The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has revealed that criminal drug networks based in Mexico are mass-producing fentanyl and fentanyl-laced products for sale in the United States.
Fentanyl has been one of the major drivers of overdose deaths in recent years. Today, the DEA claims that someone dies of an overdose every five minutes in the United States and that it has seized enough fentanyl this year alone to kill every American. A large part of the issue is these drug networks, which mass-produce fentanyl and fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills, thanks to cheap chemicals from China and others. Once made, these fake pills are nearly indistinguishable from legitimate prescriptions and can provide deadly doses of fentanyl.
The DEA has found examples of them in every state. It added that four out of ten laced pills it tested contained lethal doses of fentanyl. All it takes is two milligrams.
“Mexican criminal drug networks are harnessing the perfect drug trafficking tool: social media applications that are available on every smartphone,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said. “They are using these platforms to flood our country with fentanyl. The ease with which drug dealers can operate on social media and other popular smartphone apps is fueling our Nation’s unprecedented overdose epidemic.”
Those apps allow many of these groups a degree of anonymity and ease of accessibility otherwise unrivaled. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube – all have had their share of usage by drug traffickers. In 2021, the DEA seized 20.4 million fake prescription pills. Just during a public safety surge that stretched from Sept. 29, 2021, through Dec. 14, 2021, it seized more than 1,500 pounds of fentanyl and more than 8 million fake prescription pills.