US federal drug agents report seizing enough fentanyl to kill every American in 2022.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports intercepting 379 million potentially lethal fentanyl dosages, or two milligrams each.
The DEA labeled the chemical, which is 50 times more potent than heroin, as the most lethal drug threat confronting the United States.
The majority of fentanyl entering the United States is said to originate from Mexico.
The DEA is seizing more than 10,000lb (4,500kg) of fentanyl and more than 50,600,000 fentanyl pills designed to resemble prescription medications.
That is more than twice as much as they confiscated in 2021.
The majority of the drugs were mass-produced in Mexico by the Sinaloa and Jalisco criminal cartels using chemicals obtained from China, according to the agency.
A deadly dose of the medication is so little that it could fit on the tip of a pencil.
Last year, more than 100,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses, with two-thirds of those deaths attributable to fentanyl. The amount of fentanyl collected in 2017 was sufficient to kill all 330 million Americans, according to the narcotics department.
“DEA’s primary operational goal is to destroy the two Mexican drug cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco (CJNG) Cartels,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “They are principally responsible for the fentanyl that is killing Americans today.”
The DEA also recovered 131,000lb of methamphetamine, over 4,300lb of heroin, and over 444,000lb of cocaine in addition to the fentanyl.
