Fentanyl Crisis: Is the Border the Problem?

At Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, he discussed the fentanyl crisis, noting that the drug is killing more than 70,000 Americans a year. At that point, according to the AP’s account:

A few lawmakers called out “It’s the border.” The voice of one, Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, rang out clearly: “It’s your fault!”

Though combatting the opioid epidemic is, thankfully, a mostly-bipartisan issue, the border aspect is particularly fraught, with both sides throwing around misinformation.

The Republican take is that the crisis is driven largely by our fairly-porous border with Mexico; we don’t do enough to stop drugs from getting in, and so more people die.

The Democratic take is that most of the drugs get in through official crossings, smuggled in cars, so increasing enforcement or building a bigger wall won’t do much.

Both positions are flawed, and here’s why.