Tag Archives: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

This Is NOT The Way To Solve The Problem

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On Tuesday, The Daily Signal posted an article about the Biden administration’s strategy to track the fentanyl shipments that were coming into America and bring a bigger criminal case against traffickers.

The article reports:

A third whistleblower came forward about a Biden-era operation involving alleged massive shipments of fentanyl into the United States that federal agents were told to track and not seize.

The U.S. Justice Department is conducting an internal probe of the operation that critics say likely led to numerous deaths. The most recent whistleblower complaint details a November 2022 fentanyl delivery from Arizona to New Mexico where Drug Enforcement Administration agents were told to monitor the shipment but not arrest anyone.

“Agents believe the courier made a minimum of at least five large deliveries over the following months, each time bringing 50,000-100,000 fentanyl pills and 20-40 pounds of methamphetamine per trip,” the complaint says. “The DEA did not arrest the courier until June 2023; at that time, agents found him with 19 kilograms of methamphetamine and 7 kilograms of fentanyl.” According to the DEA, as few as 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal depending on a person’s body size and tolerance, and 1 kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people.

The new complaint also notes that during a training session, one DEA agent dismissed concerns about the operation, saying, “We walk fentanyl,” but adding that federal prosecutors were aware of it.

The complaint comes after the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General interviewed two other whistleblowers—former DEA Special Agent David Howell and financial investigator Kevin Small, who worked as a contractor for the DEA’s Albuquerque office—on Friday and Monday, respectively.

The article explains the theory behind the actions:

Howell was the first to blow the whistle on the operation, alleging that the DEA allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills into New Mexico because Justice Department prosecutors wanted to track the shipments and bring a bigger criminal case against traffickers. Former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Alex Uballez oversaw the program, Howell said. Uballez publicly defended the operation, telling The Associated Press it saved lives, was key to intelligence gathering on drug traffickers, and that “the bigger fish are worth catching.”

I don’t think that the people who lost loved ones because of fentanyl would agree with that strategy.

China And Drugs

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The Trump administration’s war on drugs is having an impact on the amount of drugs coming into America. According to Reuters (source here), drug overdose deaths in the United States fell nearly 14% in ​2025, federal estimates showed on ‌Wednesday, marking a third consecutive year of declines. Unfortunately, we still have a problem with drugs, and those who sell them are getting more creative.

On Tuesday, The Epoch Times reported:

A Chinese national has been indicted by the federal authorities in Florida for his alleged role in a plot to import and distribute large quantities of a new synthetic opioid, protonitazene, which is “significantly more potent than fentanyl,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a May 11 statement.

Jia Guo and Seven Schmidt, an associate from Las Vegas, Nevada, are charged with conspiracy to import protonitazene into the United States from China and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute protonitazene. “If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the two counts,” the attorney’s office said.

The pair allegedly began operating a drug trafficking operation in September 2024. In the statement, the attorney’s office said the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) had investigated the pair, with assistance from China’s Ministry of Public Security.

The article notes:

In September, Frank Tarentino, who heads the New York Division of the DEA, warned about the growing threat from new synthetic opioids called nitazenes, which are being imported from China. He said they are increasingly prevalent on the illicit drug scene.
Nitazenes are delivered in the form of counterfeit pills mimicking drugs such as Xanax or Percocet, according to the DEA. They are more resistant than fentanyl to naloxone, a medication that can reverse opioid overdoses.

“Here in the United States, we have found it in heroin, methamphetamine, in some cases fentanyl, and more alarmingly, we have now seen it pressed into pills,” Tarentino said in a Sept. 10, 2025, interview with NTD, a sister outlet of The Epoch Times.

“These pills are made to look familiar, but one pill can kill,” Reding Quiñones said on May 11. “If you use South Florida as a gateway to import synthetic opioids, make counterfeit pills, or profit from addiction, you will face federal prosecution.”

Never take a pill that is from anywhere except a prescription bottle with your name on it!

Saving American Lives

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On Friday, The Dallas Express posted an article about a recent Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) operation.

The article reports:

Armed with battering rams and search warrants, federal agents stormed homes and warehouses across the country, seizing millions in cash, piles of illegal drugs and a deadly arsenal, signaling an aggressive escalation in America’s war on drugs.

The multi-agency crackdown, highlighted by the DEA’s Operation Fentanyl Free America, comes as the United States faces a shifting landscape in the opioid crisis. Although overdose deaths have declined from record highs, fentanyl and other synthetic drugs remain a deadly threat, fueling action by law enforcement and policymakers.

In the second phase of Operation Fentanyl Free America, the DEA seized more than 4.7 million fentanyl pills and nearly 2,400 pounds of fentanyl powder between Jan. 12 and Feb. 10.

“The drug poisoning epidemic has been cultivated by designated terrorist cartels who operate like multi-billion-dollar corporations and have weaponized fentanyl with the clear objective to increase America’s dependence on illicit drugs,” DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said in a statement.

Agents also confiscated 147,000 pounds of cocaine, 21,000 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 26 million methamphetamine pills, 1,200 pounds of heroin, 65,000 pounds of illicit cannabis and more than 1,500 firearms. More than 3,000 arrests were made nationwide.

…While drug overdose deaths have declined in the U.S., they remain a significant public health crisis. Provisional CDC data show about 87,000 overdose deaths from October 2023 to September 2024, a drop from around 114,000 the previous year and the lowest total in any 12-month period since June 2020. For families, the toll remains devastating.

In December, the DEA reported that the first phase of the operation put “unprecedented pressure on the global fentanyl supply chain.” DEA lab testing found that 29% of fentanyl pills analyzed in fiscal year 2025 contained a potentially lethal dose, a sharp decrease from 76% in fiscal 2023. Fentanyl powder purity also dropped to 10.3%, down from 19.5%.

The article concludes:

Last month, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Seneca’s crew unloaded about 17,750 pounds of cocaine worth more than $133.5 million in Port Everglades from four interdictions in international waters off the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to the Coast Guard.

Most of the world’s cocaine supply comes from nearby Colombia. China and other Asian nations produce most of the precursor chemicals needed to make fentanyl, the potent opioid responsible for most U.S. overdose deaths in recent years.

We need to find the core of the drug problem in America and dry up the market, but until we are able to do that, taking the drugs off of the street saves lives.