(COLORADO) — The devasting and deadly impacts of the fentanyl crisis continue in the U.S. as the opioid epidemic worsens in America. On Friday, Oct. 4, an hour-long special on the fentanyl crisis will air on FOX21 News beginning at 6 p.m. and will feature real stories of grieving parents hoping to reach families who believe the crisis can’t reach them.
FOX21 has partnered with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Field Division (DEA RMFD) to learn more about Colorado’s drug crisis and its efforts to combat it.
We’ve recently brought our readers and viewers stories about the threats of fentanyl and its impact on the younger generation, along with information on Mexican drug cartels operating in Southern Colorado.
This week, FOX21 spoke to Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen about where the chemicals used to produce fentanyl are being made, how those chemical precursors are then brought into Mexico, and what happens to them after landing in the cartels’ laboratories.
“What people should understand is that Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid and when we say synthetic, that means that it is manufactured from chemicals solely,” explained Pullen. “In this situation, for fentanyl, these chemicals are derived from China.”
Pullen said those chemicals are then used to make what the DEA calls ‘fentanyl precursors.’
“They produce this stuff and then those companies in China are selling those fentanyl precursors to the Sinaloa and CJNG cartels within Mexico,” he said. “So, sometimes they might take a Kilo of fentanyl precursor and put it on a plane and it goes down there, and sometimes they put it in a container ship [with] larger quantities, and that goes to a port within Mexico.”
Once there, the cartels get a hold of it and begin producing the pills.
“They are extremely filthy conditions when you see the actual labs in Mexico,” Pullen said. “Some of the pills might have very little fentanyl in them, the vast majority will have a large enough dose to kill a normal American.”
Pullen added that 7 out of 10 of the pills the DEA seizes have a deadly dose of fentanyl.
“We have images and videos of cartel members who are producing fentanyl and they are wearing full chemical suits with masks with respirators behind glass or behind plastic so that they don’t spread the fentanyl powder out to the rest of the air that they are working in.”
Once produced, according to Pullen, the cartels use their established networks to transport drugs using various means including; vehicles, boats, airplanes, and sometimes, even drones.
“Once they are here, they use the main arteries that we use to travel,” he said. “They use roads like I-25 to bring it straight up to Colorado and then they are distributed to groups and organizations across Colorado who distribute them or maybe move them out of state.”
Another concerning and newer trend, Pulled said the DEA is seeing, is fentanyl powder. “…fentanyl is coming across the border in powder form and then people locally are obtaining their own pill presses and making their own versions of these pills.”
Pullen said the pill presses are being manufactured in China and then shipped to the U.S. People are then obtaining special dies and stamping the drugs to make them look like legit pharmaceutical pills.
“Sometimes, we see a pill press in a house where kids live, and where the press is, there is fentanyl dust on the wall and on the machine, so if kids get into that, they are likely going to be exposed and potentially die from it.”
Pullen said fentanyl powder is also posing a greater risk to officers.
“It is an officer safety risk that we talk about regularly because we are seeing that powder and now when officers come across it, they are handling it which is dangerous and even more so, we go undercover and we buy this powder… so if you’re an undercover agent, can you do that safely? I don’t know,” said Pullen. “So it’s definitely something new that we are dealing with and trying to mitigate in certain ways.”
To learn more about the fentanyl crisis in America, be sure to tune in on Thursday night for: “Saving a Generation: The Fentanyl Crisis.” More resources can also be found at dea.gov/onepill.
