Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials have detailed the seizure of more than 50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and over 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder this calendar year.
“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,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said. “These seizures – enough deadly doses of fentanyl to kill every American – reflect DEA’s unwavering 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 responsible for the fentanyl that is killing Americans today.”
The DEA maintains most of the fentanyl, described by authorities as an addictive man-made opioid 50 times more potent than heroin,
is trafficked by the Sinaloa and CJNG Cartels and is mass-produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemicals mainly sourced from China – adding the DEA Laboratory estimates that the seizures represent over 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl.
According to the DEA, agency laboratory testing this year determined six out of 10 fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills contained a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl – representing a rise from the DEA’s announcement in 2021 that four out of ten fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills contain a potentially deadly dose.