Trafficking Tragedy: How pandemic travel restrictions may have exacerbated fentanyl crisis

As illicit fentanyl becomes an increasingly-common cause of overdose deaths, some believe travel restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic directly contributed to the fentanyl crisis. 

In a recent commentary "Fentanyl Is Smuggled for U.S. Citizens By U.S. Citizens, Not Asylum Seekers", Associate Director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, David Bier, argues "border closures rapidly accelerated the transition from heroin to fentanyl, leading to tens of thousands of additional deaths per year."

The Cato Institute is a Libertarian think tank, which advocates for the de-regulation of immigration and drug policies. 

ABC57 NightTeam Anchor Tim Spears interviewed Bier about the issue. You can watch their full discussion, unedited, below: