United Against Fentanyl / DEA July 11 Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge

On Saturday, July 11, I was honored to speak at the Walk for Lives national kickoff in New York City and to join families, advocates, public officials, and community leaders in walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.

The most important voices at the event belonged to the families who have lost children and other loved ones to fentanyl. Their courage reminds us that this crisis must never be reduced to statistics. Every life lost leaves a family and a community permanently changed.

In my remarks, I reflected on a difficult truth: America has confronted successive drug crises for more than 150 years, yet we have repeatedly failed to build a response equal to the scale and persistence of the problem. The Brooklyn Bridge walk—together with more than 100 family-led Walk for Lives events held across the country—was about remembrance. It was also a call to action.

Thank you to United Against Fentanyl, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the participating families, and everyone who helped organize Walk for Lives events nationwide.

Below I am sharing my complete remarks with this post as well as the press advisory I put out the day before the event with more background and links.