Law Enforcement Experts Weigh in on Solution to Record Numbers of US Overdose Deaths

Opposing views on making drugs like Fentanyl legal

Photos of drug overdose victims line a chain-link fence at the Laguna Niguel Skate Park on International Overdose Awareness Day in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on Aug. 31, 2020. Chris Karr/The Epoch Times

The United States had a record number of drug overdose deaths in 2021, despite a decades-long effort to curb the illicit drug market. The solution to this epidemic is hotly contested, with some saying it is necessary to legalize illicit drugs, to weaken drug cartels, and others want to keep illicit drugs illegal but get more precise in targeting the source of drugs like Fentanyl.

Neil Woods spent 14 years undercover in the U.K. to bring down drug cartels and advocates for legalizing illicit drugs, while Derek Maltz, former head of Special Operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said law enforcement needs to keep those drugs illegal and get tougher on sources of Fentanyl and cartels.

Woods, who spent decades infiltrating and bringing down drug gangs, has written two books on why he thinks legalization is the only way forward.  “They [illegal drugs] should be legally regulated to take the power away from organized crime,” he said.

Meanwhile, Maltz said drugs like Fentanyl have totally changed the landscape, so law enforcement needs to be smarter in how they fight drugs at the source.

Fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, caused more than 71,000 deaths in 2021, a 23 percent jump from 2020, the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram called the fentanyl problem, “unprecedented” in a May 9 statement.

Woods is a strong proponent of legalizing drugs like fentanyl and having the government take control of that market. He came to this conclusion after he saw how seven months of life-threatening work, taking down over 100 people in a drug ring, barely impacted drug trafficking in any positive way for any length of time, he said.

Neil Woods is a former U.K. police officer and undercover drugs operative.  NTD screenshot

“However, it’s worse than futile. I mean, futility would be bad enough, but actually what we’re doing by this policing activity in these drug markets is we’re causing more violence. We are increasing the power and ruthlessness of organized crime,” Woods said during a recent interview with NTD The Nation Speaks.

Woods makes the case that targeting drug traffickers does not reduce the market demand for drugs.

In the United States, “you have the DEA, and they are incredibly good at capturing drug dealers, they’re incredibly good at making drug seizures, they'll seize kilos week in, week out. But that’s part of the problem because no matter what drug policing happens, the market is never reduced, the size of that market is never reduced,” continued Woods.

Woods said the DEA’s efforts, “sharpen the sword of organized crime, they make organized crime more effective, they create monopolies and cooperatives, which they are more able to corrupt the system.”

Woods also believes that society needs to help those who are addicted to these drugs with mental health services because they are suffering from various childhood traumas.

“It’s generally the childhood sexual abuse or physical abuse or neglect, or various aspects of childhood trauma, there’s very, very good evidence for that. So, you take control of the drug supply, and you can start looking at and helping those people who are struggling with trauma,” said Woods.

Derek S. Maltz was with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for 28 years. NTD screenshot

Meanwhile, Maltz, called the drug overdose deaths, “poisoning”.

“Because we have synthetic drugs being made in labs in China and Mexico and other parts of the world, poisoning our population at record levels,” Maltz said during a recent interview with NTD The Nation Speaks.

Maltz said the work that law enforcement does, including the DEA, saves lives and should continue going after drug cartels.

“They’re [drug cartels] in the business to maximize profits, they’re going to take advantage of the addicted population, and now they’ve employed a strategic and marketing plan to go after our young, our 13-year-olds, 15-year-olds that are sitting on their computers,” said Maltz.

Maltz also sees the “wide-open” southern border as a major source of illegal drugs that are killing Americans, even though border security is trying its best to find and seize these harmful substances.

“From a law enforcement’s perspective, they’re trying to save lives. They’re trying to make seizures, they’re trying to disrupt global networks, like the Mexican cartels as an example,” he said.

Maltz also wants to see an anti-drug campaign being implemented by the government to target vulnerable youth, who could become victims of these illicit and tainted drugs.

“You have to start with education, and it has to be done in elementary and middle schools,” said Maltz.

Maltz believes educating teens and young adults about the high chance of being poisoned from these drugs, is crucial to reducing deaths.

“We should be telling the kids that if you take an illicit drug, you’re probably going to die, there’s a 40 percent chance now if you take a pill, that it’s going to have a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl, which will kill you,” said Maltz.

Holding the pharmaceutical companies responsible for overdoses is also important, he said.

“The mental illness is off the charts in America, as we witnessed recently in massive school shootings, we have to get people to help,” said Maltz.

While Maltz thinks that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using fentanyl to undermine the United States, Woods says the United States is creating its own fentanyl problem by keeping it illegal.

Illicit fentanyl-laced pills and other narcotics are displayed by law enforcement during a press conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Dec. 16, 2021. Scottsdale PD

“Well, in my opinion, yes, it’s part of unrestricted warfare [by CCP] to destabilize and undermine America, which is a great adversary to them, they’re going to use all tools of national power, cybercrime, they’re going to go after our kids,” said Maltz.

Woods, on the other hand, said, “Fentanyl is a product of drug prohibition. It’s a product of the current policy. There is something called the iron law of prohibition, that means that any drug, once it’s handed to organized crime will become stronger, or will always become more dangerous.”

According to CDC data, more than 107,600 people died of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending in November 2021, 66 percent of which were attributed to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.