DEA: Mexican cartel smuggling illicit fentanyl is biggest threat to Washington state
DEA: Mexican cartel smuggling illicit fentanyl is biggest threat to Washington state
DEA says fentanyl is one of the primary drugs being sold in Washington state, with an increase in statewide seizures up 92 percent from 2019 to 2020.
SEATTLE - The Pacific Northwest is being flooded with fentanyl by a Mexican drug cartel, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration s 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment.
The annual publication outlines the threats posed to the United States by domestic and international drug trafficking and the abuse of illicit drugs. In Washington State, we’ve seen a 92 percent increase in fentanyl seizures and we’ve seen a 57 percent increase in Western Washington in fentanyl seizures and about a 230 percent increase in Eastern Washington which is alarming to us, said DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino.
March 3, 2021 at 11:05 am
Fentanyl continues to be one of the leading causes behind the region s opioid crisis. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
With Washington state recently reporting a staggering increase in fentanyl-related overdoses in the last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) believes a Mexican-based cartel could be to blame.
The second quarter of 2020 saw 171 fentanyl-involved overdoses in Washington, according to data cited by Caleb Banta-Green, a research scientist with the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington.
Over that same period in 2019, Washington saw just 63 fentanyl overdoses; two years prior to that, there were 18.
As for why that’s occurring, the DEA points to the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).
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The Chief of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhaduria, while recently addressing a webinar on India’s national security challenges and the role of air power, highlighted the challenges posed by rapid progression in technological innovations coupled with lower costs, leading to disruptions in how threats and warfare are now being perceived. The Air Chief specifically highlighted the potency of these technological disruptions in the hands of non-state actors, increasing their capabilities of achieving disproportionate effects in a conflict theatre.
It is the non-state actors and their incorporation of technology that has started to cause tremors in the foundations of how warfare has been viewed and broached.