Meth and Fentanyl Are Mixing for ‘Historic’ Deadly Combination, Former DEA Leader Says

The combination of meth and fentanyl in the illicit drug supply is contributing to America’s drug overdose crisis, a former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) official says.

"America is being inundated with methamphetamine, with synthetic drugs like fentanyl," Derek Maltz, former DEA special operations director, told Fox News. "And our citizens across the country are being harmed at historic levels."

Maltz warns that the drug is being cut with fentanyl, the highly potent synthetic opioid that is responsible for skyrocketing overdose deaths. . The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 111,964 Americans died from a drug overdose between August 2022 and July 2023. It is a slight decrease from the record high of 112,695 set during the 12 month period that ended May 2023.

A majority of these deaths were caused by fentanyl, according to the CDC. In some of these cases, the person was using another illicit drug that was cut with fentanyl, accidentally overdosing on the synthetic opioid without even knowing they were using it.

Many have warned that fentanyl and other illicit drugs are getting into America through the southern border. In some cases, the raw materials needed to create them are trafficked from Mexico and then made in U.S.-based labs.

"The cartels are bringing liquid meth into America," Maltz continued. "They’re setting up labs to convert the liquid meth into the crystal meth that’s out on the streets."

The New York Department of Health warns that the northeast is experiencing a surge in meth-related overdose deaths, despite the northeast U.S. not typically being a strong market for the drug.

In 2020, the state recorded 1.7 meth-related overdose deaths per 100,000 residents, increasing more than four-fold from figures in 2018. Fentanyl was almost entirely responsible for this increase, as meth overdose deaths without fentanyl stayed stagnant over the three year period.

“There has been an increasing number of overdose deaths involving methamphetamine, and the data show that fentanyl has contributed largely to this increase in NYS outside of NYC,” state officials write in their report. “Some people who use drugs may be intending to use fentanyl

and methamphetamine together or alternatingly, or they may only intend to use methamphetamine. There is evidence that methamphetamine may be contaminated with fentanyl.”