Drug Couriers: Increasingly U.S. Citizens

DRUG COURIERS: Increasingly US Citizens

“In the past five years, fentanyl became the leading cause of death for young adults in the United States, and now kills nearly as many Americans aged 18 to 45 as guns and car accidents combined.” Fentanyl costs $800 in chemicals to produce a kilo, which can net a profit up to $640,000.

Fentanyl comes from Mexico but the “mules” that carry it across the border are increasingly poor and needy US citizens. These carriers are recruited in bars, gyms, rehab facilities, trailer parks, and other places where such citizens are found. The drug is concealed in cars that come over the border, only 8% of which are scanned for drugs. If a courier is caught, no problem: the drug cartel mixes up a new batch and recruits a new courier.

What is the solution to this scourge? More enforcement, bigger penalties, scapegoating Mexico? Why not try to do something on the demand side to reduce the market for narcotics in the US, such as establishing training programs or offering meaningful employment to the vulnerable youth recruited by the cartels?

Source: The New York Times, 9/29/24