Cartels Heeding Administration’s Fentanyl Message
Now, it’s time meth and cocaine smugglers get the ‘full Trump treatment’
By Andrew R. Arthur on October 20, 2025
In April, my then-colleague Todd Bensman reported that Mexican drug cartels cum foreign terrorist organizations were heeding the Trump administration’s warnings to stop running fentanyl (a uniquely dangerous synthetic opioid) into the United States. CBP statistics continue to show a decline in the fentanyl being smuggled in at the Southwest border — but perhaps it’s time for the federal government to focus on methamphetamine and cocaine, as well.
Fentanyl
As noted, fentanyl is uniquely deadly — two milligrams (similar to five to seven grains of salt), of the opioid can be lethal, “depending on a person’s body size, tolerance and past usage”.
The toxicity of fentanyl was blamed for an increase in drug fatalities in the United States throughout the pandemic and well into the Biden administration, with nearly 74,000 of the roughly 108,000 overdose deaths in FY 2022 (68.5 percent) traced to it.
It’s well known that most of the fentanyl that enters this country is produced in illicit Mexican drug labs using precursor chemicals shipped to that country from China, but less well-examined is the role Canadian actors play in production of the synthetic opioid and in the laundering of drug proceeds.
These facts haven’t escaped the administration’s notice, however, which is in part why Trump imposed tariffs on all three countries in early February.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Cartels-Heeding-Administrations-Fentanyl-Message
