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Tag: fentanyl

  • Drugs entering the US by sea down 97% since vessel strikes?

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    President Donald Trump has cited dramatic results from U.S. strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, saying they’ve nearly stopped the flow of drugs trafficked to the U.S. by water.

    Since September 2025, the U.S. has struck at least 40 alleged drug vessels, killing 149 people.

    “With our action in the Gulf of America, that sounds so nice when I hear the Gulf of America, drugs entering our country by sea are down 97%,” Trump said at a Jan. 29 White House event. “So when you see the boats being hit, those boats kill on average 25,000 people a boat.” We’ve rated the statement about 25,000 deaths Pants on Fire. 

    Even though Trump mentioned the Gulf of America, his comments appeared to reference the Caribbean and Pacific strikes.

    When asked for evidence about the 97% claim, the White House pointed us to Customs and Border Protection statistics from July 2025 to November 2025. Those numbers show a 98% drop in the pounds of drugs seized by CBP air and marine operations. 

    But drug seizures tell us only how many drugs are stopped from entering the U.S. There isn’t data to show how many drugs are being sent to the U.S. or how many are making it in. Drug experts also say changes in drug seizure data aren’t sufficient to make definitive statements about policy outcomes.

    “No one knows how much doesn’t get caught, so no one can cite a precise percentage change,” Jonathan Caulkins, a Carnegie Mellon University drug policy researcher, said. “Trump is making a claim about something that is unknowable.”

    The White House didn’t explain why it chose those months. There has been a drop in CBP drug seizures since September 2025 when the vessel strikes began, but the percentage drop fluctuates depending on the months compared.

    Additionally, the Coast Guard — not CBP — oversees most drug seizures on water, especially in international waters, an agency spokesperson told PolitiFact. Its data shows a spike in annual cocaine seizures — 200% in fiscal year 2025 compared with its yearly average. (The Coast Guard generally focuses on cocaine seizures, while CBP’s 98% decline is mainly related to marijuana.) 

    While the White House cites a drop in CBP drug seizures as a success, the Coast Guard cites an increase in seizures as a sign of strong enforcement.

    This image from video provided by U.S. South Command, shows a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean shortly before it was destroyed by the U.S. military, killing two and injuring one, Jan. 23, 2026. (U.S. Southern Command via AP)

    An uncharacteristically high month for marijuana seizures inflates percent drop

    The White House’s calculation starts in July 2025, which was an outlier with an uncharacteristically high number of marijuana seizures. In July, CBP seized 224,000 pounds of drugs, including 203,000 pounds of marijuana. CBP seizes about 20,000 pounds of all types of drugs in a month.

    From August 2025, the last month before the vessel strikes began, to January, the latest available data, CBP drug seizures dropped 79%.

    For the Coast Guard, drug seizures are up.

    In the 2025 fiscal year which ended in September, the Coast Guard seized 510,000 pounds of cocaine, a 200% increase from a typical fiscal year when the Coast Guard seizes about 167,000 pounds of cocaine. 

    In August 2025, the Coast Guard launched an operation to target cartels and criminal organizations. From August 2025 to February 2026, the Coast Guard seized 200,000 pounds of cocaine more than it seizes in a typical year, according to agency press releases. 

    The Coast Guard has hailed the increase in seizures as a success in “preventing the flow of dangerous drugs into American communities.”

    Statistics don’t show how many drugs make it into the US

    Regardless of the data point, it’s unknown how many drugs enter the U.S. each year. Drug seizures show only how many pounds of a drug were stopped from getting into the U.S.

    “It’s a black market. And so by definition, we do not have good market data,” Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy program director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit that researches global crises.

    The decrease in CBP seizures could point to less enforcement or fewer drugs moving on a specific route, Dickinson said. “There’s really not a good way to understand that data,” she said.

    Dickinson said the Trump administration’s drug enforcement efforts, such as the vessel strikes, have “scared some traffickers away from using specific routes.” 

    Rather than stop trafficking, they might have rerouted. 

    “Drug trafficking is a very old and mature business, in many ways, these organizations have been in a cat and mouse game with law enforcement, not just for years, but really for decades,” Dickinson said. They “are expert at reconfiguring routes, finding new ways to ship things, and innovating in a way to avoid enforcement.”

    Our ruling

    Trump said, after U.S. vessel strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, “drugs entering our country by sea are down 97%.”

    The administration hasn’t provided any evidence that the vessels it has struck were carrying drugs.

    There has been a drop in CBP drug seizures since the strikes began. But the Coast Guard — not CBP — oversees most drug seizures on water, especially in international waters. And that agency has seen a steep increase in drug seizures.

    The White House cites a drop in CBP drug seizures as a success at the same time the Coast Guard cites an increase in drug interdictions as a success, too. 

    However, neither an increase nor a decrease in drug seizures shows how many drugs are entering the U.S. That number is unknowable, according to drug experts. Drug seizures tell us only how many drugs are stopped from entering the U.S.

    Trump’s statement is unsubstantiated. We rate it False.

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  • 8 indicted in metro Denver drug trafficking, weapons scheme

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    Eight people from metro Denver were indicted on federal charges related to drug trafficking, weapons and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado said Thursday.

    The suspects — all current or former residents of Denver, Aurora, Commerce City and Wheat Ridge — are facing charges of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute meth, fentanyl and cocaine, federal officials said in a news release.

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    Katie Langford

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  • What’s driving down US overdose deaths?

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    The public health numbers were cause for celebration: U.S. overdose deaths fell for a second year in a row.

    After two decades of rising deaths, fatal overdoses killed 21.4% fewer people from August 2024 to 2025 than the year prior, the U.S. government reported in January. 

    White House spokesperson Anna Kelly attributed the decline to President Donald Trump’s policies at the southern border, military strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, and Trump’s work to stop chemicals used to make fentanyl from being imported from China. 

    A year prior, the Biden administration gave different reasons for the start of the overdose deaths decline, describing its work to distribute more of the opioid-overdose reversing drug naloxone, increase access to addiction treatment medications and support of harm reduction programs. 

    The short answer for why drug overdose deaths are falling nationally: It’s a lot of reasons.

    Experts on overdoses and drug markets told us that no single intervention can fully explain the significant drop. It might have more to do with the drug supply than public health interventions meant to reduce overdoses.

    Rising overdose deaths are “a complex societal problem requiring a multitude of solutions,” said Regina LaBelle, a Georgetown University professor of addiction policy. It can also be hard to pin down what works when research on the solutions is sometimes hindered by stigma about drug use, she said. 

    Here are what some of the researchers say is likely contributing to the measured declines.

    Lummi Nation crisis outreach supervisor Evelyn Jefferson looks down at her shirt as she stands at the grave of her son, who died due to an overdose of street drugs containing the synthetic opioid carfentanil, at the Lummi Nation cemetery on tribal reservation lands, Feb. 8, 2024, near Bellingham, Wash. Jefferson had to wait a week to bury her son due to several other overdose deaths in the community. (AP)

    There’s less fentanyl in the U.S. drug supply

    Fentanyl became less available in the U.S. in 2023, researchers wrote in the journal Science in January. 

    The synthetic opioid is a leading cause of overdose deaths in both the U.S. and Canada. Experts on illicit drug markets say that illegal fentanyl in both countries stems from precursor chemicals imported from China.

    Although the Chinese government often obscures its actions, its official statements show that in late 2023 China began taking action against manufacturers of fentanyl precursor chemicals, the Science study said. The crackdown partly followed Biden administration pressure to take action against fentanyl.  

    Peter Reuter, a University of Maryland public policy and criminology professor and one of the study’s authors, said the purity of fentanyl seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration began to decrease around the same time as overdose deaths started to decline in the U.S. and Canada in 2023.

    “It’s very likely that (the change in purity) has something to do with precursor supply, because that’s what the two markets share,” Reuter said. 

    David Guthrie, a senior research chemist at the Drug Enforcement Administration, stands near chemical precursors that can be used in the manufacture of fentanyl at a DEA research laboratory on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Northern Virginia. (AP)

    The pool of people at risk of overdosing may have gotten smaller

    Several factors might help explain why fewer people are at risk of overdosing.

    These factors include the fact that more people are aware of opioids’ risks, CDC overdose prevention researchers wrote. 

    Additionally, many people who were once at the highest risk for overdose have already died of overdoses, CDC researchers said. 

    Opioid sales and prescriptions are also declining, which means fewer people are misusing opioids or developing opioid use disorder. 

    A JAMA Psychiatry study also pointed out that even though public health interventions meant to prevent overdose deaths are uneven, overdose deaths decreased nationally. 

