A letter received by Mr. Bellezza

Dear America,

It’s time to make the opioid crisis a front-and-center issue facing our nation. Between April 2020 and April 2021, there were over 64,000 deaths from fentanyl overdoses. Since 1999 there have been over 1 million overdose deaths, 68% of which were opioids, 678,000 souls. Between 1961 and 1975, the US was engaged in the Vietnam conflict. During that period, we lost 58,220 men and women. The losses inflicted upon our country by these illegal drugs are staggering and continue upward. Last year nearly 71,000. It’s time we treated these activities as attacks on the US as severe as any foes we have faced before.

What I propose, in reverse order:

1. Increasing penalties on any person or organization to a minimum of life imprisonment for trafficking in fentanyl. The death penalty for distribution causing death to a user. Relegating these crimes as acts of war, treating them as enemy combatants, and prosecuting them through military tribunals.

2. Enforcing strict border controls that stop smuggling operations and notifying and enforcing the same penalties I’ve just mentioned.

3. Begin airstrikes and interdiction on drug cartel production sites in Mexico or other identified areas. We can’t rely and should not expect assistance from Mexico or any other country with compromised enforcement agencies. We have the ability to identify targets, not only facilities but equipment and individuals from satellite surveillance, and other localized methods. As a former military intelligence officer, I know these capabilities, and they are extraordinary.

4. Begin interdiction of fentanyl as it arrives. We know the sources and methods of transport. We seize any planes, ships or other methods transport and hold any equipment seized as a cost war.

5. Begin severe sanctions on the Chinese or any government allowing the production of fentanyl and providing or accommodating any shipments to our identified combatants.

   This is a battle we must win. We lost 405,000 men in World War II. Wake up America. Make this a military operation. It is a crisis that may affect my 7 grandkids and spin out of control. Take it out of the hands of politicians and weak prosecutors. We are faced with dire circumstances if we don’t act now.

Signed,

Len Bellezza Citizen and Veteran