Illegally manufactured fentanyl smuggled into the U.S. kills tens of thousands of people each year and worsens addictions for many more. Not only those with opioid use disorder suffer, but also their families and communities, in a decades-long crisis that has blighted the country. The demands that we seal the borders against fentanyl are completely understandable. But also completely unrealistic.
Dedicated law enforcement efforts have produced large seizures, like the recent Blue Lotus Operation that confiscated over 900 pounds of drugs containing fentanyl. But traffickers can easily replace what is seized.
It is time to stop setting up law enforcement for failure by asking the impossible and instead embrace its vital role in cutting illicit drug market-related violence, disorder and corruption.
Fentanyl is a synthetic drug with no natural limits on its production, not a crop-based drug like cocaine or heroin. It is absurdly cheap for high-level traffickers to replace seizures. The traditional view held that international traffickers could make or buy fentanyl in Mexico for roughly $10,000 per kilogram but even if the replacement cost were $100,000—which may be more typical within US borders—then that is 10 cents per milligram, and there are typically only 2-2.5 milligrams of fentanyl in each counterfeit pill they press. Each pill might sell for $5 to $10 on the street.
The physics are as daunting as the economics. Fentanyl is extraordinarily potent (perhaps 30 to 50...
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