AP: DEA let hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills into New Mexico
An Associated Press review found the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to reach New Mexico streets between 2023 and 2025 while agents monitored shipments but often did not seize them. Agents' investigative reports cite specific examples, including one case where 74,000 pills were documented as delivered, and federal prosecutors pursued larger conspiracy cases instead of immediate interdictions. DEA Special Agent David Howell told the AP, "We poisoned our community to make cases," and state data show New Mexico experienced a 21 percent increase in overdose deaths last year. The gap between federal enforcement practice and urgent public-health warnings, including the White House labeling fentanyl a "weapon of mass destruction" last year, shaped enforcement outcomes and worsened overdose risk in an already hard-hit state.
