Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake announced on Tuesday a new effort to combat the opioid crisis in the Copper State. Called “The Families Fighting Fentanyl Coalition,” the new initiative aims to work with parents to educate and empower Arizonans to work with authorities to stem the flood of the deadly drug into the homes and schools across the state. Tuesday was National Fentanyl Awareness Day.
The effort is part of the U.S. Senate hopeful’s ongoing campaign to address what she calls a severe crisis fueled by inadequate border controls under President Joe Biden’s administration.
The coalition’s launch was after a rally in Nogales, Arizona, where Lake was joined by parents who have lost children to fentanyl poisoning, including Clark Griffin and Karen Griffin, who have been named as the group’s co-chairs. Lake said the goal is to save the “next generation of Americans from the scourge of fentanyl.”
On National Fentanyl Awareness Day, I am proud to launch my Families Fighting Fentanyl Coalition.
It will be led by Angel parents Karen and Clark Griffin, who have dedicated their lives to saving the next generation of Americans from the scourge of fentanyl.
We will secure the… pic.twitter.com/m0CYkz0Kqw
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) May 8, 2024
The new coalition appears to underscore her long-standing policy positions against drug and human trafficking. Lake’s platform – first published during her 2022 bid for governor – advocates for stringent border measures to solve the crisis, aligning with broader law and order policies reminiscent of former President Donald Trump’s stance on border security.
Lake has made numerous visits to the border, reinforcing her stance on the urgency of addressing border security as it relates to the fentanyl crisis. In a 2023 speech at Nogales, she characterized the influx of fentanyl across what she described as a “wide open border” as a “weapon of mass destruction.”
At the Tuesday rally, Lake emphasized the devastating impact of fentanyl to families, which she noted is now the most common substance involved in opioid overdose deaths in Arizona.
In Maricopa County, fentanyl has become a severe public health crisis, highlighted by a staggering 4,900 percent increase in deaths since 2015, and is involved in 60 percent of all drug-related deaths in the county. On average, more than three people die each day from fentanyl-related causes in this area alone.
“Never did we imagine that our beautiful and talented son would become a statistic among the hundreds of thousands of American citizens killed by synthetic fentanyl poisoning,” parents Clark and Karen Griffin said in a statement.
They said that in discussions with Lake, she vowed that their son’s death would not be forgotten.
“We need a warrior who will fight the fentanyl crisis with a vengeance,” the couple added.
Christy Kelly is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Christy on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kari Lake” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
