DHS unveils strategy to combat fentanyl, other illicit drugs

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has unveiled a new plan aimed at cracking down on illicit opioids such as fentanyl.

The strategy broadly seeks to curb the international and domestic supply of illicit opioids, target opioid traffickers and work with private industry as the government clamps down on the drugs.

“For more than five years now, fentanyl has been causing so much loss of life and destruction in our communities,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement Tuesday.

“We in the Department of Homeland Security, along with our federal, state, and local partners, are committed to combatting this scourge and protecting American communities from it,” Mayorkas added.

The DHS secretary said the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) strategy “will help further align our intelligence and field operations to keep fentanyl off the streets and bring ruthless cartels and criminal organizations to justice.”

The DHS said the strategy was “in line with President Biden’s National Drug Control Strategy,” including by using financial and customs data to block illicit shipments from coming to the U.S.

Biden’s own plan is focused on increasing treatment for addiction and fighting drug trafficking.

According to a 2022 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, adolescent deaths by black-market fentanyl and related synthetics rose from 38 in 2010 to 884 in 2021. Fentanyl’s rise within the underground counterfeit pill market is largely attributed to it being strong, cheap to produce and addictive.

“Our nation continues to face an unprecedented epidemic of deaths from illicit synthetic opioids – our citizens are dying every year at an unimaginable rate,” Katrina Berger, HSI executive associate director, said in the announcement this week.

“This is a bold and innovative strategy to stem the flow of dangerous narcotics and directly addresses the public health emergency this opioid crisis has become,” Berger continued. “It provides a framework for coordinating our efforts to surge operations, increase targeted inspections, and collaborate with our partners.”