    Jonathan Dumke, a senior forensic chemist with the Drug Enforcement Administration, holds vials of fentanyl pills at a DEA research laboratory on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Northern Virginia. (AP)

    Overdose-reversing naloxone is increasingly available

    Experts on drug use and addiction policy also attributed the decline in overdose deaths to the increased availability of naloxone, also known as Narcan. 

    April Rovero, National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse founder and executive director, said her organization provides education on prescription drug safety and simultaneously distributes naloxone kits that include fentanyl test strips. 

    “When we train (people), we say, ‘Okay, if you save a life with this kit, you need to let us know,’” Rovero said. “We’ve had a number of those call backs or email messages letting us know that our kit saved literally a life.”

    Joe Solomon, co-director of Charleston-based Solutions Oriented Addiction Response, holds a dose of the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan in Charleston, W.Va., on Sept. 6, 2022. (AP)

    From 2014 to 2024, the number of naloxone products dispensed from pharmacies jumped from about 6,000 to 1.97 million, according to the American Medical Association. Naloxone became available over-the-counter in 2023, but some research showed limited sales.

    The National Harm Reduction Coalition’s executive director Laura Guzman emphasized the importance of sending naloxone where it is most beneficial. California’s Naloxone Distribution Project says its kits have reversed more than 407,000 overdoses. 

    Organizations that used naloxone kits as one aspect of their overall harm reduction programs — programs based around safer drug use, management and abstinence strategies — credited those kits as being responsible for nearly 221,000 California overdose reversals, or about 54%.

    Naloxone can also give people more time to consider or pursue addiction treatment.

    William Perry, founder of This Must Be The Place, right, gives free naloxone medication to concert goers at the Governors Ball Music Festival on Sunday, June 9, 2025, at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the Queens borough of New York. (AP) 

    Access to treatment has improved

    Increased treatment availability is another factor experts cited for declines in overdose deaths. 

    Starting on a medication such as buprenorphine or methadone that treats opioid use disorder can protect people from overdoses. 

    Several studies show that medication treatments, sometimes referred to as opioid agonist treatment, increase the likelihood a person with opioid use disorder will remain in treatment and reduce their risk of overdose. 

    Guzman said the availability and access to treatment when someone voluntarily seeks it out is crucial. 

    “Forcing or mandating treatment will not have the same results,” she said.

    Data shows that people forced into treatment involuntarily — such as through a drug court — are more likely to die of an opioid-related overdose or a substance use-related cause than those who entered treatment voluntarily. 

    “People go in and out of treatment a lot,” Rovero said. Sometimes people relapse after being sober for many years. She said she encourages people to consider addiction “a chronic illness that can be treated successfully.”

    Experts said that despite signs of progress, it’s too soon to say if overdose deaths will continue to decline. The federal numbers run through August 2025, because the government shutdown delayed the data. Other available data shows some slight regional overdose rate increases in early 2025. 

    Ultimately, they recommend a multi-faceted approach toward reducing drug overdose deaths — one that includes public health interventions, overdose education, addiction treatment and efforts to reduce the drug supply.

    “Public health research focuses on interventions while criminal justice focuses on disrupting the drug supply and criminalizing drug use,” said Lori Ann Post, a Northwestern University emergency medicine professor who studies overdose deaths. “The solution is somewhere in the middle.” 

    PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

    RELATED: Fact-checking Donald Trump: Has each boat strike off the coast of Venezuela saved 25,000 lives? 

    RELATED: The US attacked Venezuelan boats it says are carrying drugs. Is Venezuela sending drugs to the US? 

    RELATED: Misinformation about fentanyl exposure threatens to undermine overdose response

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  • Frederick County installs new health vending machine, featuring naloxone, fentanyl test strips – WTOP News

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    Frederick County’s health department will be installing a new health vending machine at the city’s Department of Housing and Services location and other locations.

    Maryland’s Frederick County Health Department will be installing a new health vending machine in the city, offering a variety of lifesaving resources free of charge.

    The vending machine, located at Frederick’s Department of Housing and Services on 6040 New Design Road, will include naloxone, fentanyl test strips, as well as hygiene and wellness products.

    “This vending machine has naloxone which can reverse an opioid overdose and save someone’s life,” Jessica Ellis, manager of the harm reduction and diversion programs at the Frederick County Health Department, said in a news release.

    “It also has a variety of other supplies that can help keep people safer.”

    In 2024, the county’s health department installed four boxes of naloxone throughout the county as part of a pilot program, according to the department, which raised the total number of boxes to 12.

    There have been over 5,100 doses of naloxone given to the public since then, the department said.

    Stuart Campbell, director of the Department of Housing and Human Services, praised the county’s partnership. “As a vital access point for services that help residents with daily challenges, hosting this vending machine at our New Design Road location was a natural fit,” he said.

    Frederick residents are not required to provide any identification, or speak to anyone to fill out an application for naloxone.

    The health department is asking those struggling with addiction to call or text 988.

    A map outlining locations where individuals can obtain free naloxone Is online.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Tadiwos Abedje

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  • Maduro didn’t flood the US with fentanyl

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    A White House social media post misleadingly links deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro with the U.S. fentanyl crisis. 

    The X post includes a video highlighting parents who lost children to fentanyl overdoses thanking President Donald Trump for capturing Maduro.

    “Angel Families thank President Trump for saving lives & capturing Maduro — the kingpin flooding America with deadly fentanyl,” the White House’s Jan. 5 X post said. “Justice is being served.”

    U.S. troops captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their Caracas home in the early hours of Jan. 3. The two pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges Jan. 5 in New York federal court.

    The White House post isn’t the first time the Trump administration blamed Maduro for trafficking fentanyl to the U.S. Trump has cited the potent synthetic opioid that is responsible for most U.S. drug overdose deaths to justify pressure on Venezuela in the months before Maduro’s capture.

    But neither Venezuela nor Maduro plays a role in smuggling fentanyl to the U.S. The majority of U.S. fentanyl comes from Mexico and is made with chemicals from China, according to U.S. government reports and drug policy experts.

    The White House did not respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment.

    Vice President JD Vance addressed fentanyl in a Jan. 4 X post, the day before the White House’s post, saying cocaine is “the main drug trafficked out of Venezuela,” and, “Yes, a lot of fentanyl is coming out of Mexico. That continues to be a focus of our policy in Mexico and is a reason why President Trump shut the border on day one.” 

    Drug experts previously told PolitiFact that Venezuela acts as a transit country for some cocaine trafficking in part because its neighboring country, Colombia, is the world’s main cocaine producer. However, most of the cocaine that enters the U.S. doesn’t go through Venezuela.

    Drug trafficking experts, government reports say fentanyl does not come from Venezuela

    The Drug Enforcement Agency’s annual National Drug Threat Assessment reports for years have pointed to Mexico and China as the countries responsible for illicit fentanyl in the U.S. None of the agency’s reports from 2017 through 2025 list Venezuela as a fentanyl producer or trafficker. 

    Most illicit fentanyl entered the U.S. via the southern border at official ports of entry, and 83.5% of the smugglers in fiscal year 2024 were U.S. citizens.

    “There is no evidence of fentanyl or cocaine laced with fentanyl coming from Venezuela or anywhere else in South America,” David Smilde, a Tulane University sociologist who studies violence in Venezuela, told PolitiFact in September. 

    The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report also points to Mexico as the country of origin for the most fentanyl seized in the U.S. 

    U.S. fentanyl overdose deaths recently have dropped. From May 2024 to April 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 43,000 synthetic opioid deaths, most of which were from fentanyl, down from nearly 70,000 in the previous year.

    “The United States has been suffering an enormous overdose crisis driven by opioids and fentanyl in particular in recent years,” John Walsh, director for drug policy at the Washington Office on Latin America, a group advocating for human rights in the Americas, previously told PolitiFact. “I would say it has zero to do with anything in South America or the Caribbean.”

    Maduro’s indictment on drug-related charges doesn’t mention fentanyl

    The Justice Department first indicted Maduro in 2020 for alleged drug-related actions dating to 1999. A newly unsealed and updated indictment filed in the Southern District of New York charges Maduro and two co-defendants with narcoterrorism conspiracy and he, Flores and the four other co-defendants with cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns.

    The indictment calls Maduro an illegitimate leader who transported cocaine under Venezuelan law enforcement protection, enriching his family and cementing power. 

    The 25-page document does not mention fentanyl or fentanyl trafficking.

    Our ruling

    The Trump White House described Maduro as “flooding America with deadly fentanyl.”

    Drug experts and official government and international reports point to Mexico and China as the countries primarily involved in producing and trafficking the illicit fentanyl that reaches the U.S. The majority of fentanyl in the U.S. comes from Mexico, is made with chemicals from China, and is smuggled by U.S. citizens via official ports of entry at the southern border.

