Among other roles in the Trump administration, Kellyanne Conway is the White House’s opioid crisis czar. But a comment she made last month demonstrates how totally clueless and unqualified for the job she is.
At a news conference before briefing Trump on the latest developments in the opioid crisis, Conway took on fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid linked to an ever-increasing number of overdose deaths in the country. The presidential adviser warned that fentanyl was turning up in other drugs, which is true. The illicit drug is showing up not only in heroin, where it might be expected to add to the opioid’s kick, but also in other powder drugs whose users are not even looking for an opioid high, such as the stimulants cocaine and methamphetamine.
The concern about drugs being adulterated with fentanyl is warranted. But Conway went a step further in her remarks, making a claim that would require only a moment’s thought (or some actual familiarity with illicit drugs) for her to realize was not only false but ludicrous.
