guests who bring invaluable insights from around the globe. Tune in to hear how we're aiming to touch three billion lives by fostering a community of engaged listeners. Your support through listening, sharing, and subscribing is crucial in widening our reach and leaving a meaningful legacy. This episode is as much about gratitude and personal growth as it is about informing and inspiring others on their journeys.

This episode delves into the harsh realities of drug addiction, focusing primarily on the role of fentanyl in the growing overdose crisis. It highlights the complex dynamics of drug trafficking, immigration, and individual vulnerabilities, urging listeners to join the fight against addiction with empathy and informed action.

• Exploring the impact of addiction on individuals and communities
• Discussing the economics of drug trafficking using fentanyl
• Analyzing the role of undocumented immigration in the drug crisis
• Addressing the concerning statistics of unaccounted children at the border
• Advocating for policy changes to tackle the influx of fentanyl
• Emphasizing the mission of Voices for Voices® in recovery support
• Encouraging collective action for community healing and support

Voices for Voices® is the #1 ranked podcast where people turn to for expert mental health, recovery and career advancement intelligence.

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As you can see, the Voices for Voices® podcast publishes episodes that focus on case studies, real life examples, actionable tips and "in the trenches" reports and interviews from subscribers like you.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I am your host, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, justin Alnaz. Thank you for joining us. We're excited to be able to share this episode with you, wherever you are.

Speaker 1:

We talk about overdosing. We talk about people who are addicted to drugs, to substances, people that are vulnerable. We're all vulnerable, but for whatever the reason, if an individual does not have stable housing, stable food intake or a food, it can be really hard to handle and talk about the topic of addiction to others. To me, we may look at an individual, a person, a human as well. They're able to make solid decisions for themselves, and I'm not condoning individuals who have made bad life decisions. I've made bad life decisions. I think we all have. We look at various degrees of what those are, but right now I'm here, you're there, and so we can talk about the addiction and recovery of individuals. Well, let's get started. Well, let's get started.

Speaker 1:

So there's this little-known substance out there called fentanyl. Fentanyl is inexpensive From the drug cartels, anybody who's trafficking substances. It's very inexpensive. So this is fentanyl is used to cut certain drugs, cut certain drugs, and what that means is, let's say, hypothetically, you have two ounces of a particular powder substance and we want to make money, right, so we could sell those. And hypothetically I don't know the numbers, just throwing them out there let's say for these two, two ounces, two grams, it doesn't matter. Let's say, for these two, a person dealing in this particular drug can earn $2,000 on the street. But if they cut it, so they take the two, they cut it in half, they split it and now they have one and one. Well, how do they make double? They cut it. So they put other substances, other drugs in to make up that difference. Because well, $2,000, 2,000 pesos, 2,000 euros, that's a lot of money. If it's doubled that's even more money. So they would take a proportionate amount of fentanyl to make two and two. And so they would sell that first two for $2,000. They would sell that second two for $2,000. They would sell that second two for $2,000. $2,000 plus $2,000 equals $4,000. And on and on and on we go.

Speaker 1:

If we have the word pure, pure would give the idea that whatever drug, whatever substance has not been cut at all, that it being, the substance is pure, it's just as it was manufactured and it has not been cut. And so we talk about business. Number one goal of business is to make money to continue operating. So whether we're selling T-shirts or we're selling cocaine in the simplest form, we want to make money. We have bills to pay, we have things we want to buy, we have families to support, we have trips, we want to go on, we have cars, we have houses, we have things. We have stuff that we want, people we want to support, and we take what was two and then make two and two, one each of the particular substance, cocaine, and one of fentanyl, and then that's what gives us the two and two, which equals four, which equals four. And so whether that four is sold in Cancun, mexico, Los Angeles, california, miami, florida, it doesn't matter. Obviously there's cost of living and differences that are in there, but wherever that four is being sold, that drug dealer is making double the amount that they would have if they wouldn't have cut it.

