CINCINNATI — More than 430 people died of an accidental overdose in Hamilton County last year. Fentanyl was linked to about two-thirds of those deaths.
“Fentanyl changed everything,” said Newtown Police Chief Tom Synan. “Fentanyl killed people immediately. It overdosed people immediately and we had not seen that in any other drug.”
Drug enforcement officials say fentanyl-laced drugs are becoming more accessible, and they’re having to change tactics to crack down.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid about 50 times stronger than heroin. When it’s prescribed by doctors, it can treat severe pain. However, made illegally, it allows illicit drug manufacturers to produce cheaper and more dangerous drugs that are also more addicting.
Oftentimes manufacturers will cut fentanyl into other drugs and users might not know there is fentanyl inside. The supply has surged across the country over the last 10 years.
“We have never faced the threat like we have today with fentanyl,” said Jason Schumacher, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge in Cincinnati.
Schumacher said the chemicals to make fentanyl are being produced in China and shipped to cartels manufacturing the drugs in Mexico.
“It's the Sinaloa, the CJNG (Jalisco New Generation Cartel) cartels,” Shcumacher said. “These cartels are using this fentanyl to drive addiction in the United States. That is their sole goal.”
Schumacher said a pill that costs 15 cents to produce can be sold between $10-30.
In 2022, the DEA reported that six of 10 fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills they tested contained a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl.
“It’s more dangerous than Russian Roulette,” Schumacher said.
Southern Ohio is a hub for drug trafficking organizations since it sits in the middle of the country. Federal court cases paint a picture of how these organizations operate to move drugs through the region.
In one case, a special agent with the FBI is targeting a trafficking operation in Las Vegas. According to the agent, the operation sells drugs through the dark web and ships them across the country through the U.S. mail system.
In another, a long-haul truck driver with no significant prior criminal history was caught transporting heroin from out west into the Southern District of Ohio.
“They will approach truck drivers, long-haul truck drivers with semis, and they will offer them money to add something into their loads,” said attorney Richard J. Goldberg, who represented that driver.
Goldberg said the financial gain might be an initial motivator, but fear also plays a role, especially in future transports.
“They have a fear factor involved because truck drivers know that these are people connected to the cartels,” he said. “They're told, ‘We know where your family lives.’”
Other court documents detail how members of one local trafficking group traveled to pick up drugs across the country. Members of the trafficking organization would work out of apartments and a music studio in North College Hill to cut the drugs with fentanyl and other additives, according to court documents.
“These mid-level or upper-level distributors are usually intelligent people,” Goldberg said. “They're very entrepreneurial and if they were involved in a legitimate business, they would probably become very successful at what they do.”
Trafficking trends are shifting. As illegal drugs have become deadlier over the past few years, they’ve also become more accessible.
“Anyone who has access to social media has access to these pills,” said Brian McNeal, Public Information Office for the DEA.
Buyers can use social media platforms to ship drugs directly to their doors.
“No longer do you need to go to some sketchy part of town to meet some sketchy dude to make the sale,” McNeal said.
The shift has forced law enforcement to pivot enforcement strategies, as McNeal said agents are always “playing defense” against cartels and drug trafficking operations. The DEA has focused on tracking hotspot areas for arrests and seizures, as well as relying on informants.
This past spring, the DEA completed Operation Last Mile, which targeted fentanyl trafficking operations. In our local division, the DEA seized more than 4,000,000 potentially deadly doses of fentanyl, according to Schumacher.
Cracking down on distributors is critical, as drug trafficking and violent crime often go hand-in-hand.
“Just about every search warrant that's executed by our office, we always seize weapons,” Schumacher said.
In one example, court documents detail how a Butler County gang turf war, involving a drug trafficking organization supplying a significant portion of the drugs sold in Butler County, led to 10 homicides and 48 shootings in approximately six years.
“We use every resource that we have through other partners, technological things that have allowed us to have success,” Schumacher said. “We have a lot more work to do. I think we all realize that, but we're not going to stop.”
