In the News

On Wednesday, Congressman Mike Ezell visited the Veteran’s Memorial Museum in Laurel for a quick tour and a presentation on fentanyl.

“We’ve really got to get a hold on this,” Ezell said.

Ezell got a hands-on lesson from Col. Robert Bartran.

“This is an epidemic,” Bartan said. “It’s impacting our kids, young and old; unsuspecting kids. Not necessarily kids with afflictions, addictions or any type of behavioral issues; just kids being kids; experimenting and utilizing something they trust-- or they think is trustworthy.

“This product is in there, and it’s deadly.”

Bartran is part of the Regional Counterdrug Training Academy, and his research shows just how deadly fentanyl can be.

“If you had liquid fentanyl, and you dipped a needle into the fentanyl,” he said, “and pulled it out with no excess dripping off, and you touched it to your tongue or broke your skin, that amount of fentanyl on the tip of the needle is enough to cause an overdose in a human being.”

Ezell recently visited the US-Mexico border to discuss security in hopes of reducing the impact of fentanyl in the community.

“It’s a crisis down there” Ezell said. “The cartel is in control of the southern border. Fentanyl is coming across every day. There’s nobody that their family has not been touched by this fentanyl crisis. We’re losing 100,000 Americans a year.”

Ezell said that he supported a recent bill signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves, allowing the legal use of fentanyl testing strips.

“I think it’s a positive thing,” he said. “We’ve got to get this done. So many folks are suffering. Somebody dies from this fentanyl stuff, and it affects a lot of people.”