Speaker 1:

So fentanyl is one of the substances that is used to cut. It also has very wicked effects of their own. So there's individuals, there's people, humans everywhere that may have an addiction. We're not going to get into why they have an addiction, how they got the addiction, we're just going to talk about an individual where you live, where I live, and they have an addiction and they are consuming some of a drug to to continue that addiction, even though in their mind they might not be thinking of it as the addiction, they're just. I want to feel a certain way again. So I'm going to continue and continue and I'm going to take more and more and more, because when I had the first time, then then I had the second time. The second time wasn't like the first, so the second I got to take more, then the third time more, and it just becomes this wicked cycle that's occurring and so now I'm going to talk about here in the United States.

Speaker 1:

So we have, as United States government, the President Biden, vice President Harris, administration Secretary Blinken, merrick Garland, you name it. They have given a green light to fentanyl coming across the border. Well, you may say, or there's an argument, well, if there wasn't a demand, there wouldn't be the product. Okay, that's fair. But let's think about it in this way the fentanyl doesn't have legs, it doesn't have transportation. It may have a drone. I guess that could be carrying it, flying it across the border, but by the past administration, letting millions and millions of undocumented people from all over the world. People from all over the world.

Speaker 1:

Now there's a process in place where individuals, such as my grandparents they came to the United States from another country but they came through the legal way and there were certain checkpoints and things that they needed to do before they could be a citizen and be able to get the housing that individuals are now have have been getting day one. They're getting brand new clothes or getting stays and the and some of the most expensive hotels, weapons. We've seen crime just get out of control. So, like I mentioned, fentanyl doesn't walk on its own. So some of these individuals coming across the border over the last four years have brought over some of these substances and some of these substances have either been cut with fentanyl that we know is way more potent than the regular fentanyl. So these substances, they're coming across the border in record numbers.

Speaker 1:

There's at least 300,000 undocumented, unaccounted for children, which you've heard us talk about on an earlier TikTok video. We can't, we can't. Where are these children at? They come across the board and they just disappear. Come on, let's be real about this. So, for whatever reason, individuals have been coming across the border, basically at will and our government, up until today, has not been given the authority to put these individuals through the processes, the legal processes, and so they've been just doing administration, the legal processes, and so they've been just doing administration like, oh, here's how many and here we'll give you a court date, but nobody, very few, show up for the court date. And then when they try to fine them, it sometimes can be difficult. Okay, so that's be difficult. Okay, so that's 14 minutes about that.

Speaker 1:

So the big thing is now, since the inauguration of Donald Trump, that is, that is stopping and mass deportations will be happening, and we support individuals if they are truly coming from bad places and then they're really in fear of their lives, so we mentally support them. So when I say support, that doesn't always mean that money is being handed from our organization. That's not what I'm talking about. So we support the effort. So if somebody comes across the border and they go and go through the processes that they need to, we're good with that. When they don't, we we're good with that. When they don't, we're not good with that.

Speaker 1:

Because, number one, we're bringing people in. We don't know where they're from, and they're not just from Mexico, they're not just from countries or areas that they say they're from. They're from all over. They're from the Middle East, they're from the Far East, they're from everywhere. And so one is, as a nation, I can't feel safe, you can't feel as safe. We don't know who's prowling about the world and prowling about our communities. And, as a father of a child, that bothers me. It has bothered me, so that stopped.

Speaker 1:

The second part is talking about the fentanyl. As we stop the influx, we give more time for the process of bringing people into the United States legally. That gives more time for vetting and more time for vetting and background checks. What's on their person, what's in a purse, what's in a backpack, what's in if they've ingested the drugs, and that helps. While we wanted the 100% stop, it will vastly slow down the influx of fentanyl across our border. That when it makes it across the borders. Or you don't even have to be in the United States. There are people using illicit substances across the world. So it's not just the United States problem, but we.

Speaker 1:

I live in the United States, so that's why we're hitting that one pretty hard. So this does not. So the slowing or stopping of individuals who haven't met the criteria to come across the border. That doesn't stop the individual in my neighborhood or your neighborhood who is using, continuing to use. The hope is that they stop and that's just in general for my health. A human to human, we we want one people to be the best version of themselves and that's without some of these foreign illegal substances. So it might not stop that individual from using. But the more we cut the fentanyl meaning we're stopping it from coming in or we're decreasing it at any level will mean less deaths and overdoses from the addiction, and that was not happening over the last four years. Less deaths and overdoses from the addiction, and that was not happening over the last four years.

