INTRODUCTION

Fentanyl is powerful and deadly. It is 100 times more powerful than morphine. Traffickers love it, because they can hide small quantities in vehicles crossing the US from Mexico. Addicts die mostly from overdoses. Per Wikipedia, “Fentanyl poses an exceptionally high overdose risk in humans since the amount required to cause toxicity is unpredictable.”

Wikipedia: Fentanyl

Wikipedia as usual, presents a very comprehensive and well researched article. It also documents the difficulties in controlling the flow into the US and actions taken by the Biden administration.

The Big Lie

Now, Trump’s big lie – “If we halt illegal migration across the border with Mexico , this will stop fentanyl from coming from Mexico.” It is a lie, because in general, the illegal immigrants are not bringing in fentanyl.

I say “in general” because if they find just one person illegally crossing the border with drugs in his knapsack, then for Trump supporters, this is proof positive that they are the cause of the problem. Unfortunately, the bar for believability has been set extremely low for Trump and company.

“About 85 percent of fentanyl seizures occur at official border crossings, where the potent, compact drug is typically smuggled by pedestrian couriers or hidden inside cars and trucks. Most of the rest is confiscated by U.S. agents at Border Patrol highway checkpoints, not in the backpacks of migrants entering the country.” Washington Post, November 26, 2024.

Link: Trump tied migrant entries and fentanyl to tariffs. Here are the facts.

Interception at the border is very difficult. Approximately 90 million vehicles and 4.3 million trucks cross through our Mexican border every year. It is not practical to shut down legal crossings. “Border officials have seized more fentanyl at ports of entry in the last two years than the past five years combined, and the President has added 40 drug detection machines across points of entry to disrupt the fentanyl smuggling into the Homeland. The bipartisan border agreement would fund the installation of 100 additional cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect fentanyl at our Southern border ports of entry.”

So, the bipartisan border agreement, with more inspection machines seem like a no-brainer. But Republicans killed this bill, because Trump did not want anything that Biden could claim that the Democrats did, to stem the flow of fentanyl. The problem with the bipartisan bill is that it didn’t have Trump’s name on it. But, Trump will bring it back, make his idea, and it will pass. Pure politics.

Trump’s lie about closing the border was told to millions, usually getting more absurd at each subsequent rally. Trump second lie- “It was Kamala, the border czar, who let everyone cross the border and with it, all our problems.” This was a lie also, as Kamala Harris was never responsible for border security. This was the responsibility of DHS Secretary. So, Trump successfully fused illegal entry and the fentanyl epidemic, where there was no real connection.

ENTRY THROUGH OF OFFICIAL PORTS

By land, sea and air, fentanyl arrives in the US. Even through the international mail. This is from a US Customs Border Protection (CBP) website. They show border agents at mail facilities. Dogs are frequently used. See full article: CBP fight against fentanyl

“In my 30 years as a customs official, the trafficking of synthetic illicit drugs like fentanyl is one of the toughest, most daunting challenges I have ever seen,” said CBP Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy Miller. “We have the right capabilities from interdiction to intelligence capabilities. We’re in the right places at our land borders and between the ports in international airports, in both the passenger and air cargo environments and at our maritime borders, too. And we know what works. Intelligence-driven operations, relentless, targeting people, partnerships, and technology. CBP is well positioned to lead the federal government’s efforts in this fight.”

The CBP website offers hope in terms of successful large fentanyl busts, which means less for sale on the street. Yet, for me, the real measure of success would be a reduction in overdose rates in the US. Trump can spend billions on border security, and then claim he has been successful in stemming fentanyl deaths. But, the numbers from the CDC are likely to say something very different.

China and Mexico

The real problem with fighting the epidemic is the narrow perspective offered by Trump. It is not a Mexican or Chinese problem. It is our problem. In 2021, the U.S. had more opioid deaths than the rest of the world combined. See link below.

However, we need Mexico and China’s help. China took vigorous action in shutting down fentanyl production, but then a new industry arose, to make the essential ingredients (pre-cursors) of fentanyl and ship these to Mexico. China has passed laws to crack down on pre-cursors, but as the Council of Foreign Relations noted: “… [New laws enacted] this is unlikely to solve the core problem, as criminals will continue to discover new ways to make fentanyl using other chemical precursors that also have legitimate industrial uses.

Council of Foreign Relations article What Is China’s Role in Combating the Illegal Fentanyl Trade?

