How fentanyl gets to your neighborhood

(COLORADO) – The devastating and deadly consequences of the fentanyl crisis continue across the U.S. as America’s opioid epidemic worsens. On Friday, October 4, a one-hour special on the fentanyl crisis will air on FOX21 News starting at 6 p.m., featuring real stories from grieving parents hoping to reach families who think the crisis cannot reach them.

FOX21 is teaming up with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Field Division (DEA RMFD) to learn more about Colorado’s drug crisis and its efforts to combat it.

We recently brought our readers and viewers stories about the threats of fentanyl and its impact on the younger generation, along with information about Mexican drug cartels operating in Southern Colorado.

This week, FOX21 spoke with Special Agent Jonathan Pullen about where the chemicals used to produce fentanyl are made, how those chemical precursors are then brought to Mexico and what happens to them after they end up in the cartels’ labs.

“What people need to understand is that Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid and when we say synthetic it means it is made solely from chemicals,” Pullen explains. “In this situation, these fentanyl chemicals are coming from China.”

Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Cora Mitchell, Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen, DEA’s Rocky Mountain Field Division.

Pullen said those chemicals are then used to make what the DEA calls “fentanyl precursors.”

“They produce this stuff and then those companies in China sell those fentanyl precursors to the Sinaloa and CJNG cartels in Mexico,” he said. “So sometimes they take a kilo of fentanyl precursor and put it on a plane and it goes there, and sometimes they put it on a container ship (with) larger quantities, and that goes to a port in Mexico.”

Once there, the cartels get their hands on it and start producing the pills.

“It’s extremely filthy conditions when you see the actual labs in Mexico,” Pullen said. “Some pills may contain very little fentanyl, but the vast majority will have a dose large enough to kill a normal American.”

Courtesy: DEA

Pullen added that seven out of 10 pills the DEA seizes contain a lethal dose of fentanyl.

“We have images and videos of cartel members producing fentanyl and they wear full chemical suits with masks and respirators behind glass or behind plastic so they don’t spread the fentanyl powder into the rest of the air in which they work. in.”

Once produced, according to Pullen, the cartels use their established networks to transport drugs in a variety of ways, including; vehicles, boats, planes and sometimes even drones.

“Once they get here, they use the main thoroughfares that we use to travel,” he said. “They use roads like I-25 to bring it directly into Colorado and then they are distributed to groups and organizations throughout Colorado who distribute them or perhaps move them out of state.”

Another concerning and newer trend, Pulled says, that the DEA is seeing is fentanyl powder. “…fentanyl comes across the border in powder form and then people buy their own pill presses locally and make their own versions of these pills.”

Pullen said the pill presses are manufactured in China and then shipped to the US. People then get special stamps and stamp the medications so they look like legitimate pharmaceutical pills.

Courtesy: DEA, Pictured above is a pill press that the DEA seized.

“Sometimes we see a pill press in a home where children live, and where the press is, there is fentanyl dust on the wall and on the machine, so if children get into that, they are likely to be exposed and possibly die from it.”

Pullen said fentanyl powder also poses a greater risk to officers.

“It’s an officer safety risk that we talk about regularly because we see that powder and now when officers encounter it, they handle it, which is dangerous. And more importantly, we’re going to go undercover and buy this powder… so if you’re an undercover agent, can you do that safely, I don’t know,” Pullen said. “So it’s definitely something new that we’re dealing with and trying to mitigate in some ways.”

To learn more about the fentanyl crisis in America, watch Thursday evening: “Saving a Generation: The Fentanyl Crisis.” More resources can also be found at dea.gov/onepill.