Higher Fentanyl Seizures in U.S. Borders Recorded by CBP as Overdose for the Drug Surges

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized a record-high amount of fentanyl for the Fiscal Year 2021, The Daily Wire reported.

In the fiscal year 2021, which ran from October 2020 to September 2021, at least 11,200 pounds of fentanyl was seized by the agency, The Washington Examiner mentioned.

The said drug was seized by the CBP agents from international mail inspection facilities, sea, land, and air ports of entry. Fentanyl was also intercepted by CBP from smugglers trying to sneak them across ports.

That same fiscal year, the agency noted that only 5,400 pounds of heroin were intercepted by their agents.

CBP also seized 319,447 pounds of marijuana, 97,638 pounds of cocaine, 190,861 pounds of methamphetamine, and 10,848 pounds of ketamine, for the fiscal year 2021.

Fentanyl Production Centers on Wuhan, China

According to an investigation from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), there is a direct link between fentanyl and the Mexican drug cartels.

Reports noted that Mexican cartels avail the ingredients of fentanyl from laboratories located in Wuhan, China. Cartels will then produce fentanyl from the ingredients they bought from China and offer them to U.S.

"The drug threat today is different than it ever was before. Now, today, this [fentanyl] is all synthetic or man-made. There's an unlimited amount of those drugs that can be made," DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in an interview with ABC's "This Week."

In a statement, Milgram also revealed that Mexican drug cartels market fentanyl on social media platforms.

"Mexican criminal drug networks are harnessing the perfect drug trafficking tool: social media applications that are available on every smartphone," Milgram said, adding that the cartels are using apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok to flood the U.S. with fentanyl.

CDC Says Fentanyl Drives Increase of Death Due to Overdose

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also said that fentanyl contributed to the deaths of thousands of people due to drug overdose.

In the 12 months leading up to April, CDC recorded more than 100 thousand people who died of a drug overdose. The said number was higher than the previous 78,000 who died due to the same reason.

"Fentanyl is the drug that is most driving the big increase in overdose deaths (though other drugs are contributing as well)," CDC National Center for Health Statistics Spokesman Jeff Lancashire said.

The number of deaths on drug overdose where fentanyl contributed the most came as the Texas Department of Public Safety seized 160 pounds of fentanyl, as part of Operation Lone Star.

The said number of fentanyl seized by the Texas officials was reportedly enough to kill 200 million individuals.

If the activities inside and outside Operation Lone Star's area of interest were combined, the agency seized a total of 886 pounds of fentanyl which is approximately 200,790,522 lethal doses.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

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