Why the drug war doesn't work, in one paragraph.
Law enforcement is boasting about a large seizure of fentanyl-laced pills. Just like they did last year. And the year before. But maybe this'll be the magic year it makes a difference!
Police have reportedly seized 1 million fentanyl pills linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, ABC news reports. “This massive seizure disrupted the flow of dangerous amounts of fentanyl into our streets and probably saved many lives,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Bill Bodner. “The deceptive marketing coupled with the ease of accessibility makes these small and seemingly innocuous pills a significant threat to the health and safety of all our communities. A staggering number of teens and young adults are unaware that they are ingesting fentanyl in these fake pills and are being poisoned.”
Hey, drug interdiction is working, right? At least that’s what ABC concludes:
The DEA, however, has been getting more successful year on year at stopping and seizing drug shipments. The DEA offices in Los Angeles seized approximately three million fentanyl pills in 2021 -- close to three times the amount seized in 2020. And, in the first four months alone of 2022, DEA Los Angeles have seized an estimated 1.5 million of the pills -- a 64% increase over the same period in 2021.
Um yeah. The way that reads to me, it’s more like, “Despite seizing three times the amount of fentanyl as they did the year prior, this year, there were already enough pills on the market to account for a 64% rise in seizures.”
There’s surprisingly little information about who was arrested. But I kinda doubt the head of the Sinaloa cartel was filling fentanyl baggies in Inglewood.
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