Ray Donovan, chief of operations of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), stands in front of “The Faces of Fentanyl” wall, which displays photos of U.S. citizens who died of a fentanyl overdose, at the DEA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. AFP/GETTY IMAGES
CELINA B. REALUYO/WILLIAM J. PERRY CENTER
An opioid epidemic in the United States led to over 107,000 overdose deaths in 2022, with 70% of those due to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. This lethal drug has become the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 49, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl and related precursor chemicals that are trafficked into the U.S. come from China and are synthetized by Mexican cartels for the U.S. market. The U.S. government recognizes the urgent need to decrease the demand for and consumption of fentanyl and stem the supply of this deadly drug. A whole-of-society approach and international cooperation are necessary to address this growing epidemic affecting North America, and signs of progress are emerging.
At the North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City in January 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to intensify and expand coordinated efforts to prosecute drug traffickers, dismantle criminal networks and disrupt the supply of precursor chemicals used to make illicit fentanyl. They pledged to prevent the trafficking of drugs, firearms and people across shared borders. As a result of the summit, a senior-level Trilateral Fentanyl Committee was established to guide priority actions to address the illicit fentanyl threat facing North America.
On April 13, 2023, U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall convened the first meeting of this committee at the White House with Mexican Secretary of Security Rosa Icela Rodríguez and Canadian National Security and Intelligence Advisor Jody Thomas. The trilateral committee recognized synthetic opioids, particularly fentanyl, as the foremost drug threat in North America. Under the North American Drug Dialogue, the three countries will prioritize four areas for enhanced coordination, focusing on current and emerging synthetic drugs, drug demand and public health, drug trafficking modes and methods, and illicit finance. At this meeting, the Mexicans highlighted an April 12 presidential decree that creates a presidential commission to fight the trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs, firearms and ammunition in Mexico.
On the prevention front, the U.S. and Mexico promised to develop a bilingual, binational public awareness campaign to educate citizens, especially young people, on the dangers of synthetic drugs like fentanyl. This special working group will improve coordination among Mexico’s federal government entities to support the investigation and arrest of those involved in the production and trafficking of fentanyl. The U.S. and Mexico pledged to continue joint work to dismantle the fentanyl supply chain and the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel on both sides of the border.
These trilateral efforts complement the U.S.-Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe Communities that was signed in October 2021 and has the following three strategic goals:
Protect our people through public health, support for safer communities and the reduction of homicides and high-impact crimes.
Prevent transborder crime through secure modes of travel and commerce, a reduction of illicit firearms trafficking, disruption of the capacity of transnational criminal organizations and their illicit supply chains and a reduction in human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
Pursue criminal networks through the disruption of illicit financiers, strengthened capacity of security and justice sector actors to investigate and prosecute organized crime, increased cooperation to address shared threats in cyberspace and increased cooperation in extradition matters.
With the North American diplomatic pledges in place, real action and political will are now necessary to turn words into action to curb the supply and demand of illicit fentanyl. National Fentanyl Awareness Day in the U.S. on May 9, 2023, and the DEA “One Pill Can Kill” campaign are addressing the U.S. demand problem. On the law enforcement front, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed indictments against 28 defendants, including three of the sons of “El Chapo,” known as the “Chapitos,” for fentanyl trafficking, weapons and money laundering charges. After the largest drug bust of 630,000 pills containing fentanyl in Culiacan by the Mexican Army on February 14, it is hoped that better U.S.-Mexican collaboration will lead to more operations to destroy drug laboratories, disrupt supply chains, and dismantle the Mexican cartels and their facilitators responsible for the illicit fentanyl trade that is killing so many Americans, Canadians and Mexicans every day.
Celina Realuyo is professor of practice at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies at the National Defense University where she focuses on U.S. national security, illicit networks, transnational organized crime, counterterrorism, cybersecurity and anti-money laundering and counterthreat finance issues. Opinions in this article are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Perry Center or U.S. Northern Command.