    The U.S. Justice Department indicted Maduro on charges related to cocaine. The indictment does not mention fentanyl.

    We rate the statement False.

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  • Get the Facts: Is Venezuela a primary drug trafficker to the United States?

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    Get the Facts: Is Venezuela a primary drug trafficker to the United States?

    OK, thank you very much. This is big stuff. And we appreciate you being here. Late last night. And early today. At my direction, the United States armed forces. Conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela. Overwhelming American military power, air, land and sea was used to launch *** spectacular assault. And it was an assault like people have not seen since. World War II. It was *** force against *** heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas. To bring outlaw dictator Nicolas Maduro to justice. This was one of the most stunning. Effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence. In American history. And if you think about it, we’ve done some, Other good ones like the, Attack on Soleimani. The attack on al-Baghdadi. And the Obliteration and decimation of the Iran nuclear sites. Just recently. In an operation known as Midnight Hammer. All perfectly executed and done. No nation in the world could achieve what America achieved yesterday or frankly in just *** short period of time. All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless as the men and women of our military working with US law enforcement successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night. It was. Dark, the, uh, lights of Caracas were largely turned off. Due to *** certain expertise that we have. It was dark and it was deadly. But captured along with his wife. Celia Flores. Both of whom now face American justice. Maduro and Flores have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Jay Clayton for their campaign of deadly narco-terrorism against the United States and its citizens. I want to thank the men and women of our military who achieved such an extraordinary success overnight. With breathtaking speed, power, precision, and competence. You rarely see anything like it. You’ve seen some raids in this country that didn’t go so well. They were an embarrassment. If you look back to Afghanistan or if you look back to The Jimmy Carter days, they were different days. We’re *** respected country again like maybe like never before. These highly trained warriors operating in collaboration with US law enforcement caught them in *** very ready position. They were waiting for us. They knew we had many ships out. In the sea we just sort of waiting. They knew we were coming, so they were in *** ready, what’s called *** ready position. But they were completely overwhelmed and very quickly incapacitated. If you would have seen what I saw last night, you would have been very impressed. I’m not sure that you’ll ever get to see it, but it was an incredible thing to see. Not *** single American service member was killed and not *** single piece of American equipment was lost. We had many helicopters, many planes, many. Many people involved in that fight. But think of that not one piece of military equipment was lost, not one service member was more importantly killed. The United States military is the strongest and most fearsome military on the planet by far, with capabilities and skills, our enemies can. Scarcely begin to imagine we have the best equipment anywhere in the world. There’s no equipment like what we have, and you see that even if you just look at the boats, you know, we’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by sea. 90%. Each boat kills 25 on average 25,000 people. We knocked out 97%. And those drugs mostly come from *** place called Venezuela. We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do *** safe, proper, and judicious transition, so. We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years, so we are going to run the country until such time as we can do *** safe, proper, and judicious transition, and it has to be judicious. Because that’s what we’re all about. We want peace, liberty and justice for the great people of Venezuela. And that includes many from Venezuela that are now living in the United States and want to go back to their country, it’s their homeland. We can’t take *** chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind. Had decades of that. We’re not going to let that happen. We’re there now, and what people don’t understand, but they understand as I say this, we’re there now, but we’re. Going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place, so we’re going to stay until such time as we’re going to run it essentially until such time as *** proper transition can take place. As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been *** bust, *** total bust for *** long period of time. They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could. have been pumping and what could have taken place. We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure. And start making money for the country. And we are Ready to stage *** second and much larger attack if We need to do so, so we were prepared to do *** second wave. If We needed to do so. We actually assumed that *** second wave would be necessary, but now it’s probably not. The first wave, if you’d like to call it that, the first attack was so successful we probably don’t have to do *** second, but we’re prepared to do *** second wave, *** much bigger wave actually. This was pinpoint, but we have *** much bigger wave that. Probably won’t have to do this partnership of Venezuela with the United States of America, *** country that everybody wants to be involved with because of what we were able to do and accomplish, will make the people of Venezuela rich, independent, and safe, and it will also make the many, many people from Venezuela that are living in the United States extremely happy. They suffered. They suffered. So much was taken from them. They’re not going to suffer anymore. The illegitimate dictator Maduro was the kingpin of *** vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States. As alleged in the indictment, he personally oversaw the vicious cartel known as Cartel de las Solis. Which flooded our nation with lethal poison responsible for the deaths of countless Americans, the many, many Americans, hundreds of thousands over the years of Americans died because of him. Maduro and his wife will soon face the full might of American justice and stand trial on American soil. Right now they’re on *** ship they’ll be heading to ultimately New York and then *** decision will be made, I assume between New York and. Miami or Florida. But we have People where the overwhelming evidence of their crimes will be presented in *** court of law, and I’ve seen it. I’ve seen what we have. It’s It’s both horrible and breathtaking that something like this could have been allowed to take place. For many years after his term as president of Venezuela expired, Maduro remained in power and waged *** ceaseless campaign of violence, terror, and subversion against the United States of America, threatening not only our people but the stability of the entire region. And you also, in addition to trafficking gigantic amounts of illegal drugs. That inflicted untold suffering and human destruction all over the country, all over, in particular the United States. Maduro sent savage and murderous gangs, including the bloodthirsty prison gang Tren de Arragua, to terrorize American communities nationwide, and he did indeed. They were in Colorado. They took over apartment complexes. They cut the fingers of people if they call police. They were brutal. But they’re not so brutal now? And I just have to Congratulate our military, Pete and everybody in our National Guard. Because the job that they’ve done, whether it’s in Washington DC where we have *** totally safe city where it was one of the most unsafe cities anywhere in the world, frankly, and now we have no crime in Washington DC. We haven’t had *** killing. We had the terrorist attack *** few weeks ago. Uh, *** little bit of *** different kind of ***, *** threat, but we haven’t had *** killing in *** long period of time, 67 months, we used to have 2, on average 2 *** week in Washington, our capital. We don’t have that anymore. The restaurants are opening. Everyone’s happy. They’re going, they’re walking their daughters, they’re walking their children, their wives, they walk to restaurants. Restaurants are opening all over Washington DC. So I want to thank the National Guard. I want to thank our military, and I want to thank law enforcement. It’s been amazing. And they should do it with more cities. We’re doing it, as you know, and uh we’re doing it in Memphis, Tennessee right now, and crime is down. We’ve just sort of started *** few weeks ago, but crime is down now 77%. And uh the governor of Louisiana called, great person. And he wanted us to help him, as you know, in *** certain very nice part of Louisiana, and we have done that and it’s *** rough, it was *** rough, rough section and we have climbed down. I, I understand it’s down to almost nothing already after 2.5 weeks. New Orleans, it’s down to almost nothing, and we’ve only been there for 2.5 weeks. Can’t imagine why governors wouldn’t want us to help. We also helped, as you know, in Chicago, and crime went down *** little bit there. We did *** very small help because we had no, no. We had no working ability with the governor. The governor was *** disaster and the mayor was *** disaster, but it knocked down crime. But we’re pulling out of there when they need us, we’ll know. You’ll know. You’ll be writing about it. And likewise Los Angeles, where we saved Los Angeles early on where the. Head of the police department made *** statement that if the federal government didn’t come in we would have lost Los Angeles. That’s after long after the fires. That’s when they had the riots in Los Angeles. We did *** great job. We got no credit for it whatsoever, but that’s OK. It doesn’t matter. We don’t need the credit. But we’ll be pulling out when they need us. They’ll call or we’ll go back if we have to. We’ll go back, but we did *** great job in various cities. But the thing, the place that we’re very proud of is Washington DC because it’s our nation’s capital. We took it from being *** crime ridden mess to being one of the safest cities in the country. But the gangs that they sent raped, tortured, and murdered American women and children. They were in all of the cities I mentioned, Trendaragua. And they were sent by Maduro to terrorize our people and now Maduro will never again be able to threaten an American citizen or anybody from Venezuela. There will no longer be threats. For years I’ve highlighted the stories of those innocent Americans whose lives. We’re so heartlessly robbed by this Venezuelan terrorist organization, really one of the worst, one of the worst, they say the worst. Americans like 12 year old Jocelyn Nungary from Houston. Beautiful Jocelyn. Nungarary, what happened to her? They, uh, as you know, they kidnapped, assaulted and murdered by Trende Aragua. Animals they murdered Jocelyn. And Left her dead under the bridge. There was *** bridge. *** bridge that will never be the same to so many people after seeing what happened. As I’ve said many times, the Maduro regime emptied out their prisons, sent their worst and most violent monsters into the United States to steal American lives, and they came from mental institutions and insane asylums. They came from prisons and jails. The reason I say both, they sound similar actually. Prisons, *** little bit more. *** little bit more hostile, *** little bit tougher. *** mental institution isn’t as tough as an insane asylum, but we got them both. They sent from their mental institutions. They sent from their jails, prisons. They were drug dealers. They were drug kingpins. They sent everybody bad into the United States. But no longer, and we have now *** border where nobody gets through. In addition, Venezuela. Unilaterally seized and sold American oil, American assets, and American platforms, costing us billions and billions of dollars. They did this *** while ago, but we never had *** president that did anything about it. They took all of our property. It was our property. We built it. And we never had *** president that decided to do anything about it. Instead they fought wars that were 10,000 miles away. We built Venezuela oil industry with American talent, drive and skill, and the socialist regime stole it from us during those previous administrations, and they stole it through force. This constituted one of the largest thefts of American property in the history of our country, considered the largest theft of property in the history of our country. Massive oil infrastructure was taken like we were babies, and we didn’t do anything about it. I would have done something about it. America will never allow foreign powers to rob our people or drive us back into. And out of our own hemisphere, that’s what they did. Furthermore, under the now deposed dictator Maduro, Venezuela was increasingly hosting foreign adversaries in our region. And acquiring menacing offensive weapons that could threaten US interests and lives, and they used those weapons last night. They used those weapons last night, potentially in league with the cartels operating along our border. All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy dating back more than two centuries. And uh not anymore all the way back it dated to the Monroe Doctrines. And the Monroe Doctrine is *** big deal, but we’ve superseded it by *** lot. By *** real lot. They now call it the Don Ro document. I don’t know. It’s, uh, Monroe Doctrine, we sort of forgot about it. It was very important, but we forgot about it. We don’t forget about it anymore. Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again. Won’t happen. So just in concluding, for decades other administrations have neglected or even Contributed to these growing security threats in the Western Hemisphere. Under the Trump administration, we are reasserting American power in *** very powerful way. In our home region. And our home region is very different than it was just *** short while ago. The future will be, and we did this in my first term. We had great dominance in my first term, and We have far greater dominance right now. Everyone’s coming back to us. The future will be determined by the ability to protect commerce and territory and resources that are core to national security. These are core to our national security. Just like tariffs are, they’ve made our country rich and they’ve made our national security strong, stronger than ever before. But these are the iron laws that have always determined global power. And we’re going to keep it that way. We will secure our borders. We will stop the terrorists. We will crash the cartels, and we will defend our citizens against all threats, foreign and domestic. Other presidents may have lacked the courage or whatever to defend America, but I will never allow terrorists and criminals to operate with impunity against the United States. This extremely successful operation should serve as *** warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives. Very importantly, the embargo on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect. The American. Armada remains poised in position, and the United States retains all military options until the United States demands have been fully met and fully satisfied. All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand. What happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them. If they aren’t just fair, even to their people, the dictator and terrorist Maduro. is finally gone in Venezuela. People are free. They’re free again. It’s been *** long time for them, but they’re free. America is *** safer nation. This morning It’s *** prouder nation this morning because it didn’t allow. This horrible person and this country that was Doing very bad things to us, it didn’t allow it to happen, and the Western Hemisphere is right now *** much safer place to be. So I want to thank everybody for being here. I want to thank General Raisin Kane. He’s *** fantastic man. I’ve worked with *** lot of generals. I worked with some I didn’t like. I worked with some I didn’t respect. I worked with some that just weren’t good. But this guy is fantastic. I watched last night one of the most precise. Attacks on sovereignty. I mean it was an attack for justice and I’m very proud of him and I’m very proud of our Secretary of War Pete Hegseth who I’m going to ask to say *** few words. Thank you very much.


