U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Anne Milgram is sounding the alarm about a rise in fentanyl-related mass overdose deaths. In a memo issued to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, she states, “The DEA is seeing a nationwide spike in fentanyl-related mass-overdose events involving three or more overdoses occurring close in time at the same location. In just the past two months, there have been at least 7 confirmed mass overdose events across the United States resulting in 58 overdoses and 29 overdose deaths. Many of the victims of these mass overdose events thought they were ingesting cocaine and had no idea that they were in fact ingesting fentanyl.”
Fentanyl has become the drug of choice of Mexican cartels that control both sides of the U.S. southern border. The cartels are flooding the country with deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine, in part, through illegal immigration, border security officials say. The precursors are shipped from China to Mexican ports, where cartel employees make fake opioid pills or lace other narcotics with the deadly drug. It’s less expensive to produce and easier to transport, doesn’t require farms or large facilities, and can be compounded in people’s homes and garages, then brought north by cartel operatives or illegal immigrants in backpacks.