President Donald Trump claimed that recent U.S. military strikes on five Venezuelan boats have saved hundred thousand American lives, asserting that each destroyed vessel prevented 25,000 drug-related deaths, however no evidence supports this claim, according to fact-checking organization PolitiFact.
Speaking at press briefing earlier, U.S. President said, “Every boat that we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives.” He also alleged the boats were carrying fentanyl.
Experts told PolitiFact that Venezuela plays a minimal role in narcotics trafficking to United States. Most illicit fentanyl entering the country originates from Mexico, mainly smuggled through legal border crossings and often by American citizens.
Drug policy researchers emphasized that drug seizures or interdictions cannot be directly linked to the number of overdose deaths prevented. Dr. Alene Kennedy-Hendricks of Johns Hopkins University “There’s no method to translate drug seizure data into overdose deaths averted.”
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