    Data Visualization Journalist

    The Trump administration has set its sights on Venezuela in its latest campaign against illegal drugs, but data shows that the country is responsible for just a sliver of drug trafficking directly to the United States. The Get the Facts Data Team analyzed data on cocaine and fentanyl trafficking. While Venezuela is a player in cocaine manufacturing and trafficking, drug seizure data shows that it’s not as prominent a supplier of cocaine to the U.S. as other South American and Latin American countries. There is also no evidence that any significant level of illegal fentanyl — the primary killer in U.S. overdose deaths — is produced in South America, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).UNODC analyzes global drug trafficking based on reporting from its member states, open sources and drug seizure information.Most illegal fentanyl enters the U.S. from Mexico, per UNODC and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Illicit fentanyl can also be diverted, or stolen, from legal sources as medical professionals use the drug.Yet President Donald Trump has linked his administration’s attacks on drug vessels in Latin America to the fentanyl crisis, among other drugs.After the Sept. 19 attack on a boat in the Caribbean that killed three people, Trump posted on Truth Social, claiming that the boat was carrying drugs and headed for America. “STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA,” his post said. The next day, in a speech, Trump said that thousands are dying because of “boatloads” of fentanyl and drugs. He’s also repeatedly said that each boat strike would save 25,000 lives.As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35, and the number of people killed stands at least 115, according to the Trump administration.Previously, Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. Hearst Television’s partner PolitiFact labeled that 25,000 number mathematically dubious.Maduro’s capture on Jan. 3On Saturday, the Trump administration struck Venezuela in a new, stunning way, capturing its leader, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife. Both are being taken to the United States to face charges related to drug trafficking.The strike followed a monthslong Trump administration pressure campaign on the Venezuelan leader, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.Venezuela’s role in cocaine traffickingVenezuela is not among the primary direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S. Like fentanyl, most cocaine enters the U.S. from Mexico and typically gets to Mexico via maritime transportation on both the Pacific and Caribbean sides, according to UNODC research officer Antoine Vella. Some also arrives in Mexico via land transportation.While the Trump administration’s early September attacks targeted Venezuelan boats, there is no known direct cocaine trade route from Venezuela to the U.S. via sea. The only known direct Venezuela to U.S. trafficking route is via air, according to drug seizure data from UNODC. Cocaine could still arrive from Venezuela to the U.S. through intermediary countries.Colombia, Ecuador and Panama are among the main direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S. via boat. From harvest to productionCoca, the plant that cocaine is made from, is grown primarily in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Once coca is harvested, the cocaine in the leaf needs to be extracted. That processing occurs at illegal manufacturing facilities around the globe.The three coca-growing countries also have the most illegal processing facilities. Colombia had by far the most of any country at about 26,400 detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s followed by about 3,200 processing facilities in Bolivia and 2,400 in Peru. Venezuela, which neighbors Colombia, had about 260 illegal processing facilities detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s ranked fifth among countries with the most processing facilities.”Every country that borders Colombia has an issue with cocaine in terms of cocaine trafficking,” Vella said. PHNjcmlwdCB0eXBlPSJ0ZXh0L2phdmFzY3JpcHQiPiFmdW5jdGlvbigpeyJ1c2Ugc3RyaWN0Ijt3aW5kb3cuYWRkRXZlbnRMaXN0ZW5lcigibWVzc2FnZSIsKGZ1bmN0aW9uKGUpe2lmKHZvaWQgMCE9PWUuZGF0YVsiZGF0YXdyYXBwZXItaGVpZ2h0Il0pe3ZhciB0PWRvY3VtZW50LnF1ZXJ5U2VsZWN0b3JBbGwoImlmcmFtZSIpO2Zvcih2YXIgYSBpbiBlLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdKWZvcih2YXIgcj0wO3I8dC5sZW5ndGg7cisrKXtpZih0W3JdLmNvbnRlbnRXaW5kb3c9PT1lLnNvdXJjZSl0W3JdLnN0eWxlLmhlaWdodD1lLmRhdGFbImRhdGF3cmFwcGVyLWhlaWdodCJdW2FdKyJweCJ9fX0pKX0oKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=

    The Trump administration has set its sights on Venezuela in its latest campaign against illegal drugs, but data shows that the country is responsible for just a sliver of drug trafficking directly to the United States.

    The Get the Facts Data Team analyzed data on cocaine and fentanyl trafficking. While Venezuela is a player in cocaine manufacturing and trafficking, drug seizure data shows that it’s not as prominent a supplier of cocaine to the U.S. as other South American and Latin American countries.

    There is also no evidence that any significant level of illegal fentanyl — the primary killer in U.S. overdose deaths — is produced in South America, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

    UNODC analyzes global drug trafficking based on reporting from its member states, open sources and drug seizure information.

    Most illegal fentanyl enters the U.S. from Mexico, per UNODC and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Illicit fentanyl can also be diverted, or stolen, from legal sources as medical professionals use the drug.

    Yet President Donald Trump has linked his administration’s attacks on drug vessels in Latin America to the fentanyl crisis, among other drugs.

