DEA Says Sinaloa Cartel Still Dominates U.S.' Fentanyl Supply After Seizing Enough Doses of Fentanyl to Kill Every American

With 2022 about to end, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has released a new statistic claiming that they have confiscated enough doses of fentanyl to kill every single American and the Sinaloa Cartel is reportedly responsible for flooding the United States with fentanyl.

According to ABC 7 Chicago, the DEA announced Tuesday that fentanyl seizures by DEA agents had been 379 million doses this year, and the country's population now is around 332 million.

The DEA released this disturbing statistic to curb and stop the ongoing fentanyl overdose problem plaguing the country for years. While doctors usually prescribe the drug as a painkiller, fentanyl mixed into street drugs by Mexican drug cartels is deadly.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram warned Americans that the drug is killing Americans at record rates, adding that many of those addicted "didn't realize they were taking the deadliest drug our country has ever seen."

DEA to Focus Efforts Fighting Fentanyl From Sinaloa Cartel

One of the hardest hit cities is Chicago, and DEA Special Agent in Charge Robert Bell noted that the numbers in the city are "astounding."

Reports said fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin, and a dose the size of a pencil point can kill a person.

Bell added that the fentanyl coming into the city is mostly engineered by the Sinaloa Cartel, and going after this notorious Mexican drug cartel is their number one priority.

He told ABC 7 Chicago, "With fentanyl for us our number one priority is the Sinaloa Cartel, and you know, that's our focus, still going strong."

While its leader, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, was sentenced to spend the rest of his days in the ADX Florence "supermax" prison in Colorado, his four sons, collectively known as Los Chapitos, and co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada had allegedly shared control of the Sinaloa Cartel.

In addition to the record-high numbers of fentanyl seized this year, the DEA also managed to confiscate some 131,000 pounds of methamphetamine, over 4,300 pounds of heroin, and more than 444,000 pounds of cocaine, BBC reported.

Fentanyl Now 'Deadliest Drug Threat' in the United States

The DEA underscored how deadly fentanyl is by saying that even though the man-made opioid only caused a fraction of overdose deaths a decade ago, this time, the agency is calling it the "deadliest drug threat facing this country."

ABC News Australia reported that the drug was the cause of over 107,000 overdose deaths across the United States from July 2021 to June 2022.

That is because fentanyl is reasonably cheap and easy to produce. It has supplanted prescription opioids and heroin in the illegal drug market.

The fentanyl in the U.S. is reportedly manufactured in Mexico, but the chemicals used in making them are sourced from China.

The Mexican drug cartels then distribute them as fake prescription drugs like Percocet, OxyContin, and Xanax.

Around 60% of these counterfeit drugs are laced with fentanyl that contains potentially lethal doses, the DEA said.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Why Fentanyl Is the Leading Cause of Overdose Deaths in the US - From USA TODAY