The American federal agency responsible for combating drug trafficking would have seized a quantity of fentanyl sufficient to kill the entire American population, it revealed in a report for the year 2023 only.
“This is the largest quantity of fentanyl seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in a single year. This represents more than 386 million lethal doses of fentanyl – enough to kill all Americans,” the US federal agency said in a press release on Wednesday.
No less than 77 million fentanyl tablets and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder would have been taken off the streets in the United States in 2023, in an effort to limit the devastating effects of this drug, of which only 2 milligrams – l equivalent to the tip of a pencil – can be fatal, according to DEA data.
It would also be the primary cause of death among our southern neighbors aged between 18 and 45. Between June 2022 and June 2023, as many as 112,323 Americans are estimated to have lost their lives to drug overdoses, while 70% were linked to fentanyl, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cited by the DEA.
“The fentanyl we see today is even more deadly than before. Fentanyl pills are now more powerful,” the press release reads.
Indeed, in 2021, only 4 out of 10 pills tested in the laboratory presented a lethal dose, but this data would have increased to 6 out of 10 in 2022 and 7 out of 10 for 2023.
“The DEA responded to this unprecedented threat with unprecedented measures,” continued the federal agency, specifying that it had done everything possible to put obstacles in the way of the two main cartels “responsible for the vast majority of fentanyl which floods the country.
