Fentanyl fueling worst drug crisis in U.S. history, killing 70,000 a year | 60 Minutes

Summary

The US is facing its deadliest drug crisis with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, causing over 70,000 deaths annually. Originating from China and produced by Mexican cartels, it's often disguised as prescription pills. Despite efforts by the DEA and border control, the drug's accessibility and addictiveness claim many lives, including teens, with social media exacerbating the issue.

Takeaways

• 🚨 The US is experiencing its worst drug crisis with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin.
• 🌐 Fentanyl is primarily produced in Mexico by two major drug cartels using chemicals sourced mainly from China.
• 💊 The drug is often concealed in counterfeit pills that resemble legitimate prescription medications.
• 📉 In a single year, over 70,000 Americans died from fentanyl overdoses, surpassing the combined US military casualties in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
• 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 The crisis affects all demographics, including college students, as illustrated by the tragic story of Jack O'Kelly.
• 📉 Fentanyl is now present in all 50 states and is a significant contributor to the opioid crisis.
• 🔍 DEA Administrator Anne Milgram has been fighting the fentanyl crisis, seizing large quantities of the drug and indicting those involved in the supply chain.
• 🚔 US Customs and Border Protection face immense challenges in detecting and intercepting fentanyl at ports of entry.
• 🌐 The cartels' operations are global, starting in China, moving through Mexico, and entering the US.
• 💼 The US pharmaceutical industry's role in the opioid crisis inadvertently paved the way for the Mexican cartels to dominate the fentanyl market.
• 📱 Social media platforms are being exploited by cartels to organize operations and sell drugs, contributing to the ongoing crisis.

Q & A

What is the current crisis in the US related to drugs?

The US is experiencing the worst drug crisis in its history, involving the drug fentanyl, which is a purely chemical man-made drug that is cheap to produce, easily smuggled, and highly addictive.

How potent is fentanyl compared to heroin?

Fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin.

Where is most of the fentanyl entering the US coming from?

Nearly all the fentanyl flooding into the US is made in Mexico by two powerful drug cartels, with chemicals primarily purchased from China.

What is the impact of fentanyl on American lives?

Last year, more than 70,000 Americans died from fentanyl overdose, which is a higher death toll than US military casualties in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined.

What was the cause of death for Jack O'Kelly, as mentioned in the script?

Jack O'Kelly, a 20-year-old college student, died from fentanyl poisoning after unknowingly taking a counterfeit pill that was laced with fentanyl.

What is the typical form in which fentanyl is sold to consumers?

Fentanyl is often sold in pill form, deliberately made to look like real prescription drugs such as oxycodone, Xanax, Percocet, or Adderall.

How does the DEA describe the impact of fentanyl on the United States?

The DEA states that fentanyl is impacting every part of the United States, including communities, kids, and the economy.

What are the two Mexican drug cartels primarily responsible for the fentanyl crisis?

The Cala cartel and the Sinaloa cartel are the two Mexican drug cartels primarily responsible for the fentanyl crisis.

How does fentanyl typically enter the United States?

The majority of fentanyl enters the United States through legal ports of entry, often hidden in passenger vehicles.

What challenges does the US Customs and Border Protection face in intercepting fentanyl?

US Customs and Border Protection faces challenges such as limited resources to search vehicles, the need for more officers and agents, and the cartels' constant adaptation to avoid detection.

How does the script suggest that social media is contributing to the fentanyl crisis?

Social media platforms are being used by cartels to organize themselves, recruit individuals to carry drugs across the border, and sell drugs through online posts and advertisements.

Outlines

00:00

💊 Fentanyl Crisis in the US

The paragraph discusses the severity of the fentanyl crisis in the US, describing it as the worst drug crisis in history. Fentanyl is a synthetic, man-made drug that is cheap to produce, highly addictive, and much more potent than heroin. It is primarily manufactured in Mexico by two major drug cartels using chemicals from China and is often disguised in counterfeit pills resembling prescription drugs. The death toll is alarming, with over 70,000 American deaths in the last year alone, surpassing the combined US military casualties in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The narrative includes a personal account of a family who lost their son to fentanyl, emphasizing the drug's indiscriminate impact on society. It also touches on the drug's prevalence in cities and towns across all 50 states and its common concealment in other drugs like cocaine or methamphetamine.

05:01

🛃 Combating the Fentanyl Epidemic

This paragraph focuses on the efforts to combat the fentanyl crisis by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) under the leadership of a former Attorney General of New Jersey. Despite the deaths seeming to plateau, fentanyl continues to devastate communities, children, and the economy. The paragraph highlights the DEA's initiatives to combat the drug, including seizing large quantities of fentanyl and indicting members of the cartels involved. It also discusses the cartels' operations, which are based in Mexico and have a global supply chain starting in China and ending in the US. The paragraph also addresses the challenges faced by US Customs and Border Protection in intercepting fentanyl at ports of entry, particularly the high volume of traffic and the cartels' adaptive smuggling tactics. The need for more resources and a unified approach to tackle the crisis is emphasized.

