The drug game is changing. Products are becoming more potent. Users often aren’t getting what they think they’re getting. And the fatal consequences are mounting, according to the 2024 drug threat assessment from the DEA.
The report “highlights the dangerous shift from plant-based drugs to synthetic drugs” like fentanyl and methamphetamine, which are responsible for nearly all of the fatal drug overdoses and poisonings in the U.S.
Drug suppliers
Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have control over each segment of the drug trade and have effectively eliminated any competition in US markets, the DEA report states.
It adds that cartel members have established a presence in every state. Virginia is one of the states where the cartel footprint is growing.
Fentanyl trends
The DEA conducts in-depth analysis of fentanyl pills and powder from across the nation.
A lethal dose of fentanyl is approximately 2 mg. In 2022, the average fentanyl pill contained 2.4 mg of fentanyl, the report states. And DEA forensics found 7 out 10 fake pills contained a deadly dose up from 4 in 10 pills in 2021.
Meanwhile, the DEA reported that average purity of fentanyl powder was 19.2%, a 33% increase from 2021. Some exhibits had 81.5% pure fentanyl.
In 2023, for the first time, law enforcement found fentanyl in liquid. The fentanyl concentration was in low concentrations. This was reportedly intended to appeal to intravenous users, the report states
New meth trends
Meth production in the US is at the lowest point in 20 years, according to the DEA. Meanwhile, Mexican cartels are producing meth that is “very pure, very potent.”
The DEA says meth produced in Sinaloa Cartel-controlled labs is purer and more potent than at any time in the past. And that meth is directly contributing to the steep increase in meth-related poisoning death in the U.S., which rank second only to deaths caused by fentanyl.
Meth and fentanyl are both already potentially deadly. But there is an increased use of meth laced with fentanyl, leading to an increased number of fatal drug overdoses, the DEA notes in this year’s report.
Xylazine’s here
The Jalisco Cartel has flooded American streets with fentanyl often mixed with heroin, cocaine, and xylazine, the DEA’s report says.
Xylazine is a sedative used primarily on large animals in veterinary medicine and not intended for human use, says the CDC.
Xylazine is being added to fentanyl to create a mixture known as “tranq.” This increases the risk of death, in part, because xylazine complicates attempts to use naloxone to reverse overdoses, the DEA notes.
Another problem— Xylazine is also responsible for “widespread reports” of site infections and soft tissue death resulting in amputations, the DEA says.
In April 2023, the White House officially declared fentanyl adulterated or associated with xylazine as an emerging US threat.
Although xylazine is mostly mixed with fentanyl and heroin, some is found mixed with cocaine and other drugs. And it has been seen alone, the report says.
The DEA says Xylazine samples were found in every state plus DC and Puerto Rico. But it was found to be most prevalent in New Jersey, Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, and Florida.
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