Why Is It Easier to Get This Deadly Treatment Than Ivermectin?

Ivermectin, a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is widely used to treat parasitic diseases.1 The total doses of ivermectin distributed equal one-third of the world’s population, and it’s “considered extremely safe for use in humans.”2 Ivermectin even has antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, widening its potential scope of use.

But when Dr. Pierre Kory, who is part of the group that formed the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Working Group (FLCCC), pleaded with the U.S. government early on in the pandemic to review the expansive data on ivermectin to prevent COVID-19, keep those with early symptoms from progressing and help critically ill patients recover — he was met with backlash.3,4

While health care professionals and their patients have been ridiculed, threatened and denied the ability to use ivermectin to treat COVID-19, a deadly drug — fentanyl — continues to circulate unabated. 

Patients Denied Safe, Effective Ivermectin

Reports and videos have circulated online of pharmacists denying patients ivermectin, even when they have a doctor’s prescription.5 One pharmacist told Fox News that if he suspects an ivermectin prescription is intended to treat COVID-19, he won’t fill it. “Based on the quantity and based on the dosage, I know exactly what it’s for … I’ve denied all of them, yes,” he said.6

Further, in a video posted on Twitter, “you see the patient trying to pick up his prescription of ivermectin, which the pharmacist flat out refuses to fill … noting it’s not FDA approved for the virus,” TMZ reported:7

“The customer is adamant that it was prescribed to him by a licensed physician, and that the pharmacist is breaking the law by overriding his doctor’s orders — but the pharmacist tells him to kick rocks, and to complain to whoever he feels he needs to complain to.”

In September 2021, the American Medical Association told doctors to stop prescribing ivermectin for COVID-19. In a statement, AMA, along with the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), warned:8

“We are alarmed by reports that outpatient prescribing for and dispensing of ivermectin have increased 24-fold since before the pandemic and increased exponentially over the past few months.

As such, we are calling for an immediate end to the prescribing, dispensing, and use of ivermectin for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 outside of a clinical trial.

In addition, we are urging physicians, pharmacists, and other prescribers — trusted health care professionals in their communities — to warn patients against the use of ivermectin outside of FDA-approved indications and guidance, whether intended for use in humans or animals, as well as purchasing ivermectin from online stores.”

The War Against Ivermectin Is the Crime of the Century

Bret Weinstein, an evolutionary theorist, author of “A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century” and host of “The DarkHorse Podcast,” interviewed Kory about ivermectin’s role in treating COVID-19 and the censorship that’s occurred to cover it up.9

There are many ivermectin success stories out there, but one that Kory believes best illustrates the power of ivermectin against COVID is that of Itajai, Brazil, a city of 220,000 people. In June 2020, they implemented a prophylaxis program using ivermectin. The program was advertised throughout local media, and people were encouraged to participate and take ivermectin four times a month, on Days 1, 2, 15 and 16.

On the appropriate days, they set up tents and centers where people could get the drug, and the entire program was carefully logged in an electronic database. In all, 159,000 Brazilians participated; of those, 113,000 elected to take the ivermectin.

Kory and eight coauthors published a paper on the results, which showed “regular use of ivermectin as a prophylactic agent was associated with significantly reduced COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and mortality rates.”10

Those who used ivermectin had a 44% reduction in COVID-19 infection rate, a 68% reduction in COVID-19 mortality and a 56% reduction in hospitalization rate compared to those who did not.11 During our 2022 interview, Kory explained:

“And when you look at the regular users, the ones who were most adherent to the protocol, no one went to the hospital. There was a 100% reduction in hospitalization and a 90% lower risk of dying. It’s astounding … I’ve never seen a more proven therapy in any disease model, which they successfully got everyone to believe is a horse dewormer used by unvaccinated conspiracy theorists.”

All this to say, ivermectin was showing extreme promise for COVID-19 — and the safety profile of ivermectin, even for long-term use, is very good. Yet, there was a crackdown on its usage, making it extremely difficult to come by for the average person. Fentanyl, however? Not so much.

Fentanyl Flows Into the US Like Water

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.12 The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classifies fentanyl as a Schedule II substance, which means it has a high potential for abuse and abuse may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.13

A study by epidemiologist Chelsea Shover of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and colleagues reported that overdose deaths from synthetic opioids increased 10-fold in the U.S. from 2013 to 2018.14

Their research found fentanyl deaths increased 63% from 2019 to 2020, with a “fentanyl breakthrough” in western states driving the increases, which they fear will “dramatically worsen the nation’s already severe opioid epidemic in the long-term.”15

Fentanyl has a number of street names, ranging from China White and Apace to Great Bear and He-Man, but the ones that are the most fitting are Poison and Murder 8. When fentanyl is ingested, it produces a sense of well-being or euphoria that reduces anxiety and aggression.