10:01

🚨 The Cartels' Business Model and Social Media's Role

The final paragraph delves into the business-oriented nature of the Mexican drug cartels and their strategic move into fentanyl following the US opioid crisis. It suggests that the pharmaceutical industry inadvertently paved the way for cartels by creating a market of opioid addicts. The paragraph also discusses the role of social media platforms in facilitating the drug trade, with cartels using these platforms to organize operations, recruit drug mules, and advertise drugs. The paragraph concludes with a call to action, emphasizing the need for awareness about the dangers of fentanyl and the urgency of the situation, as it is described as a new drug war with devastating consequences for the younger generation.

Keywords

💡Fentanyl

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potent. It is a prescription drug that is also made and used illegally. The drug is so potent that even a small amount can be deadly. In the context of the video, fentanyl is highlighted as the main driver of the current drug crisis in the United States, with deaths exceeding 70,000 annually, which is a higher toll than U.S. military casualties in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined [^1^].

💡Drug Cartels

Drug cartels are criminal organizations involved in the illegal drug trade. In the video, two powerful Mexican drug cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco, are primarily responsible for manufacturing fentanyl and flooding the US market with the drug. These cartels are known for their extensive networks and the use of violence to maintain control over the drug trade [^1^].

💡Counterfeit Pills

Counterfeit pills are fake medications that are made to look like real prescription drugs but contain different, often dangerous, ingredients. The video emphasizes that these pills frequently contain fentanyl, making them extremely hazardous. They are designed to deceive users into thinking they are taking a legitimate medication, which can lead to overdose and death [^9^].

💡Addictive Punch

The term 'addictive punch' refers to the highly addictive nature of a substance, especially drugs like fentanyl. The video describes fentanyl as having an 'incredibly addictive punch,' meaning it can quickly lead to dependence and addiction. This is due to the drug's potency and its effect on the brain's reward system [^1^].

💡Overdose

An overdose occurs when a person consumes a harmful or lethal amount of a substance. The video discusses how fentanyl is so potent that just a small amount can cause a fatal overdose. The drug's extreme strength, combined with its frequent presence in counterfeit pills, makes overdose a significant risk [^1^].

💡China

China is mentioned in the video as the primary source of the chemicals used to produce fentanyl by Mexican cartels. The country's role in the supply chain highlights the international nature of the drug trade and the challenges in controlling the flow of precursor chemicals for illegal drug production [^1^].

💡Smuggled

Smuggling refers to the illegal transportation of goods, in this case, fentanyl, across borders. The video explains that fentanyl is easily smuggled into the US, often through legal ports of entry, where it is hidden in vehicles or other means to avoid detection by law enforcement [^1^].

💡DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)

The DEA is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice. In the video, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram discusses the fentanyl crisis, emphasizing the agency's role in combating the drug trade and the flow of fentanyl into the country. The DEA works to investigate and prosecute those involved in the illegal drug trade [^1^].

💡Opioid Crisis

The opioid crisis refers to the widespread misuse and addiction to opioids, including both legal prescription drugs and illegal substances like heroin. The video discusses how the opioid crisis has paved the way for the rise of fentanyl use, as people addicted to prescription opioids may turn to fentanyl, which is cheaper and more potent [^1^].

💡Misuse of Drugs

Misuse of drugs refers to the use of a medication or drug in a way that is not prescribed or approved by a healthcare professional. In the context of the video, the misuse of drugs like fentanyl often involves taking the drug without a prescription or taking it in a way that is not intended, such as injecting or ingesting a pill not prescribed to the user [^1^].

Highlights

The US is facing the worst drug crisis in its history with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid.

Fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin and is often found in counterfeit pills.

Most fentanyl in the US is produced by Mexican cartels using chemicals from China.

Over 70,000 Americans died from fentanyl in the last year, exceeding US military casualties in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined.

Fentanyl is often hidden in other drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, or heroin.

The drug is smuggled into the US through legal ports of entry, often in passenger vehicles.

The DEA has been seizing millions of lethal doses of fentanyl, but the crisis continues.

The cartels are responsible for nearly 70,000 American deaths a year.

US Customs and Border Protection is seizing large quantities of fentanyl but needs more resources.

The opioid crisis in the US created a demand that Mexican cartels have filled with fentanyl.

The pharmaceutical industry's role in the opioid crisis indirectly led to the rise of fentanyl.

Social media platforms are being used to sell fentanyl and organize drug trafficking.

