Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials have detailed results of a May to September 2022 enforcement operation the agency said yielded nationwide fentanyl seizures.
In conjunction with the One Pill Can Kill initiative, the DEA and law enforcement partners seized more than 10.2 million fentanyl pills and approximately 980 pounds of fentanyl powder from May 23 to Sept. 8. The seizures represented the equivalent of over 36 million lethal doses removed from the illegal drug supply.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin, and two milligrams of the drug is considered a potentially lethal dose.
“Across the country, fentanyl is devastating families and communities, and we know that violent, criminal drug cartels bear responsibility for this crisis,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said. “The Justice Department, including the extraordinary professionals of the DEA, is working to disrupt and dismantle the operations of these cartels, remove deadly fentanyl from our communities and save Americans’ lives.”
Of the 390 cases investigated during May to September timeframe, 51 cases are linked to overdose poisonings and 35 cases are directly connected to one or both of the primary Mexican cartels responsible for the majority of fentanyl in the United States – the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
“For the past year, confronting the fentanyl crisis has been the top priority for DEA,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said. “The most urgent threat to our communities, our kids, and our families are the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG, who are mass producing and supplying the fentanyl that is poisoning and killing Americans.”