Adam Harrison, 39, the son of Rick Harrison of "Pawn Stars" fame, reportedly died last week from an overdose of the illicit synthetic opioid drug known as fentanyl.
The grieving elder Harrison now appears to blame his son's death, at least in part, on the Biden administration's lax enforcement of the nation's southern border over which the vast majority of the deadly drug flows, according to TMZ.
The unclear circumstances of the suspected fentanyl overdose death are reportedly under investigation by the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, which confirmed to the outlet that they are looking into the matter.
Following the initial reports of Adam Harrison's suspected overdose death last Friday, first reported by TMZ, the Harrison family said in a statement through a representative, "Our family is extremely saddened by the death of Adam. We ask for privacy as we grieve his loss."
Just a few days later, Rick Harrison said in another statement through his rep, "Yes, I can confirm Adam died from a fentanyl overdose. The fentanyl crisis in this country must be taken more seriously."
"It seems it is just flowing over the borders and nothing is being done about it. We must do better," he added, indirectly but unmistakably calling out the Biden administration's lax border security and immigration enforcement policies.
People magazine reported that Rick Harrison initially responded to the grim news of his son's overdose death by sharing a picture that same day on Instagram of the two of them smiling together with a caption that read: "You will always be in my heart! I love you Adam," followed by a broken heart emoji.
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That was followed a few days later by another post that included a couple of photos of Rick with Adam when he was a young child and was simply captioned: "Amazing memories."
People noted that Adam was the middle child of Rick's three sons, and though he had previously worked with the rest of the family in their Gold & Silver Pawn shop in Las Vegas, Nevada, he never appeared in the popular "Pawn Stars" reality TV program on the History Channel.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl is a particularly powerful and dangerously deadly synthetic opioid that, along with other less well-known synthetic opioids, accounts for roughly 150 drug overdose deaths across America every single day.
Part of the reason for the high fatality rate for fentanyl is the fact that it is often mixed with other illicit drugs -- such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine -- or made to resemble other prescription pills and is then unwittingly ingested in deadly amounts by unsuspecting addicts.
The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Anne Milgram, in an evergreen quote about the dangerous drug, said, "Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered. Fentanyl is everywhere. From large metropolitan areas to rural America, no community is safe from this poison."
She added, "We must take every opportunity to spread the word to prevent fentanyl-related overdose death and poisonings from claiming scores of American lives every day."