    After the Sept. 19 attack on a boat in the Caribbean that killed three people, Trump posted on Truth Social, claiming that the boat was carrying drugs and headed for America. “STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA,” his post said.

    The next day, in a speech, Trump said that thousands are dying because of “boatloads” of fentanyl and drugs. He’s also repeatedly said that each boat strike would save 25,000 lives.

    As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35, and the number of people killed stands at least 115, according to the Trump administration.

    Previously, Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. Hearst Television’s partner PolitiFact labeled that 25,000 number mathematically dubious.

    Maduro’s capture on Jan. 3

    On Saturday, the Trump administration struck Venezuela in a new, stunning way, capturing its leader, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife. Both are being taken to the United States to face charges related to drug trafficking.

    The strike followed a monthslong Trump administration pressure campaign on the Venezuelan leader, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.

    Venezuela’s role in cocaine trafficking

    Venezuela is not among the primary direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S.

    Like fentanyl, most cocaine enters the U.S. from Mexico and typically gets to Mexico via maritime transportation on both the Pacific and Caribbean sides, according to UNODC research officer Antoine Vella. Some also arrives in Mexico via land transportation.

    While the Trump administration’s early September attacks targeted Venezuelan boats, there is no known direct cocaine trade route from Venezuela to the U.S. via sea. The only known direct Venezuela to U.S. trafficking route is via air, according to drug seizure data from UNODC. Cocaine could still arrive from Venezuela to the U.S. through intermediary countries.

    Colombia, Ecuador and Panama are among the main direct traffickers of cocaine to the U.S. via boat.

    From harvest to production

    Coca, the plant that cocaine is made from, is grown primarily in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.

    Once coca is harvested, the cocaine in the leaf needs to be extracted. That processing occurs at illegal manufacturing facilities around the globe.

    The three coca-growing countries also have the most illegal processing facilities. Colombia had by far the most of any country at about 26,400 detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s followed by about 3,200 processing facilities in Bolivia and 2,400 in Peru.

    Venezuela, which neighbors Colombia, had about 260 illegal processing facilities detected and dismantled from 2019 to 2023, according to UNODC data. It’s ranked fifth among countries with the most processing facilities.

    “Every country that borders Colombia has an issue with cocaine in terms of cocaine trafficking,” Vella said.

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  • Officers seize 67,000 fentanyl pills, other drugs in Adams County; 2 men face felony charges

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    Two men face multiple felony drug charges following searches of Adams County apartments and the seizure of what authorities said were an estimated 67,000 fentanyl pills, 521 grams of methamphetamine, 45 grams heroin and 667 grams of cocaine.

    Oscar Serrano Romano and Enrique Delgadillo Ruiz were arrested Dec. 18.

    As part of the investigation, the Northern Colorado Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Front Range Task Force executed search warrants for apartments in Thornton, Aurora and Westminster. During the search of the Thornton apartment, officers found several duffel bags containing bundled packages of suspected methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl, according to an affidavit from the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

    Officers reported finding bags they believed were being used to distribute drugs. They also found a parking pass for an apartment in Thornton where Ruiz was staying, according to the affidavit.

    Investigators obtained a search warrant for the second apartment on Dec. 18. They said they found a duffel bag containing suspected counterfeit fentanyl pills, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. Officers also found clear bags of suspected cocaine, an undetermined amount of money and a notebook that appeared to be handwritten daily logs of drug sales.

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  • State touts progress keeping drugs out of prisons

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    BOSTON — Massachusetts corrections officials say they’re making progress curbing the amount of illegal drugs being smuggled into the state’s prisons.

    A report released Wednesday by the Massachusetts Department of Correction said a multiagency task force created to intercept contraband in state correctional facilities investigated 26 cases that led to arrests and the seizure of millions of dollars worth of synthetic cannabis, heroin and opioids.

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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Agents discover fentanyl stash in I-5 search, latest in series of San Diego Sector drug seizures

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    A Border Patrol SUV. (File photo courtesy of OnScene.TV

    Border Patrol agents stopped a vehicle this week that contained nearly 17 pounds of fentanyl, authorities said, and took the driver into custody.

    It’s the latest drug seizure in the agency’s San Diego Sector, where agents have confiscated 184 pounds of narcotics since Dec. 4.

    Agents from the San Clemente Station on Tuesday conducted a vehicle stop on northbound Interstate 5, the Border Patrol said in a news release. A search under the front seats uncovered seven packages of fentanyl weighing 16.75 pounds, which had an estimated street value of $64,600.

    In three other cases this month out of the San Clemente Station, agents made I-5 stops and seized more fentanyl –12.24 pounds, with an estimated street value of $47,175; 25.79 pounds, valued at $99,450 and 23.48 pounds, valued at $90,525.

    In the second incident, they also found 31 pounds of heroin.

    In an additional stop, in Murrieta, agents searched a vehicle on Interstate 15 and discovered 75 pounds of drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl.

    In each case, authorities took the driver into custody. Three are U.S. citizens, one is a permanent legal resident and another, a Mexican citizen.

    “The significant quantity of fentanyl and other dangerous narcotics that our agents have seized in the past two weeks represents millions of lethal doses,” said San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Justin De La Torre. “Whether it is shutting down human traffickers or preventing deadly drugs from entering our country, border security saves lives.”


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  • Should fentanyl be considered a weapon of mass destruction?

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    With a Dec. 15 executive order, President Donald Trump became the first U.S. president to classify a narcotic as a weapon of mass destruction.

    Trump used U.S. deaths from fentanyl to justify the drug’s new designation, estimating that up to 300,000 people die annually from the drug; that number is exaggerated. In the 12 months through April 2025, about 42,000 people died from synthetic opioids other than methadone, and most of the deaths were caused by fentanyl. 

    “Illicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic,” his order said. “Two milligrams, an almost undetectable trace amount equivalent to 10 to 15 grains of table salt, constitutes a lethal dose.”

    The United States’ legal definition would have to be expanded to include fentanyl. Is it legally sound to classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, a label historically used to describe nuclear, biological or chemical weapons of war? Experts differed in their assessments.

    Michael O’Hanlon, research director in the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program, said he thinks Trump’s designation is plausible.

    “The sheer number of deaths it has caused is staggering, and while they happen user by user rather than indiscriminately, as with traditional weapons of mass destruction, those who suffer from it often don’t even know that they’ve taken it,” he said.

    Other experts expressed skepticism. Brendan R. Green, a University of Cincinnati political scientist who specializes in military and nuclear policy, said he’s not convinced fentanyl fits in the weapons of mass destruction category.

    Given the historical use of the term, he said, “it is not even close to reasonable to call fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction.”

    The biggest impact could be for framing the debate about possible U.S. military intervention, experts said, citing former President George W. Bush’s use of weapons of mass destruction — falsely — to justify the Iraq War.

    What is the traditional definition of weapons of mass destruction?

    Historically, weapons of mass destruction, or WMDs, have included nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and sometimes radiological weapons, such as radioactive “dirty bombs.”

    Among the characteristics these weapons share is that they can kill indiscriminately, on a large scale, with victims potentially including civilians. 

    Fentanyl doesn’t fit those descriptions. While the drug can kill unsuspecting people — including people who think they’re consuming a different drug, or people who enter a space where illicit drugs are consumed — fentanyl does not kill large numbers of people at once, and people not involved with illicit drugs are unlikely to encounter it by chance.

    Fentanyl also isn’t a weapon of war, and other poisons such as arsenic or cyanide (or bullets) are not classified as weapons of mass destruction despite their death toll. Fentanyl also has a legitimate use in medical settings, unlike nuclear weapons, nerve gas or biological agents.

    Federal law defines a weapon of mass destruction as:

    • A destructive device, such as an explosive or incendiary bomb, rocket, or grenade.

    • A weapon that uses “toxic or poisonous chemicals or their precursors.”

    • A “biological agent (or) toxin.”

    • A weapon “designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life.”

    Mark F. Cancian, a senior defense and security adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a national security-focused think tank, said it would be “a stretch” to call an illegal drug like fentanyl a weapon.

    “That is certainly not what Congress intended when it passed the law,” Cancian said. Lawmakers “were thinking about ISIS and al-Qaida.”

    There is precedent for the use of aerosolized fentanyl as a weapon: In October 2002, Russia’s military used a gas believed to be related to fentanyl to incapacitate Chechen rebels occupying a theater in Moscow. More than 100 rebels and hostages died from the agent and from inadequate medical support. 

    The executive order notes the possibility of weaponizing fentanyl as one reason to classify it as a WMD, but the main focus of the executive order is on the effect of “trafficking,” “smuggling” and the “manufacture, distribution, and sale of illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals,” rather than terrorist or military weaponization.

