NEW YORK — The struggle to stay fentanyl off New York City streets continues.
Federal brokers seized the easiest quantity of fentanyl ever in the Big Apple final yr.
And of all the fentanyl seized in the United States final yr, New York City accounted for 10% of it.
CBS New York just lately sat down for an completely interview with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Special Agent in Charge.
“This has been the biggest drug threat we have ever seen in the history of DEA,” Frank Tarentino stated.
READ MORE: The Fentanyl Crisis
Fentanyl now a number one motive of dying in the U.S. and essentially the most potent and wanted drug right here in New York.
“Two milligrams is lethal. We’re seizing pills with lethality of up four to six milligrams,” Tarentino stated.
DEA
The DEA has been at the frontlines of the fentanyl battle.
Tarentino says over 4 million pretend fentanyl drugs and over 500 pounds of fentanyl powder have been seized in our house in 2023. That’s identical to 37 million deadly doses.
“We’re talking about the largest percentage of people 18-45 are dying from fentanyl,” Tarentino stated.
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And now, an alarming new toxic polydrug aggregate is hitting the streets.
“Fentanyl mixed into cocaine. Fentanyl mixed with meth. Fentanyl mixed into heroin. Fentanyl pills that contain fentanyl, xylazine and cocaine. Fentanyl being sold in glassine baggies that has fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, xylazine,” Tarentino stated.
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Those are fentanyl mixtures inflicting overdoses even Narcan cannot opposite.
“It’s scary because some of the antigens that will help save someone’s life from an overdose, like Narcan, is not going to work on xylazine,” Tarentino stated.
It’s a industry technique for cartels.
“They’re trying to increase addiction,” Tarentino stated.
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The DEA 7 out of 10 drugs seized and examined in its lab have proven to been deadly. Agents say the fentanyl pipeline begins in China, the place the chemical substances are produced, after which dispensed to cartels in Mexico, the place fentanyl drugs and powder are made in labs.
Traffickers then transfer so much of the drugs and powder around the border and onto New York City’s streets.
“The Bronx has become ground zero for these cartels and drug organizations because of the strategic location up the I-95 corridor. Easy access on and off 95. Stash locations that exist,” Tarentino stated.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just about 6,000 other folks died of fentanyl poisoning in New York from June 2022 to June 2-23, with part in the New York City house, on my own.
And information from the town’s Department of Health presentations 84% of drug similar poisonings final yr have been led to by means of opioids.
“We’re up against the criminal version of Amazon. Cartels have weaponized social media, applications that exist like crypto applications,” Tarentino stated.
In addition to enforcement, the company continues to push its “one pill could kill campaign,” which is helping educates New Yorkers on pretend medication and their fatal doses.
“We have to do more right now to meet this moment,” Tarentino stated. “We’re finding their vulnerabilities and we’re attacking their vulnerabilities.”