Top CBP doctor repeatedly tried to order fentanyl lollipops for UN trip, whistleblowers say

U.S. Customs and Border Protection's chief medical officer attempted to obtain fentanyl lollipops for him to bring to the United Nations in New York City in Sept. 2023, whistleblowers say.

More than half a dozen CBP employees "spent copious hours" of time in the week before the U.N. General Assembly meeting to find fentanyl lollipops, a Schedule II narcotic, for Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alexander Eastman's trip, according to a report released Friday by the Government Accountability Project. 

Eastman said the narcotics would be necessary in case a CBP operator was injured or officials "encountered a patient in need," per the report. 

His attempts to procure the lollipops were originally unsuccessful because the agency did not have enough funding for the purchase, and then, staffers noted that the agency did not have a policy regarding the synthetic opioid. Eastman then wrote his own policy for the drug, the report states. 

Notably, the CBP Office of Professional Responsibility previously investigated Eastman and his friend, who is a CBP paramedic and pilot, over the alleged improper procurement of narcotics, the report states. The same friend was also the pilot for Eastman's trip to New York City and is the same person whom Eastman is trying to place in a leadership position in the CBP Chief Medical Office.

Different from illicit forms of the synthetic opioid, fentanyl lollipops are pharmaceutical products that transmit the drug orally, but it has the potential to be abused, per the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The report also accuses Eastman of being responsible for a "gross waste of taxpayer dollars on travel expenses." He resides in Texas and frequently travels back and forth to Washington, D.C., and he "makes frequent trips that are minimally related, if at all" to his agency's mission. 

The 32-page report sent to members of Congress also stated that an 8-year-old child died in CBP custody "despite her mother's repeated pleas" to staffers for medical care. 

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