    John P. Caves Jr., a National Defense University research fellow, was skeptical of labeling fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction in 2019, when Trump’s first administration considered whether to make the change.

    While Caves urged action under the Chemical Weapons Convention — the international treaty that bars the use of chemical agents — as well as defensive countermeasures by the U.S. military, he wrote that he didn’t see a need for the Defense Department to officially designate fentanyl compounds as weapons of mass destruction.

    What legal or military effect could Trump’s order have?

    Trump’s executive order has more power as a call to arms with the public than as a legal document, experts said.

    Under international law, the executive order “has absolutely no meaning,” said Anthony Clark Arend, a Georgetown University professor who specializes in international law.

    To be able to use force legally under international law, the U.S. would have to cite an “actual, or imminent, armed attack against the U.S.,” Arend said. “Bringing drugs to sell in the United States, as horrible as that may be, does not constitute an ‘armed attack’ under any reasonable interpretation of those words,” he said.

    In the context of U.S. law, the order could hand the administration some new tools, Cancian said. 

    Federal law says for “emergency situations involving weapons of mass destruction,” require a serious threat to U.S. interests. 

    “This was written with a 9/11-type situation in mind, but the administration might stretch it to justify troop movements into cities,” even though the law specifically forbids arrests or participation in any search or seizure, Cancian said.

    Categorizing fentanyl as a WMD could provide the administration with an argument to the public about why the U.S. should intervene in another country. 

    The administration could frame the quest to eliminate WMDs as focusing on Venezuela, whose government is the target of Trump administration criticism and which is in close proximity to two dozen U.S. strikes of alleged drug-carrying boats this year. The administration has falsely linked Venezuela and fentanyl, however; most fentanyl in the U.S. comes from Mexico, with the precursors commonly made in China.

    Green said he thinks the executive order mostly advances the administration’s ability to rally public support for military action.

    “A string of presidents have already asserted extremely broad powers” over using the military, he said. Calling fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction could provide a “political hook for military action. But it hardly seems necessary, given long-standing precedent” about what presidents are allowed to do, he said.

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  • After 8-year legal battle, Dracut doctor pleads guilty in landmark opioid case

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    WOBURN — A case that stretched more than eight years reached its conclusion this week, as retired Dracut physician, Dr. Richard Miron, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other charges tied to the illegal prescribing of opioids that led to a Lowell patient’s death.

    Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office said Miron, 83, became the first doctor in Massachusetts to be convicted on involuntary manslaughter for prescribing opioids — a conviction that stemmed from the 2016 death of 50-year-old Michelle Craib. He also pleaded guilty to defrauding MassHealth and illegally prescribing medication to patients for no legitimate medical purpose.

    Miron was ultimately sentenced in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn on Monday to what amounts to five years of probation, allowing him to avoid prison time.

    Miron’s attorney, Stephen Weymouth, said on Wednesday that he was prepared and confident to go to trial in a case that has faced a series of delays over the years, but after a conversation with his client earlier this month, the main concern became the possibility of serving time behind bars.

    “From the very beginning he said, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong, and I want to go to trial,’” Weymouth said about Miron. “But then he said he did not want to go to jail.”

    Weymouth pointed out that Miron was facing 47 charges, and any one of them could have resulted in a jail sentence. He said that prosecutors had previously sought four to five years in a plea deal, and the involuntary manslaughter charge carried a maximum of 20 years.

    “Going to trial would have been a mistake because all it would have taken was one guilty hook and he would have gotten a pretty lengthy sentence, and I just couldn’t do that. I just couldn’t take any chances,” Weymouth said. “If he had gone to trial and lost, who knows what would have happened.”

    Miron was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury in December 2018 following an investigation that began in September 2017 by the AG’s Office, then headed by now-Gov. Maura Healey. Aside from involuntary manslaughter, he was charged with 23 counts of illegally prescribing controlled substances and 23 counts of filing false Medicaid claims.

    From September 2015 to February 2016, the AG’s Office said Miron, a solo practitioner of internal medicine, was the largest provider of high-dose, short-acting oxycodone prescriptions among all MassHealth care providers statewide.

    The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office determined Craib’s death was caused by acute intoxication from the combined effects of fentanyl, morphine, codeine, and butalbital — all prescribed by Miron. The AG’s Office said Miron was aware that Craib had previously overdosed on opioids he had prescribed, yet he continued to issue large doses to her on multiple occasions leading up to her death.

    Prosecutors also said Miron illegally prescribed opioids to several other at-risk patients for no legitimate medical purpose. The illegal prescriptions Miron issued led pharmacies to unknowingly submit false bills to MassHealth for medication.

    MassHealth terminated Miron from its program in September 2017, and he stopped practicing medicine in November 2018, following an agreement with the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine.

    In 2023, Miron’s daughter, Linda Miron, penned a 17-page letter to the AG’s Office urging that the case be dropped. She argued that prosecuting her father — who had already relinquished his medical license and lived under pretrial probation since 2018 — was not in the interest of justice.

    “To bring this flawed case to trial does not seem to me to be the best use of the Commonwealth’s resources, and I urge you to drop your prosecution of this case in the interest of justice,” Linda Miron said in the letter. “More broadly, I fear that prosecuting someone who was willing to take on disenfranchised, medically and psychologically complicated patients here in the Commonwealth, when some other physicians refused to take on MassHealth patients, will further discourage other physicians from treating these patients who deserve compassionate care.”

    The case marched on until Monday, when Miron appeared in Middlesex Superior Court before Judge Cathleen Campbell, where it was finally resolved.

    According to the AG’s Office, Miron was sentenced to two and a half years in a house of correction on illegal prescribing, suspended for five years — meaning he will serve the term as probation rather than prison time, unless he violates probation, in which case the sentence could be imposed. He was sentenced to five years of probation on the involuntary manslaughter charge. For Medicaid fraud, Miron was sentenced to six months in a house of correction, suspended for five years.

    As part of his probation, Miron was ordered to pay full restitution to MassHealth and barred from practicing medicine or seeking reinstatement of his license.

    According to Weymouth, Miron was glad to put the case behind him and most of all to avoid prison time. He noted that Miron had already given up his medical career and had no intention of practicing again.

    “I’m glad it’s over,” Weymouth added. “I know he’s glad it’s over.”

    In a press release announcing the case’s conclusion on Tuesday, the AG’s Office said the case reflects their “commitment to addressing the root causes of the opioid crisis and holding companies and individuals accountable for their role in contributing to the nationwide epidemic.”

    Earlier this year, the release states, Campbell helped negotiate a $7.4 billion settlement in principle with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, which is expected to bring up to $105 million to Massachusetts. To date, the office said they have secured more than $1 billion in opioid-related recoveries, with more than $390 million already received. Those funds are being directed to the state’s Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund and distributed to cities and towns to support prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery efforts.

    The AG’s Office added in the release that valuable assistance with the investigation into Miron’s case was provided by the Lowell Police Department, the State Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and MassHealth.

    Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.

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    Aaron Curtis

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  • Florida Republican files bill to decriminalize drug testing tools

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    Florida Rep. Michelle Salzman, a Republican from Pensacola, has filed a bill for consideration in 2026 that would aim to help curb drug overdose deaths by decriminalizing drug-checking equipment.

    Drug-checking or testing equipment, such as test strips, can be used to help detect the presence of potentially dangerous substances in a batch of drugs. Under Florida law, however, most testing equipment technically falls under the definition of “drug paraphernalia,” which is unlawful to use or possess with the intent to use. 

    Salzman’s bill, filed Wednesday, would build on a law passed by Florida lawmakers in 2023 that decriminalized the use of fentanyl test strips only. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid roughly 50 times more potent than heroin, has driven a surge in drug overdose deaths in recent years, both alone and in combination with other drugs. According to the CDC, fentanyl was involved in nearly 50,000 overdose deaths nationwide in 2024, down from 76,282 deaths in 2023.

    “The Legislature recognizes that drug-testing products, including test strips, reagent kits, and related products, are evidence-based harm reduction strategies that do not encourage drug use, but, instead, prevent overdose and death by allowing individuals and communities to identify the presence of dangerous controlled substances and adulterants,” Salzman’s bill reads.

    While overdose deaths, including fentanyl-involved deaths, declined in Florida and nationwide last year, other risky substances such as xylazine — a non-opioid tranquilizer also known as “tranq” — have also entered the illicit drug market. As a central nervous system depressant, xylazine can exacerbate the life-threatening effects of other depressants, such as fentanyl.

