A DEA agent tracked the source of fentanyl in Mormon country -- a Mexican cartel

[Judi Lynn]

Story by Kevin Sieff • Yesterday 5:00 AM

ST. GEORGE, Utah — The meth was expensive. The federal agents were running out of money.

They had been buying loads of drugs in undercover operations, trying to trace the pipeline of methamphetamine and fentanyl into this sleepy city of retirees, out-of-town hikers and Mormon churches.

Brady Wilson, one of just two Drug Enforcement Administration agents in southern Utah, begged his bosses for more cash. The case felt big — a window into how Mexican organized crime had penetrated even suburban America.

“It was a gut feeling,” Wilson said. A Mexican cartel, he suspected, had set up shop in St. George.

Wilson, a bald, trim 42-year-old, operated out of an unmarked building, across the street from a car wash. He looked around St. George, a city of about 100,000 surrounded by jagged red-rock cliffs and waves of cookie-cutter suburbs. Few places in America would make a more incongruous outpost for Mexican drug traffickers.

More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-dea-agent-tracked-the-source-of-fentanyl-in-mormon-country-%e2%80%94-a-mexican-cartel/ar-AA15dlxz

[brewens]

1. The people responsible for the opioid epidemic created the demand for fentanyl. I suppose

that is what I would want if I had become addicted to oxycontin, especially if the real stuff was hard to come by or more expensive. Those people think they can be careful and will be able to handle it.

None of the Sackler family or corporate officers from Perdue Pharma were criminally charged and the fines they paid were just the cost of doing business. They still came out way in the black.

[2naSalit]

2. +1

[Mosby]

5. You skipped an important aspect of the cause

The lawyers and state AGs started suing everyone associated with opiates* (not just oxy) including distributors and retailers. Because of that opiates became much harder to get, so users switched to street drugs.

*Except the doctors who were prescribing them.

[Hieronymus Phact]

6. My Dr. Stopped.

She Stopped Prescribing them because of Regulatory issues.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. A product that kills its own market.

Sadly, it sounds like they're going to have to find creative ways to addict people in order to continue making a profit. Very disheartening that our Pharmas helped addict so many with opioids, creating a gateway.

[RussBLib]

4. Fentanyl surge fueled by our own stupidity

We, the US, cracked down on opiates, cutting lots of chronic pain sufferers off, and sending them scrambling for a replacement. The drug cartels filled the void, and now we are "shocked" at so many drug overdoses.

Cause and effect.