The chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration told Congress Thursday that fentanyl is the deadliest drug circulating in the U.S., but agents are bracing for something worse to emerge.
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram called fentanyl “the deadliest drug … we have ever faced” but warned the shift toward synthetic or man-made drugs will spawn new threats.
“The only limit on that — and what can be created — are the chemicals that can be purchased,” she told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance. “So today, fentanyl is the deadliest drug. But I want to be clear in saying we are actively tracking all of this to make sure there is not a deadlier drug that gets created.”
Biden administration officials have claimed progress in flattening rates of overdose increases, citing a dual-track strategy of combatting the supply side of drug trafficking while also addressing demand through substance-abuse treatment and overdose-reversing drugs like naloxone.
Many states, meanwhile, are tightening criminal penalties for fentanyl to combat the crisis. At least 28 states have passed fentanyl criminalization laws, according to the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association, which researches drug safety policies.
Some critics say the crackdown will be ineffective and adversely impact minorities. They also say outlawing substances will redirect users toward harder drugs.
SEE ALSO: States tighten criminal penalties for fentanyl
Ms. Milgram’s testimony suggested fentanyl remains the top threat, though there are chemical cousins to fentanyl that are just as bad or worse. For instance, experts say fentanyl analogs, namely remifentanil and carfentanil, are more potent than typical street fentanyl.
“As long-term users become tolerant to the effects of opioids, they often seek stronger drugs to attain the high they used to get but no longer do; that will mean there is at least some market for drugs that are stronger than fentanyl,” said Keith Humphreys, a Stanford University professor who tracks the overdose issue.
However, he said there is no evidence that fentanyl users have flocked to other drugs as a direct result of state crackdowns.
“People who follow politics and policy imagine that everyone else does also, but the average person pays little attention and the average person who is addicted to fentanyl pays even less,” Mr. Humphreys said.
While the risk of harder alternatives to fentanyl remains in flux, Biden officials say the overdose problem is at least getting more complicated.
One emerging threat is xylazine or “tranq,” which is a non-opioid sedative that is added to fentanyl to extend the euphoria from a high. The drug combo is becoming more prevalent and exacerbating the overdose problem.
“‘Tranq dope’ is making fentanyl look like a walk in the park,” Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, told a separate hearing Thursday before the House Oversight Committee.
Despite claims of progress, more than 100,000 Americans die from drug overdoses every year, with fentanyl the number-one driver.
“It is like nothing that we have seen before,” Ms. Milgram said. “Fentanyl is cheap to make, easy to disguise and deadly to those who take it.”
She said fentanyl remains the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
“More deaths than terrorism. More deaths than car accidents, More deaths than cancer. More deaths than COVID-19,” Ms. Milgram said. “And it is killing Americans from all walks of life.”
The DEA says most of the fentanyl in America is shipped up from Mexico. Criminal cartels use precursor chemicals, often from China, to manufacture fentanyl in clandestine labs and press it into fake pills, which kill unsuspecting users in the U.S.
Ms. Milgram said her agency has developed three counter-threat teams: one for the Sinaloa cartel, one for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and a third team devoted to the illicit finance, or money laundering, the cartels perform.
“They are mapping the cartels, they are analyzing these criminal networks that now exist in 40 countries and they’re developing targeting information on the members of those networks, wherever they operate across the globe,” she said.
Officials said they are seeing results. They pointed to a series of major busts that resulted in indictments of major cartel figures, the arrest of thousands of cartel affiliates and economic sanctions against Chinese chemical suppliers.
“El Chapo’s son is behind bars,” Dr. Gupta said, “and naloxone, or NARCAN, is over-the-counter, and treatment for addiction is more accessible than it’s ever been.”
• Sean Salai contributed to this report.