    A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration report notes that xylazine has been involved in a growing number of drug overdose deaths, and is most often found laced (unbeknownst to the user) into drugs sold as fentanyl, cocaine and heroin. Xylazine use has also been linked to effects such as dizziness, low heart rate and necrotic skin wounds severe enough to require amputation.

    Under Florida law, only drug testing equipment capable of detecting fentanyl is currently lawful to possess, distribute and use. That is, the decriminalization of fentanyl test strips by lawmakers in 2023 didn’t apply to drug-checking tools capable of detecting non-fentanyl substances like xylazine. 

    Salzman’s proposal would amend Florida law to change that by clarifying that unlawful “drug paraphernalia” does not apply to “test strips, reagent kits, or any other narcotic-drug-testing products” used solely to detect whether a drug contains fentanyl, fentanyl analogues (e.g. carfentanil), xylazine, cocaine, amphetamines, cathinones, “or any other controlled substance or adulterant.”

    If approved, Florida would join at least 30 states that have already legalized the possession of drug-checking equipment broadly, according to the Network for Public Health Law. An additional 11 states, including Florida, explicitly allow for the use of fentanyl drug-checking equipment only.

    Under Florida law, the possession or advertisement of drug paraphernalia is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Giving drug paraphernalia to a minor under 18 is a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000 or both.

    Why was this unlawful in the first place?

    Almost as a default, most states passed anti-drug paraphernalia laws decades ago based on a model created by the DEA in 1979. That model included drug testing equipment in its definition of unlawful drug paraphernalia.

    A growing number of states, however, have moved to amend those paraphernalia laws in recent years in response to the U.S. overdose crisis and a recognition that the use of drug-checking equipment can be a safe and cost-effective way to save lives.

    What’s next

    The bill from Salzman — a pro-gun Republican who has demonstrated markedly less concern for deaths by firearm or those caused by Israeli troops overseas — has been filed for consideration by the Florida Legislature during the 2026 state legislative session. Next year’s legislative session begins Jan. 13, 2026, and is scheduled to last 60 days, through March 13.

    The bill will have to be approved by a majority of members in smaller legislative committees, then receive majority approval from both the Florida House and Senate. The bill would take effect July 1, 2026, if approved.

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    Carfentanil, a powerful and potentially deadly tranquilizer, is often mixed into cocaine, meth, or counterfeit pills, says prevention nonprofit

    Project leaders plan to distribute test strips at bars downtown and during events deemed high-risk, like music festivals



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    McKenna Schueler
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  • Storage unit bought at Colorado auction contained 1.7 million fentanyl pills, police say

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    A Coloradan who purchased an abandoned Douglas County storage unit found that it contained 1.7 million counterfeit fentanyl pills, plus several pounds of meth and fentanyl powder, law enforcement officials said Monday.

    The discovery amounted to a record seizure of fentanyl in Colorado, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the sixth-largest in U.S. history.

    The unit was purchased at auction after its previous renter lapsed on its payments. The new owner then called law enforcement, including the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, after opening it to discover the pills. The unit also contained 12 kilograms of fentanyl powder and two and a half pounds of methamphetamine. Law enforcement subsequently learned that the unit’s previous owner had been arrested by the DEA in April, which is why the unit’s rent went unpaid.

    Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s at least 50 times more powerful than morphine. While it has legitimate medical uses, illicitly created fentanyl has become the dominant opioid on the U.S. drug market, and it fueled an overdose crisis that surged in Colorado and across the rest of the United States. The street version of the drug is primarily pressed into pill form, typically to mimic the look of other legitimate opioid pills.

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  • 5 arrested in connection with overdose death of Robert De Niro’s grandson

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    Five people have been federally charged in connection with the 2023 overdose death of actor Robert De Niro’s grandson and two others, authorities said Thursday.

    The five men, all in their 20s, are charged in connection with the the overdose deaths of three 19-year-olds in 2023, including Leandro De Niro-Rodriguez, Akira Stein, daughter of Blondie co-founder Chris Stein, and an unnamed victim, according to a news release from the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

    The five suspects were identified as Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barreto, Grant McIver and brothers John Nicolas and Roy Nicolas. 

    They all face charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, para-fluorofentanyl and alprazolam, resulting in the deaths of De Niro-Rodriguez, Stein and the third victim. If convicted as charged, they face a minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. 

    Epperson was arrested Tuesday in Troy, New York, the DEA said, while McIver was arrested Tuesday in Houston, Texas. John Nicolas was arrested Saturday in Buffalo, New York, while Roy Nicolas was arrested Saturday in Valley Stream, New York. Barreto surrendered to authorities Wednesday in Manhattan. All five have made their initial court appearances. 

    De Niro-Rodriguez’s mother Drena De Niro previously said he died after being sold pills laced with fentanyl. The medical examiner ruled his death accidental, caused by mix of fentanyl, cocaine and other drugs.

    “Defendants who distributed the drugs, who killed these young 19-year-olds knew that they were deadly,” Clayton said.

    Prosecutors allege the five people arrested used social media and encrypted messaging apps to sell thousands of counterfeit prescription opioid pills laced with fentanyl to teens and young adults.

    “Drug trafficking organizations have weaponized social media in a way that allows them to expand their network, make more profits and, unfortunately, get more people addicted to their poison,” Frank Tarentino, special agent in charge for the DEA’s New York Division, said in a news conference Thursday.

    One of the victims allegedly warned one of the five suspects arrested that the drugs they had sold her caused her to overdose, and  she told him “just warn customers in batch might be extra strong,” according to federal court documents. She later died after another overdose, prosecutors said.

    The second victim died of an overdose two weeks later, and De Niro-Rodriguez died of an overdose less than a month after that. 

    De Niro-Rodriguez and his mother appeared in the 2018 movies “A Star Is Born” and “Cabaret Maxime.” He was also credited with an appearance in 2005’s “The Collection.”

    19 others accused of running drug network in Washington Square Park

    In addition, 19 other people were federally charged with running a drug distribution racket in New York City’s Washington Square Park since 2020. The 19 charged have nicknames like “Scarface,” “Butter,” “Hollywood” and “Heavy,” prosecutors said, and face charges of conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death.

    The indictment alleges they “maintained a year-round market for opioids and crack cocaine” in the park, adding the various defendants have been arrested more than 80 times for drug-related crimes and, when they were released, they returned to the park and kept selling drugs. 

    “The defendants are aware that their drugs cause overdoses,” prosecutors wrote.

    Pictures in the indictment reportedly show the scene after two people fatally overdosed on drugs containing fentanyl, allegedly sold to them from dealers in the Washington Square Park area.

    The victims included an 18-year-old who had just arrived in the city two days after graduating from high school and a 43-year-old person experiencing homelessness who was found dead on a sidewalk.

    Law enforcement officials say the investigation into the park took 16 months. They would not confirm whether or not more arrests could be coming. They would only say the investigation is ongoing.

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  • NY Fentanyl Ring Charged in Deaths of Robert De Niro’s Grandson

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    Federal prosecutors say five men ran a New York drug network that sold counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl to teens; including Robert De Niro’s grandson and Blondie co-founder Chris Stein’s daughter, killing both within weeks

    LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 05: Brad Pitt and Robert De Niro attend the Netflix 2020 Golden Globes After Party on January 05, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.

    Credit: Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix

    Federal authorities in the Southern District of New York announced the arrest of five men in connection with a deadly counterfeit pill distribution network that resulted in 9 overdoses and claimed the lives of at least two teens. The teens were 19-year-old Leandro De Niro‑Rodriguez, a grandson of actor Robert De Niro, and 19-year-old Akira Stein, daughter of Blondie co-founder Chris Stein in 2023.

    According to the indictment, unsealed in federal court, defendants Grant McIver, Bruce Epperson, Eddie Barreto, John Nicolas and Roy Nicolas operated a network that distributed thousands of counterfeit prescription pills laced with fentanyl and other illicit drugs to teens and young adults in New York City. The indictment links the group’s counterfeit “Perc 30” and “M-30” pills to at least nine overdoses, including those of the two 19-year-old victims.

    Prosecutors say Leandro De Niro Rodriguez died on July 2, 2023, after ingesting a pill that contained fentanyl, bromazolam, alprazolam, 7-aminoclonazepam, ketamine and cocaine. His death was ruled accidental by the New York City Medical Examiner. 

    Akira Stein died six weeks earlier, on May 30, 2023, after reportedly warning one of the dealers that a batch of pills was “extra strong” just hours prior to her overdose. Despite the warning, the same batch was sold again to Leandro De Niro Rodriguez weeks later, who died from the same mix, per the indictment.

    The arrests follow earlier charges in 2023 against Sofia H. Marks, known in media reports as the “Percocet Princess,” who allegedly supplied pills to Leandro. 

