No drug crisis in American history has come close to matching the scale, intensity and destructiveness of today’s opioid crisis. By now, the depressing numbers are well known. More than 100,000 Americans are dying each year from drug overdoses at a cost of more than $1.5 trillion annually — more than 5% of GDP. Sadly, the federal law enforcement agency with the single mission of fighting drugs, the Drug Enforcement Administration, is now failing to perform one of its most basic functions: educating law enforcement and the American people through the annual publication of the National Drug Threat Assessment.
The publication of yet another government report on the drug crisis may not seem worth mentioning, but the assessment is not just any report. It is DEA’s flagship intelligence product and provides an unbiased detailing of the illicit drug threats against the United States. For years, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners; policymakers; and other observers have anxiously awaited the release of the National Drug Threat Assessment to better inform their understanding of the rapidly evolving drug trade and steps that should be taken to combat it.
And yet, with the drug crisis at its worst, the country’s premier drug law enforcement agency has not released an updated report since March 2021 — and that report only looked at the drug trafficking situation during 2019 and the first half of 2020. Meanwhile, the drug trafficking landscape has changed dramatically, with illicitly manufactured fentanyl dominating the U.S. drug supply, resulting in a nearly 30% increase in overdose deaths.
What accounts for the delay of such a critical report at such a critical time? While a change in administrations almost always results in some disruption to agency business, the two-year gap in publishing the National Drug Threat Assessment represents a major blind spot for those struggling to contain the latest outbreak of synthetic drugs and perhaps reflects an effort to sweep the latest bad news under the rug. By DEA’s own admission, in the past year alone, the agency seized enough fentanyl to potentially kill every American, and even deadlier drugs have started to emerge. It might also be an effort to avoid stating the obvious — the Mexican drug cartels that are poisoning our citizens are being enabled by criminal patronage networks and lax enforcement in Mexico and China. Look no further than the American citizens recently abducted and killed by a Mexican cartel in Matamoros, Mexico, to see the how brazen these groups have become.
The U.S. Department of Justice has also failed to develop an effective strategy to tackle the unprecedented drug threat. While the Biden administration has issued a lengthy National Drug Control Strategy, which includes a section on reducing the supply of drugs to the U.S., it is unclear how DEA plans to operationalize it beyond its traditional enforcement activities. It is troubling to think that the agency charged with leading the fight against drugs — an organization with more than 10,000 employees and budget of over $3 billion — lacks a central strategy document.
In this way, DEA stands alone among U.S. law enforcement agencies. Other federal law enforcement agencies have issued some kind of strategy document to guide their operations. U.S. Customs and Border Protection — another government agency on the front lines of the drug crisis — has published a rolling four-year strategy to help guide the agency’s response to myriad threats, including illegal immigration, terrorism and drug trafficking. So too has the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals Service — the other law enforcement agencies within the Department of Justice. DEA would be wise to follow their lead.
The U.S. has already fallen tragically behind in the current drug crisis and risks falling even further behind without strong, forward-thinking leadership from DEA and the Department of Justice. The Biden administration must accelerate efforts to combat the existing drug crisis while also working against future threats. This includes greater oversight and accountability for U.S. counterdrug agencies, whose mission it is to protect Americans from the scourge of drugs. The U.S. drug crisis is too big and the outlook too dire for the DEA to continue operating in the dark. The agency must help illuminate the threat and better articulate the actions it intends to take against it. The American people — and the brave men and women of the DEA — deserve nothing less.
Uttam Dhillon served as the former acting administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from 2018 to 2020. Jim Crotty served over 12 years at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, most recently as deputy chief of staff.
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here.
"strategy" - Google News
April 05, 2023 at 01:30PM
https://ift.tt/Rem6cEu
Fentanyl is killing thousands of Americans. The DEA needs a clear strategy - The Dallas Morning News
"strategy" - Google News
https://ift.tt/5qgRci6
https://ift.tt/SCAYuvj
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Fentanyl is killing thousands of Americans. The DEA needs a clear strategy - The Dallas Morning News"
Post a Comment