DEA Seizes Record Amounts of Fentanyl in 2022

Jeffrey A. SingerAxiosreports that the Drug Enforcement Administration seized 379 million doses of fentanyl in 2022, which included 50.6 million fentanyl ‐​laced counterfeit prescription pain pills and more than 10,000 pounds of powdered fentanyl (which can be mixed in with cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin or used to make counterfeit prescription pain pills). AsDavid J. Bier and I wrote recently, the vast majority of these drugs are seized at legal border crossings, mostly smuggled in by U.S. citizens working for Mexican drug cartels.In its December 20announcement, the DEA stated:“In the past year, the men and women of the DEA have relentlessly worked to seize over 379 million deadly doses of fentanyl from communities across the country,” said Administrator Anne Milgram. “These seizures – enough deadly doses of fentanyl to kill every American – reflect DEA’s unwa vering commitment to protect Americans and save lives, by tenaciously pursuing those responsible for the trafficking of fentanyl across the United States. DEA’s top operational priority is to defeat the two Mexican drug cartels—the Sinaloa and Jalisco (CJNG) Cartels—that are primarily responsi ble for the fentanyl that is killing Americans today.”If this sounds like a broken record, it ’s because law enforcement agencies have trumpeted such announcements for years. Earlier in this century, the DEA was announcing recordheroin seizures. Non ‐​medical drug users preferred...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs