Surrounded by the families of victims of fentanyl, Congressional candidate Leslie Lewallen said a rise in illegal drug use has impacted “every single one of us.”
“It’s impacted my family, and I know that it’s impacted all of your families,” Lewallen said. “And it’s a complicated issue, there’s a lot that needs to be fixed.”
Lewallen made the comments during a June 21 event titled “Community Town Hall: Discussion on the Fentanyl and Heroin Epidemic in Southwest Washington.”
For Lewallen, R-Camas, stopping the flow of fentanyl has become one of her priorities as she seeks to represent Washington’s Third Congressional District in Congress.
“This is going to take all of us to turn this around at every level,” Lewallen said.
The town hall came days before Lewallen unveiled her first campaign ad of the season, a 30-second clip that claimed “drug dens” are “spreading” from Portland into Southwest Washington. In a statement announcing the ad, Lewallen said the “radical left’s agenda” is “allowing lethal drugs to flood into our cities.”
During the event, Lewallen said the issue will take an all-hands-on approach from local, state and federal officials. The first issue, she said, would be to “secure the Southern border,” citing a statistic that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confiscated 4.8 million lethal doses of fentanyl from Washington state last year.
“Just let that sink in,” Lewallen said. “This is impacting everybody.”
Lewallen said there are multiple solutions to potentially secure the Southern border, which range from constructing the long-discussed border wall to funding additional resources for border patrol agents to establishing a “remain in Mexico” policy.
“The Southern border is the first thing that we need to attack,” Lewallen said.
While she conceded that increasing border security between Mexico and the U.S. wouldn’t completely eradicate the issue, Lewallen said it would “cut the head of the snake off.”
“They’re coming right up the I-5 corridor, and they’re taking root in our communities,” Lewallen said. “They are.”
The second thing she said must be done is to repeal “soft on crime policies” that she said encourage illegal behavior. In response to an audience question, Lewallen called marijuana a “gateway drug” and said the “decriminalization of any drugs or possession or dealing is only going to make the situation worse.”
“People are dying, day after day after day,” Lewallen said. “It’s just terrible.”
A former federal prosecutor, Lewallen said, if she’s elected, she would review federal sentencing guidelines, particularly for fentanyl, and said she wants to “revamp” the criminal justice system.
“If you’re dealing fentanyl, you intend to harm someone,” Lewallen said, a line that drew applause from the audience. “You intend to kill someone. So let’s start with that.”
Lewallen, who has said she was inspired to run during the pandemic, said the defund the police movement that sprung up during a push for police reform in 2020 also impacted court funding.
“We need to make sure that if someone is incarcerated, they get the help they need,” Lewallen said. “We need to start looking at this issue holistically, and we have to say ‘we can’t just let them back out on the streets.’”
The pandemic, she said, had other negative effects, including a rise in alcohol sales.
“People were self medicating,” Lewallen said. “The shutdown and the policies that were put into place to protect us, harmed us. They were killing our children, they were killing our loved ones. And we have to do something about it.”
Lewallen is seeking the seat currency held by U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal. The leading Republican is Joe Kent, R-Yacolt, who narrowly lost to Gluesenkamp Perez during the general election in 2022.
The top two candidates in the Aug. 6 primary election will move on to the general election in November.
