DEA Administrator: 'China Is Providing Chemicals' 'to the Criminal Drug Networks' That Are 'Mass-Producing' Fentanyl Pills

During an interview with ABC on Tuesday aired on Tuesday’s edition of “Nightline,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram stated that China provides chemicals “to Mexico, to the criminal drug networks that are then mass-producing” fake prescription pills that are sold as though they’re prescription drugs, but are actually laced with fentanyl.

Milgram said, “[W]e do see a large number of young people who are purchasing pills. What we know is that China is providing chemicals to Mexico, to the criminal drug networks that are then mass-producing these fake prescription pills. They’re being sold as if they were Xanax, as if they were Oxy, as if they were Percocet. But there’s no Xanax, no Oxy, no Percocet in them. They’re fentanyl. But it isn’t just young people that we see, it’s also older Americans. Right now, this is the leading cause of death. Overdoses are the leading cause of death for men between the age of 18 and 45. There are more overdose deaths than car accidents and gun violence. So, we have to be really expansive in understanding that it’s just not teens, it’s Americans of all ages, cuts across every single demographic, rural, urban, suburban, and that people are dying at record rates.”

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