Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday accused Mexican drug cartels of "intentionally triggering" the fentanyl crisis plaguing the United States.
"It is a horrible epidemic, but it is an epidemic that has been unleashed on purpose by the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels," Garland said during an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The attorney general acknowledged that current anti-drug policies have not been able to curb the use of this drug, which is largely responsible for the skyrocketing of overdose deaths in recent years in the United States.
“They are not stopping fentanyl from killing Americans,” he admitted to the committee.
Agents suffer effects of exposure to fentanyl and capture it on video
Feb 16, 202300:30
Deaths from drug use set a new record in 2021 with more than 100,000 deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Federal authorities are especially concerned about the increasing number of overdoses in minors, fueled by the mixing of fentanyl with other drugs (or even candy) for the dependency of users and addicts.
[A teenager dies at a Los Angeles school and three others are hospitalized after overdosing on fentanyl pills]
“We are focusing on fentanyl with enormous urgency,” Garland insisted, referring to the federal fight against drugs.
He said the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized more than 379 million potentially fatal doses of fentanyl in 2022.
In the heart of Culiacán, where the fentanyl that invades and kills in the streets of the United States is made.
Jan 24, 202301:46
Another of the Government's strategies is to eliminate the purchase of prescriptions to obtain drugs that carry this drug through the Internet.
To do this, he said, he will deal with the matter with social networks and other digital platforms.
Garland stressed that the Mexican government is cooperating to stop the shipment of fentanyl to the United States, but said that it is not enough: "They are helping us, but they could do much more, there is no doubt about that," he assured, after being asked about the issue by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.