DEA Announces Arizona Has Become the Hub for Smuggling Fentanyl into U.S.
Arizona (KPEL News) - If I asked you which border state has the largest amount of fentanyl being smuggled into it you would probably guess Texas, right?
Louisiana's border state to the West would be a great guess as it's the state that shares the longest border with Mexico - 1,241 miles according to worldatlas.com - of the four states that sit on the Southern Border: Arizona, California, and New Mexico. Collectively, the four states share 1,954 miles with Mexico.
But, that guess would be incorrect. Texas barely even scratches the surface of drug seizures.
Every day, fentanyl stays in the headlines as the deadly drug has taken lives and wrecked families all across the United States. Lawmakers can't come together to even slow down the influx of fentanyl into our country as people are not only caught with fentanyl in their possession but smuggling rings are broken up all over Louisiana and the rest of the nation.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has had its hands full with "this poison," as Administrator Anne Milgram is working to build fentanyl awareness:
Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered. Fentanyl is everywhere. From large metropolitan areas to rural America, no community is safe from this poison. We must take every opportunity to spread the word to prevent fentanyl-related overdose death and poisonings from claiming scores of American lives every day.
In a new report issued by the DEA and highlighted by newsnationnow.com, the state of Arizona has become the hub for fentanyl smuggling with 51.4% of all the fentanyl entering the U.S. - by the way, California sits in second at 46.3%. In numbers laid out by newsnationnow.com, the numbers are staggering:
- About half of that 51.4% comes from the southeast corner of Arizona.
- More than 20 million pills were seized in Maricopa County, Arizona, in 2022, about three and a half hours north of the border.
- More than 40 million pills have been seized just at the port in Nogales, Arizona, since October 1.
What's really scary is what Cochise County Sheriff Mark Daniels points out about the fight against fentanyl:
When it comes to what’s coming through the Tucson sector, which we are a part of, we’re only touching it. I can promise you we are only touching it. It means it’s getting through us, there’s no doubt. I mean everybody talks about that wearing a badge. It’s getting through us because we have limited resources.
