Political Quotes

On the recordSeptember 28, 2022
Mr. President, I took chemistry in high school. I wasn't very good at it, but I think I got a B, and I was glad to get rid of it because I didn't understand a lot of it, and that was not where I was headed in life. The question which the Senator from Wisconsin puts before us today is a complicated question. It seems he is--do we have a drug crisis in America? Yes. Is fentanyl dangerous? Yes. Is fentanyl deadly? Yes. Is fentanyl on schedule I, the highest possible narcotic rating under our Criminal Code? Yes. So what is this discussion about fentanyl? Why are we at this again? I don't know the Senator from Wisconsin's background in chemistry and the like, but here is how I understand it and why it is not as simple as paying tribute to this young man who lost his life to fentanyl. And I can come up with examples that I have run into as well. It is heartbreaking what is going on. There are certain elements that contain fentanyl that have other chemical structures, not simple fentanyl, which is already a prohibited narcotic under American law. And these so-called analogs of fentanyl have many chemical variations. It turns out that some of them are deadly dangerous, but some of them are not. It turns out that some are deadly dangerous, and others may have a promise to be the next Narcan for the researchers. So we have been struggling, literally, for years with a research community that says: When it comes to fentanyl analogs, don't sweep them all into category I.…
Said by
Dick Durbin
Democratic · Illinois

Share & report

More from Dick Durbin

Jul 17, 2025

He led this administration's embarrassing efforts to strike a corrupt bargain with New York City Mayor Eric Adams and he's been trailed by a history of complaints long predating his affiliation with President Trump about his temperament…

cbsnews.com
Jul 11, 2025

This will be the first time ever in the history of the Smithsonian someone has taken one of their displays and forcibly taken possession of it.

breitbart.com
May 8, 2025

I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto), the Senator from Illinois (Ms. Duckworth), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego), the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), the…

govinfo.gov
Jun 30, 2025

Republicans just struck down an amendment to protect our rural hospitals from being forced to close or reduce their services.

newsweek.com

Other voices in this conversation