The high is intense, but it’s also only temporary, giving way to drowsiness, trouble concentrating and apathy. If too much is taken, fentanyl can also lead to slowed respiration, reduced blood pressure, nausea, fainting, seizures, coma and death. From 2019 to 2020, opioid overdose deaths, including from fentanyl, jumped 94% among youth aged 14 to 18. Such deaths increased another 20% from 2020 to 2021.16

But even as overdose deaths rise, fentanyl continues to flow freely into the U.S. The DEA reported that it seized more than 50.6 million fentanyl pills and 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder in 2022. The fentanyl seized amounts to enough deadly doses to kill every American, according to DEA administrator Anne Milgram.17

Fentanyl Travels From China, Through Mexico, Into US

The primary way fentanyl is finding its way to the U.S. is via an international pathway. Because it’s more difficult for Chinese suppliers to send pills directly to the U.S., they instead send fentanyl ingredients to cartels in Mexico. “After creating the fentanyl, either in raw powder or pill form, the cartels would ship them across the border in trucks, according to investigators,” ABC News reported.18

The fentanyl is often added to other pills made to look like painkillers, and many victims are unaware that they’re taking fentanyl until it’s too late.19 Jan Jekielek, senior editor with The Epoch Times, tweeted, “You wanted more smoking gun evidence that the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is using Fentanyl to wage chemical warfare on Americans? Look no further.”20

He’s referencing the video above, a snippet from the hearing of the Financial Services Committee held March 23, 2023. Jason Grellner, who has 30 years of counternarcotics experience, explained why China is selling drugs that can kill us to Americans:21

“Because they [the CCP] want to kill us. DEA laboratories just came out this week with information that 48 states have now seen fentanyl laced with a non-reactive agent. A tranquilizer used in veterinary sciences that will not react to naloxone. That means that if you overdose from this byproduct, we can’t bring you back with a nasal naloxone. It won’t work, because you’re also suppressing your breathing by using this veterinary tranquilizer.

There’s only one reason that they’re selling this poison, and it is to destabilize the United States and to kill Americans. I worked, back in the ‘80s, with Project Columbia, Project Nicaragua when cocaine was coming into the United States as a party drug.

I worked on 1,265 meth labs when meth lab components were all over the United States. It was about getting high … this is about killing people. And the sooner we understand that, and realize that, and fund the DEA and local and state task forces to go after it, the better off we’ll be.”

Sanctions Placed on China-Based Chemical Companies

In response to the crisis, the U.S. Treasury Department said it had placed sanctions on four Chinese nationals as well as the chemical companies Wuhan Shuokang Biological Technology Co Ltd and Suzhou Xiaoli Pharmatech Co Ltd.22

“Illicit fentanyl is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans each year,” Brian Nelson the Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said. “Treasury, as part of the whole-of-government effort to respond to this crisis, will continue to vigorously apply our tools to prevent the transfer of precursor chemicals and machinery necessary to produce this drug.”23 The DEA is also aware of the issue and noted:24

“Currently, China remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations environment, as well as the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States. Seizures of fentanyl sourced from China average less than one kilogram in weight, and often test above 90 percent concentration of pure fentanyl.”

Fentanyl Is the Leading Cause of Death for Young Americans

According to an analysis of CDC data by Families Against Fentanyl (FAF), the drug killed more Americans between the ages of 18 and 45 in 2021 than any other cause, including suicide, motor vehicle accidents, COVID-19 and cancer.25

Part of fentanyl’s power is its ability to kill in such small amounts. Just 2 milligrams of the drug can be lethal,26 so even small amounts smuggled into the U.S. have the potential to kill widely. Yet, fentanyl continues to flow into the U.S. and circulate freely while lifesaving drugs like ivermectin are vilified and restricted — essentially making it easier to obtain deadly fentanyl in the U.S. than ivermectin. As noted by FAF:27

“Declaring fentanyl and fentanyl analogues Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) would give federal agencies new ways to help stem the flow of these deadly chemicals into our country. As dangerous as they are, the issue isn’t whether fentanyl and fentanyl analogues should be designated weapons of mass destruction. The real question is, why haven’t we done it already?”