The United States Anti -Drug Agency (DEA) warned in its annual 2024 report that, although overdose deaths go down, the fentanyl mixture with other “powerful” narcotics is increasing, which is a challenge in fighting this synthetic drug.
The DEA issued its report one day after the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) published that overdose deaths in the United States fell 27% in 2024.
“DEA laboratories report a downward trend in the purity of the fentanyl,” he says and argues that “this should not be interpreted as a decrease in the danger of the available fentanyl available on the street.”
“While purity levels are decreasing, the fentanyl mixture with tranquilizers for animals and other synthetic opioids is increasing, which causes people to ignore the exact composition of what they consume or sell,” adds the text.
Xilacin, a sedative for animals, continues to be the main adulteress – in front of the heroine – found in the fentanyl powder, and its use to cut it has begun to extend outside its “traditional markets in the northeast of the US.”
However, the report warns that a more powerful anesthetic normally used in dogs and cats, medetomidine, has also begun to be detected in DEA analysis.
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The body also warns that the presence of fentanyl in other drugs is increasing: opioceous is present in one in four cocaine samples and in one in eight metamphetamine samples.
Seizures increase
In 2024, the DEA seized 9,950 kilos of fentanil, 29% more than the previous year, while the assurance of fake fentanyl pills fell 24% to 61.1 million units.
On the border with Mexico, 9,354 kilos of fentanyl and 22.7 kilos were seized. President Donald Trump has threatened both countries with 25% tariffs for allegedly allowing that traffic.
In recent statements to EFE, John González, a special attached agent in charge of the DEA in El Paso (Texas), declared that 90% of Fentanyl seizures occur in official border bridges.
González also denied that there is significant fentanyl production within the United States: “It is cheaper to produce it in Mexico and transfer it to the United States, where a pill can be sold in one or two dollars,” he said.
Lee: China states that the problem of fentanyl is the responsibility of the US
The DEA report considers that the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) cartels remain the “dominant threats” in regards to the traffic of fentanyl and other drugs in the country.
These groups keep their supply chains stable to obtain the so -called precursors for the manufacture of fentanyl, “mainly from China and India,” says the report.
With EFE information
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