As a US attorney, I see fentanyl's horrifying toll up close. Congress must act now

As U.S.

Attorney, I have a lot of heavy days.

There is no joy in sending people to prison, no matter how much they deserve it.

But the greatest weight comes from meeting families who have lost someone they love.

More often than not, the killer is not a person.

It’s fentanyl.

Fentanyl is a ruthless killer , targeting the very young.

It is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.

Think about that: if you have reached age 18, but are not yet 45, you are more likely to die of fentanyl than anything else.

Every day, fentanyl claims the lives of more than 100 Americans with only a tiny amount — a lethal dose fits on the tip of a sharpened pencil.

In my office, fentanyl has become a daily reality in all types of cases.

Other drugs are laced with fentanyl — making it more potent and addictive, driving more business to drug dealers — and counterfeit pills marketed as prescriptions for sleep or focus are nothing more than fentanyl in disguise.

Fentanyl has been found in fake candy and baby bottles.

I even met a mother who lost her daughter after taking a sip from a water bottle that had been contaminated with fentanyl.