WAYS TO FIGHT THE EPIDEMIC

• Follow the Fentanyl Profits

One of the Council’s recommendations is interesting – follow the money. The Chinese criminals have to hide their profits, so they become involved in money laundering, and the US could collaborate with the Chinese in helping them crack down on the illicit profits from pre-cursor sales.

In order to follow the money, you have to follow bitcoin transactions. In this case, the drug smugglers and other cybercriminals, including hackers for profit, have something very much in common, the need to hide the chain of transactions, from deposit to withdrawal, which can be done with a “crypto mixer” software. A recent case was decided in favor of a company which profits through the use of a cryto mixer, which is a win for cyber criminals and drug traffickers to hide profits. I will discuss this further in Part II.

• Reducing Demand and Overdose Rates in the US

Addiction causes demand for opioids. The US Drug Enforcement Agency message was excellent, “One pill can kill.”

See DEA link: One Pill Can Kill

This is by far, the best approach, to stop addiction before it begins. There is help for addicts, which includes counseling and drug recovery programs.

An overdose does not always result in death. Naloxone acts as an antidote to fentanyl. So, one approach is to increase awareness of family members of addicts of what can be done in case of an overdose to prevent death.

It is not like a pill that saves you.” It can be used as injection or spray form. Police officers and first responders are being trained to be able to administer it. There is no harm in injecting naloxone in someone who is not overdosing on opioids.

An excellent recent advance (FDA approved March 2023) is the one dose naloxone spray. Family members without training can administer an effective dose of naloxone. The spray is marketed under the trade name of Narcan. It is an over-the-counter medication, and costs around $50 for two sprays.

So, there is a problem of mixed messages in harm reduction. On one hand, the fentanyl does destroy lives, and the addict’s only real choice is come clean. The narcan spray may lead some to believe they can continue to tempt death to continue their addiction. Living with fentanyl is a terribly wrong decision. I am hoping that any addict who was saved once by Narcan, will choose to seek help and come clean.

NIH website: Naloxone Drug Facts

AP Press: FDA approves over-the-counter Narcan. Here’s what it means

As stated in the NIH posting, the Narcan lasts for only 30-60 minutes and a second dose may be necessary.

Drug users taking other illegal drugs, like cocaine and meth, can accidently overdose because these drugs are often mixed with fentanyl. So, in the interest of “harm reduction”, there are test strips available to identify the presence of fentanyl.

CDC Website: What You Can Do to Test for Fentanyl

WHERE ARE WE?

Below is a graph from CDC, showing overdoses per year from all drugs, based on provisional data. The last 12 months show a steady decline in deaths.

PBS Link: NPR Exclusive: U.S. overdose deaths plummet, saving thousands of lives

CDC Vital Health Statistics Site, Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts

In another chart, the CDC shows a very similar decline in overdose deaths for synthetic opioids and methadone, from June 2023 to June 2024. Overdose deaths in this group dropped from 77,000 to 64,000, a drop of 13,000 deaths.

PBS cites a number of factors in their article for fewer deaths, including availability of treatment centers, and programs to help addicts come clean.

SUMMARY

I began this blog focused on the big lie promoted by Trump, that it was illegal immigrants bringing in fentanyl. The truth is fentanyl comes through legal ports of entry from Mexico. China has cooperated with the US in cracking down on the export of precursor chemicals to Mexico, but much more progress is needed.

I will leave for Part II, more information on how international smugglers use bitcoin and cyber mixers to hide their huge profits. Cyber privacy issues clash with the FBI need to break up money laundering operations in many areas including drug enforcement.

The trend today is fewer overdose deaths. There are many government agencies involved in finding ways to sustain this declining trend, from international agreements with China and Mexico, to vehicle inspections at entry points to the US, detection through the postal service, and disrupting the distribution chain within the US.

I have posted previously on the excellent FBI busts of gangs involved in distribution and sale of fentanyl. Much of the credit goes to dedicated FBI agents under Director Christopher Wray and the Department of Justice, for convicting these criminals.

I strongly support efforts by the Drug Enforcement Agency, to raise awareness to the dangers of fentanyl, with the simple message “One Pill can Kill” which is very true. The last 12 months resulted in 64,000 deaths attributed to synthetic opioids.

I consider a practical step forward is increase availability Narcan spray that prevent death by overdose. Test strips help prevent accidental overdoses.

Stay tuned,

Dave