DEA Chief Warns Congress: Illicit Drugs Are As Easy To Get As Pizza Delivery From Uber Eats

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram told Congress this week that social media and other technology have made it easier than ever to buy illegal drugs. She compared these transactions to ordering food on Uber Eats.

“We say all the time that the most dangerous place in the world right now is our homes because everyone has a smartphone, and within two or three clicks on a smartphone, people are having pills delivered to their front doorstep like Uber Eats, like they get pizza delivered,” Milgram told a House Appropriations subcommittee.

"According to the CDC, in 2022, 107,941 Americans lost their lives. Forty-two percent of Americans in the United States now know someone who has died," Milgram said in her opening statement. “We’re losing 22 Americans, teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18, every single week right now” to illegal drug use.

Waiting To Get Into Mexico

Milgram said the DEA has been waiting for nearly a year for one of its work visas to be approved by the Mexican government so it can send personnel into the country to investigate the drug cartels responsible for smuggling illicit drugs into the U.S.

“We’ve been waiting eight months for one visa, and we know the cost of, of what that means for us in terms of our ability to get worked done,” Milgram told the subcommittee, reported ABC News. “Every year in the United States, we’re losing more than 100,000 Americans. So, time matters, and I couldn’t speak with enough urgency as to how important it is for us to get those 13 agents and intel analysts into the country.”

Despite intensified efforts, the DEA has acknowledged the challenge of keeping pace with the influx of fentanyl at the southern border, primarily produced and smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico by the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels with precursor chemicals from China. The cartels purchase chemicals from companies in China, mass produce the fentanyl in Mexico and then smuggle and distribute the finished fentanyl throughout the U.S.

“The men and women of DEA are working nonstop to defeat those cartels,” she said. “And we shouldn’t ask them to work under difficult circumstances, but they do and they’re incredibly effective.”

Today, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fentanyl is the leading cause of death among Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.

Now read: DEA And Cannabis Rescheduling: A Rollercoaster Ride You Don’t Want To Miss, But Keep Your Seatbelts On

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Photo: Anne Milgram courtesy of DEA Headquarters