DEA Special Agent Jon DeLena recently told Congress that the current drug crisis is unlike anything he’s seen in his 27 years at the agency. He called two Mexican cartels the greatest drug threat the US has ever faced.

“The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels represent the greatest criminal drug threat the United States has ever faced,” DeLena said in testimony before the House Energy and Trade Committee last week. “These ruthless, violent, and criminal organizations have collaborators, intermediaries, and brokers in all 50 states, as well as more than 40 countries around the world.”

Nationwide, more than 107,000 people have died from a Drug overdose in 2021 mainly due to fentanyl, which is mainly produced by and smuggled into the US from Mexico Sinaloa cartel.

The DEA reportedly seized over 50 million counterfeit pills and 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder in 2022.

CNN’s senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta access has been granted to the DEA’s secret lab, where the agency tests confiscated illegal drugs to better understand and anticipate what’s coming next.

“The market is always changing, so we try to do everything scientifically to keep up with it.” Scott Oultonsaid the Deputy Assistant Administrator of the DEA’s Office of Forensic Sciences to Gupta, showing him a bag of fentanyl precursor powder – one of the chemicals used to create the deadly opioid.

“That kilogram can be converted into fentanyl to make about 800 grams,” Oulton said. “So it doesn’t take that much material, it’s pretty cheap, it’s cheap to get.”

targeting young people

In 2021, drug overdose deaths in the United States reached their highest level on record CDC data. The number of pills seized by the DEA skyrocketed in just three years, from 2.2 million in 2019 to 50.6 million in 2022.

According to another CDC report, the number of monthly overdose deaths in people aged 10 to …