    Federal agents say the pill-trafficking crew shockingly marketed their product on social media platforms, including Snapchat, Instagram, Telegram and TikTok. They used emojis like 💊💙 or code phrases (“blues,” “bars,” “pressies”) to disguise fentanyl laced products. The indictment also outlines a “referral system” where buyers could earn discounts by recruiting other users; including high-school and college-aged customers. Text messages quoted in the filing include lines like “Send 2 more kids my way and your next blues free.” Prosecutors call this “one of the most cynical fentanyl marketing operations” seen in the city.

    Scroll to continue reading

    Young buyers were told the pills were “Percocets,” but lab testing later showed they contained deadly quantities of fentanyl and designer tranquilizers such as bromazolam. They specifically targeted teenagers. The “network” reportedly dates back to at least 2019. The investigation remains active with additional suspects and overdose deaths under review.

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    Lauren Conlin

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  • MBTA balks at expanding overdose prevention kiosks

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    BOSTON — MBTA officials are pouring cold water on a legislative push to make the opioid overdose reversing drug naloxone available at subway stations, citing a lack of proper staff and a shortage of funding.

    The T recently wrapped up a federally funded pilot project that installed 15 kiosks with doses of the medicine – also known by its brand name, Narcan – at several Red Line stations to help reduce fatal drug overdoses.


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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Police/Fire: 3 face fentanyl trafficking, other charges

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    A Saturday morning traffic stop by a Gloucester Police sergeant resulted in the arrest of three people on charges of trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine, and the seizure of a hangun and more than 1,600 pills.

    Those arrested and the charges are:


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  • Have U.S. strikes on Venezuelan boats saved 25,000 lives?

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    President Donald Trump said U.S. military strikes on five Venezuelan boats have saved more than 100,000 lives because the maneuvers thwarted drug smuggling.

    “Every boat that we knock out we save 25,000 American lives so every time you see a boat and you feel badly you say, ‘Wow, that’s rough;’ It is rough, but if you lose three people and save 25,000 people,” President Donald Trump said in an Oct. 15 press conference.

    The administration did not supply PolitiFact with evidence that the boats were carrying drugs. Drug experts told PolitiFact that Venezuela plays a minor role in trafficking drugs that reach the U.S. The legality of the strikes also is unclear. After the first attack, some legal experts told PolitiFact that the military action was illegal under maritime law or human rights conventions and the attack contradicted longstanding U.S. military practices.

    Trump has used the figure repeatedly and also says he would consider similar strikes on land.

    “Every one of those boats is responsible for the death of 25,000 American people, and the destruction of families,” Trump said in an Oct. 5 speech to U.S. Navy sailors. “So when you think of it that way, what we’re doing is actually an act of kindness.”

    Sign up for PolitiFact texts

    “We’ve taken a very hard stand on drugs …  the water drugs — the drugs that come in through water they’re not coming — there are no boats anymore, frankly there are no fishing boats, there’s no boats out there period,” Trump told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Oct. 7. “We’ve probably saved at least 100,000 lives, American lives, Canadian lives, by taking out those boats.”

    Several aspects of Trump’s statement make it wrong.

    There is no way of knowing how many lives are saved as a result of drug interception efforts, drug experts have told PolitiFact. 

    Additionally, if Trump’s statement were accurate, the strikes on five boats in less than two months would have saved nearly double the number of U.S. lives lost to drug overdoses in an entire year. 

    Trump administration has presented no evidence 

    The Trump administration hasn’t specified what type of drug or what quantity was on the boats that were struck. So it’s impossible to calculate how many deadly doses could have been destroyed.

    Trump said the boats were carrying fentanyl during the Oct. 15 press conference.

    “And you can see it, the boats get hit, and you see that fentanyl all over the ocean,” Trump said. “It’s like floating in bags. It’s all over the place.”

    He has shared aerial videos of some of the boat strikes on Truth Social, and no bags of drugs are visible in the videos. 

    Additionally, most illicit fentanyl in the U.S. comes from Mexico, not Venezuela. It enters the U.S. mainly through the southern border at official ports of entry, and it’s smuggled in mostly by U.S. citizens, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

    Even if there were fentanyl aboard, Trump’s statement is mathematically dubious

    If the boats each carried 25,000 lethal doses, that doesn’t mean the strikes stopped 125,000 people from dying of a drug overdose.

    “When drugs are seized, the supply chain partially replaces those lost drugs,” Jonathan Caulkins, a Carnegie Mellon University drug policy researcher, previously told PolitiFact. 

    Overdose drug deaths have been declining for the past couple of years, before there were any strikes on boats off the coast of Venezuela, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

    The CDC reported more than 73,000 drug overdose deaths from May 2024 to April 2025. For Trump’s statement to be accurate, the drugs on five boats would have been responsible for 125,000 deaths, nearly double the number of overdose deaths in one year.

    Drug interception data doesn’t show how many overdose deaths were prevented 

    Trump isn’t the first person to equate drug enforcement with saving lives. Over the years, we’ve fact-checked other politicians when they said that a quantity of drugs seized at the U.S. border was enough to kill a specific number of people, or that those seizures saved a specific number of lives. 

    Generally, the politicians we have fact-checked referred to fentanyl seizures. The synthetic opioid is the leading cause of U.S. overdose deaths. Politicians’ statements about lives saved rely on the lethal dose for fentanyl — 2 milligrams. So if authorities seized 10 milligrams of fentanyl, for example, that saved five lives, politicians say.

    But there are caveats to that calculation because a dose’s lethality can vary based on a person’s height, weight and tolerance from past exposure, drug experts say. And statistics about how many drugs were stopped from entering the U.S. don’t account for how many drugs make it into the country. 

    “We don’t have any method I’m aware of for translating drug seizure data into any measure of overdose deaths averted,” Alene Kennedy-Hendricks, a Johns Hopkins University health policy expert, told PolitiFact in May.

    Our ruling

    Regarding boat strikes off the coast of Venezuela, Trump said, “Every boat that we knock out we save 25,000 American lives.”

    Trump said the five boats the U.S. military has struck off the coast of Venezuela were carrying drugs heading to the U.S. However, experts on drugs and Venezuela told PolitiFact the country plays a minor role in trafficking drugs that reach the U.S.

    The administration has provided no evidence about the type or quantity of drugs it says were on the boats. This lack of information makes it impossible to know how many lethal doses of the drugs could have been destroyed.

    Even if the boats were carrying 25,000 lethal drug doses each, that doesn’t mean that destroying them saved 125,000 lives. There were 73,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths from May 2024 to April 2025. That means the drugs on five boats would have been responsible for 125,000 deaths, nearly double the number of U.S. overdose deaths in one year. 

    The amount of drugs that are stopped from entering the U.S. doesn’t indicate how many lives were saved.

    We rate Trump’s statement Pants on Fire! ​

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  • Minneapolis author aiming to help people battling drug addiction with new book

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    The number of opioid-involved drug overdose deaths in 2023 decreased for the first time in five years. 

    Minnesota health officials say 54 people have died from suspected drug overdoses in just the month of August. That’s nearly two people per day.

    The leading cause of those deaths was opioids like fentanyl, which killed an average of 1,000 people per year from 2021 to 2023.

    A Minneapolis author hopes his personal story resonates with those battling an addiction that has silenced them. 

    That’s why he founded Generation Hope, a licensed peer recovery support organization that provides help to overcome addiction. 

    Abdirahman Warsame once felt alone in his fentanyl addiction. Fast forward six years, and he’s now using his voice through his new book, “Who Would You Be Without the Fear of Judgment?”

    On Friday evening, in a packed room, he celebrated his book launch. 

    The book is part raw journal, part self-help guide. It’s for people not ready to walk into treatment, who are still scared and silent.

    “It challenges the reader to envision a world where they weren’t afraid of what people thought of them,” Warsame said. 

    He doesn’t want the book to come off as preaching but to just reach the person who is ready to take an honest look at themselves, maybe for the first time.

    “People look at addiction as the problem, but rather, there are a lot of underlying issues there,” Warsame said.

    Warsame hopes that by opening this book, people will feel less alone and can take the step in their own recovery journey.

    “I hope everybody watching this can take this as a testimony that your life can change tomorrow,” Warsame smiled. 

    Click here to learn more about Warsame.

    Ubah Ali

    Ubah Ali joined WCCO-TV in September 2023. She makes history in Minnesota as the first Somali-American TV reporter in the Twin Cities.

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    Ubah Ali

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  • Dead Girls Don’t Talk

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    A man charged with murder for poisoning two women tells a friend, “dead girls don’t talk.” Brave survivors speak out on their behalf. “48 Hours” contributor Jonathan Vigliotti reports.

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