Fentanyl overdoses are difficult to reverse, often requiring more than one dose of Narcan.

The crisis is affecting all communities and age groups, including teenagers.

The DEA is working to combat fentanyl distribution, but more needs to be done.

The US is losing a generation to fentanyl, with a significant impact on society and the economy.

The fentanyl crisis is a new type of drug war, different from past experiences.

Transcripts

we are in the midst of the worst drug

crisis in US history the drug is fenel

and unlike cocaine and heroin it's a

purely chemical man-made drug it's cheap

to produce easily smuggled and packs an

incredibly addictive punch 50 times more

powerful than heroin nearly all the

fenel flooding into the US is made in

Mexico by two powerful drug cartels with

chemicals primarily purchased from China

and as you're about to hear it is

frequently hidden in counterfeit pills

made to look just like prescription

drugs it's the scourge of our time last

year more than 70,000 Americans died

from fentanyl that's a higher death toll

than US military casualties in Vietnam

Iraq and Afghanistan

combined the story will continue in a

moment we were so naive to fentel we

thought fenel you hear about it but you

think oh that's just affecting people on

the streets homeless people drug addicts

no it is so Insidious Angela King and

Mike O Kelly lost their 20-year-old son

jack to fenel last Thanksgiving a junior

at the University of Georgia Jack had

come home for the long weekend and was

out late partying he was at a friend's

house um so I had gone to to bed little

worried the next morning he couldn't

reach Jack so he used find my iPhone

when I could see where he was I texted

the mother of the house who uh basically

sent me a message back oh we're not

there uh doors unlocked their asleep at

11:00 Thanksgiving morning Mike went

upstairs and found his son in bed

unresponsive I noticed his chest wasn't

moving so I immediately pulled him out

of the bed

I had to perform CPR

for 30 plus

minutes Mike called me

and screaming in the

phone Jack's gone Jack's

gone and I immediately rushed over there

with one of our

children and

the EMT had arrived and was working on

Jack

upstairs and it was the most

horrific

traumatic there's there's not words Jack

O Kelly was Captain of his high school

football and lacrosse teams he was

studying business at Georgia and was a

popular member of his fraternity have

you been able to piece

together why take a pill was this his

first time I think he was just out

having a good

time and making made a stupid mistake

you know the the experimental days of

taking drugs in college are

over they're they're all you know all

the pills are laced with ventel Mike and

Angela found text messages between Jack

and a drug dealer he bought what he

thought was Xanax oxycodone and a gram

of cocaine but the death certificate

States Fel was the cause of death he

wasn't seeking fenel he made a really

bad decision not one that should have

taken his life though sounds like you've

had a crash course in learning about

fent absolutely absolutely which is

shocking to me because at the rate that

fentel is killing people in this

country it

is absolutely ludicrous that this is not

on the front page of every newspaper and

every news broadcast daily fentanyl is a

synthetic opioid a chemical cousin to

Morphine originally designed for

hospital patients in extreme pain now it

is in cities and towns in all 50 states

frequent users heat up fental powder and

inhale it but more often it's sold in

pill form deliberately made to look like

real prescription drugs the one on the

left contains fentanyl just 2 mg and a

amount that fits on the tip of a pencil

can kill the cartels don't sell fentanyl

as fentanyl they hide it in other drugs

like cocaine or Methamphetamine or

heroin they make it into these fake

pills that look identical to

pharmaceutical drugs that Americans

would recognize like oxy or xanax

Percocet Aderall it will be a very

massive high that is very short and that

person they beding if they survive will

come back again again and again and

again to buy more 3 years ago an Milgram

a former Attorney General of New Jersey

took over the Drug Enforcement

Administration since then fentel has

claimed more than 200,000 American lives

although deaths appear to be leveling

off fenel is impacting every part of the

United States it's impacting our

communities it's impacting our kids it's

impacting our economy one of the things

that I've learned over the last few

years that really stays with me is every

single week we lose 22 teens between the

ages of 14 and 18 every week every

single week we're basically losing a

high school class somewhere in America

she started putting pictures of people

who died from fentanyl in the lobby of

DEA headquarters a daily reminder of the

Drug's catastrophic impact we're losing

a generation that's what this is yes you

can see it so clearly when you look and

you see Americans from all walks of life

life all states all communities young

and old every background possible we

have folks in military uniforms we've

got babies oh my God some who just picks

up a pill that a parent dropped yes the

DEA is part of the Department of Justice

and conducts intelligence gathering and

counter drug operations worldwide mgram

oversees 10,000 employees as complex and

as massive a problem as this is it's

also not a who done it we know who's

responsible it's the caloa cartel and

the halisco cartel that are based in

Mexico they Dominate and control the

entire Global fenel supply chain

starting in China going to Mexico coming

