DEA Administrator Links Deadly Opioid Epidemic to Chinese Companies

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, on April 14, 2023. Susan Walsh/AP Photo

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram testified to Congress on the role Chinese companies play in fueling the deadly opioid drug epidemic on May 7, which is National Fentanyl Awareness Day.

In a hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Ms. Milgram explained that Chinese pill and chemical companies and money laundering organizations are behind the Mexican drug cartels’ influx of fentanyl into the United States across the southern border.

Previously, she said the amount of fentanyl killing Americans daily depends on how many precursor chemicals the cartels can source from China.

“The supply chain begins and ends right now in China,” Ms. Milgram added.

She said the DEA in 2023 alone seized nearly 79 million fake pills laced with fentanyl and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder, which amounts to roughly 380 million potential deadly doses of the synthetic opioid.

Ms. Milgram added that every 11 days, the same number of Americans who died from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are dying from opioid overdoses. This amounts to more than 100,000 American deaths every year.

“We’re losing 22 Americans, teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18, every single week right now. So this is a national tragedy,” she said.

Congressional leaders emphasized the need to allocate more funds to the DEA to combat this “war” on American lives.

“If you want to take fentanyl, plus fentanyl poisonings, plus overdoses in one year, it equals all the wars since World War II combined. That is a war. That’s a proxy war being put on us by China being administered by the cartels in Mexico,” said Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas).

Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) also commented.

“This is where the rubber hits the road. When we talk about the distribution of fentanyl into this country, it’s coming from China. It’s going to Mexico, it’s coming here, and it’s killing our kids,” Mr. Cartwright said.

No Comment on Marijuana

Despite going into great detail about the DEA’s efforts to curb the Mexican cartels and the flow of illicit drugs over the border, Ms. Milgram stated outright that she could not discuss the administration’s intention to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

The DEA’s plans follow a recommendation from the Health and Human Services Department after President Joe Biden asked the agency to “initiate the administrative process to review expeditiously how marijuana is scheduled under federal law” on Oct. 6, 2022.

Ms. Milgram said it would be “inappropriate” to discuss any of the DEA’s plans regarding its rescheduling of marijuana until it had reached the public comment phase. Once an administrative judge reviews the case, the DEA will publish its final rule on rescheduling marijuana, which would be its most significant policy change on the drug in 50 years.

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) acknowledged Ms. Milgram’s inability to discuss the matter further, but still wanted to put on the record his concerns that rescheduling marijuana could worsen the country’s mental health crisis.

He pointed to studies by the National Institute of Health exploring various psychiatric reactions to persistent marijuana consumption.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.