The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has published its 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment, an annual publication that discusses the threats domestic and cross-border drug trafficking pose to the US.
The DEA recognizes that transnational criminal organizations are overcoming pandemic restrictions to carry out drug trafficking. Thus, the DEA is focused on current as well as evolving threats in this sector. The DEA reports that Chinese fentanyl and fentanyl analogues in the US have significantly decreased after the DEA’s actions in the previous years. However, the opioid threat is still an epidemic for the country. Moreover, stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine are increasingly becoming more dangerous in terms of their volume and reach.
The DEA’s assessment notes that Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations are still the biggest drug trafficking threat in the US. They produce and supply fentanyl to the US market with precursor materials obtained from China. Consequently, deaths and seizures due to poisoning by methamphetamine and other drugs have increased significantly. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic did pose challenges to criminal organizations in carrying out their drug trafficking operations, but only temporarily.