into the United States Milgram told us

this Crisis began 10 years ago when the

cartels started to wrestle control of

the supply chain from China and began

making fentel in clandestine labs in

Mexico so these two drug cartels from

our neighbor

from Mexico are responsible for almost

70,000 American deaths a year yes how do

you fight that we've taken action over

the last three years against every

single part of that Global Supply Chain

charging Chinese Nationals with selling

fenel precursors charging and indicting

investigating members of these cartels

at every level and then finally taking

hundreds of millions of deadly doses of

Fenton off American streets and we're

making progress but there's so much more

that needs to be done the majority of

the the fentel that we're seeing about

90 plus% is coming in passenger vehicles

commissioner Troy Miller a 30-year

veteran of US Customs and Border

Protection told us almost all the fenel

coming into the country is smuggled

through legal ports of Entry like here

at San edro between San Diego and

Tijuana it's the busiest landport in the

Western Hemisphere what percentage of

the smuggled fentanyl do you think you

are catching you know Bill I I don't

know what percentage we're we're

catching but I can tell you we've seized

27,000 lbs of Fentanyl and uh fiscal

year

2023 Miller took us for a bird's eyee

view to see the magnitude of the

challenge so th this is the Wall comes

right up to the Port of Entry it resumes

here that's

Mexico more than 60,000 car s snake

through 34 Lanes

24/7 officers have a minute or less to

decide who gets a second look and they

only have the resources to search 8% of

the cars dogs trained to sniff out fenel

are some of their best

assets the cartels are constantly

adapting for example hiding pills in gas

tanks to mask the scent so we're in the

seizure Vault commissioner Miller showed

us rack after rack of seized drugs

locked in this massive Vault for

security reasons we agreed not to

divulge its location so explain to me

why the Smugglers would use the busiest

port as their main smuggling route I

mean it seems counterintuitive why not

do it someplace much less conspicuous

why not come across the desert well in

the San Diego field office we're seeing

200,000 people a day every one of these

200,000 people is presenting themselves

as a legitimate traveler we were

astonished to learn 2third of the people

arrested smuggling fenel are American

citizens paid by the cartels we've seen

terrible Trends we've seen high school

middle schoolers

smuggling um Fentanyl and dropping it

off to a cartel member at a high school

do you have the budget and the Manpower

you need I've been very clear that

Customs and Border Protection need needs

more officers we need more agents we

need more Intel research Specialists to

distill that information we asked him

about the bipartisan border Bill killed

by the Senate at the urging of former

president Donald Trump it would have

provided 1,500 new border and Customs

officers and 100 high-tech detection

machines the bill had money for much of

the stuff you were talking about is the

political in action is that costing

lives what I what I again what I can say

is we need more resources to do our job

and we need to all get on the same page

and Tackle This

Together Sher Hopson saw the fenel

crisis coming as an assistant us

attorney in San Diego she prosecuted

Mexican cartel cases for 30 years before

retiring in 2020 cartels are very

business-oriented they look for profit

they look for perpetual power they're

institutionalized it sounds like you're

saying they're very sophisticated they

are they do their homework they do their

analysis she says the cartel's move into

fentel was entirely predictable when the

US opioid crisis triggered a Crackdown

on the drug industry and many companies

were sued by ravaged communities the

supply of legal opioids dried up but the

demand from Americans addicted to the

drugs did not it's very strange to think

that the pharmaceutical industry

basically set the table for the Mexican

cartels to come in and dominate that's

that's that's incredible it is so I

think what happened was they said you

know what we have an open market we have

millions of people that are addicted to

oxycodone we can do fol uh we can create

these counterfeit pills and we can we

can sell them so the Mexican cartels

just filled this vacuum filled the void

fill the vacuum so the opioid epidemic

definitely started this Arc that we're

on the head of the DEA Anne mgrm agrees

the US drug industry Bears a lot of

blame for igniting the crisis but says

social media companies are fueling it

today the companies say they're taking

steps to combat this and what's

happening on social media the cartels

use it to organize themselves to get

individuals who will carry the drugs

across the border from Mexico to post

ads for drugs and to sell drugs whether

it's Snapchat Instagram Tik

Tok there are drugs being sold there

every single day and seven out of 10 of

those counterfeit pills the DEA tests

have a potentially deadly dose of

fentanyl Angela King and Mike O Kelly

say that's information every American

needs to know it it's a war it's it's a

New Drug War and that drug war is

totally different than anything we've

ever dealt with before cuz now we're

losing our young ones and what ever the

government's trying to do I'm glad

they're doing something it's just

doesn't seem to be

enough how do you reverse a fenel

overdose even if someone were able to

get an AR can just one or two doses

might not be enough at 60 minutes

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