Wednesday, December 21, 2022

DEA seizes enough fentanyl to kill every American

The DEA said it had seized 50.6 million fake prescription pills laced with fentanyl and 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder during 2022, calling it the equivalent of "more than 379 million potentially deadly doses." The DEA said fentanyl, which caused only a fraction of overdose deaths 10 years ago, is now the "deadliest drug threat facing this country." It was the major cause for the more than 107,000 overdose deaths across the United States from July 2021 to June 2022. At least 71,000 involved fentanyl.

The primary sources of fentanyl in the United States are the Sinaloa and Jalisco Mexican drug cartels. Their fentanyl is manufactured in Mexico with chemicals "largely sourced in China," according to the DEA.