Speaker 1:

And so there may be people, organizations, don't agree with this episode, with us talking about this, but this is true, about this, but this is true. So if you don't believe it, I can't, we can't. We're not forcing anybody to do anything. You're hanging around watching around, voices for Voices. We want the health and vitality of everyone. So we also want that drug dealer to stop dealing drugs. We want them to have an ability to make a living and support their family and themselves without pushing destruction on other people, from the addiction to overdosing, to deaths. So that change that happened here with the inauguration of the 47th president, the 60th inauguration President of the United States, at 12.01 pm Eastern Time, january 20th.

Speaker 1:

Some of these measures are starting to be put in place to hopefully curb the influx of fentanyl, whether it is embedded with a product or whether it is on its own, because there are individuals who know what fentanyl does and they'll take fentanyl by itself. So all we can do as an organization, as an individual, is the hope, the pray that individuals make choices. That increases their lifespan and just their being alive and wanting more out of life than being held hostage by a substance, and that's important. So, whether you agree, your organization, your foundation, whether there's an agreement about who we voted for, who voted for who and who's doing what, what I just laid out are facts. The facts are millions have come across the border illegally, just a fact. If you don't want to believe it, I can't force you. And with some of those people, drugs are coming with them. And without enforcing the laws and putting those individuals through, and putting those individuals through what my family, my grandparents, had to go through to come here on US soil, it just boggles the mind. So I don't know why it happened Cheap labor. I don't know why it happened Cheap labor, I don't know.

Speaker 1:

But we're looking at it from the mental health, public health standpoint. If we want people to live, want people to live longer, well, we don't have control. I don't have control over that. I don't have that control over for myself. But I can tell you right now, if I was continuing down the path that I was, I probably wouldn't be sitting here talking to you through the screen or on the podcast, on the audio, and so that's where a lot of this is coming from. If I went on that path, I don't know where that would have ended. I would have it very good.

Speaker 1:

And so, by helping, if we can help one person, then maybe we can help two. We help two, maybe we could help four. We help four, maybe we could help eight. And so we can take the math side of what we talked about with cutting the substance with fentanyl, and take that, push that aside, but bring the math and say, well, if we can help two, why can't we help four? If we can help four, what about eight? So double the individuals. And that doesn't mean we're providing financial support. In some instances we may. In many instances we don't because, as I mentioned, without continued support, we're not going to be able to continue as an organization. Bringing content is not going to be able to continue as an organization. Bringing content is not going to be able to happen Because of that episode.

Speaker 1:

I talk about censorship and shadow banning and that that's real. That affects people, that affects organizations, and we're one of them who has had to buckle down, put our heads down and just continue. Just continue one foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other. And so that's why you've seen, since the beginning of 2025. We have, and we're going to continue to make that statement and we have and we're going to continue to help people and we're going to work with organizations who have similar mindsets, similar missions, similar goals.

Speaker 1:

You're going to see us show up with high-profile guests, and not high-profile guests. You're going to see us show up in another country, not just in the United States, but what I can assure you, what our board can assure you, is, the more you listen, the more you watch, the more you like, the more you share, the more you subscribe, all free. That helps get content to somebody that may need to hear it and maybe it doesn't get to that individual directly. Maybe it goes through a family member or a loved one, a significant other, a brother, a sister, a nephew, an aunt, an uncle, a grandma, a grandpa, a mom, dad, a pastor, a coach, a teacher, a superintendent, principal, friend, a player on your team or their team, and so we want to just continue to thank everyone.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast.

Speaker 1:

I haven't been able to get that ending in some of these episodes because we've had so much good content to talk, talk through, and that's okay with me, because that's more important than me saying my name and the host and the founder or executive director and all that.

Speaker 1:

So, thank you, thank you, thank you for what you have done and you continue to do, and we appreciate yeah, we appreciate you and helping us reach and help in one way or another, three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond, because I'm not going to live forever, none of us are. But in the end, I want to think of my legacy, as not only did I take some bad things, I was doing some bad decisions, some bad decision making. Turn those around as much as I can. I could Not perfect, and that when I could, that I was able to share an experience or two that may help somebody along the way Doesn't have to be big, it can be small. We're just grateful to help anybody. So until next time, please be a voice for you or somebody in need.

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Justin Alan Hayes

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