Michael Brown discusses the fentanyl supply chain, the new cartel model, and the Chinese connection.
In a recent
episode of “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek talks with Michael Brown about the Mexican drug cartels and the immense profits made from selling fake prescription drugs laced with fentanyl. A former agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration and global director for counter-narcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices, Mr. Brown breaks down the new cartel business model, the cartel’s supply chain, and the role played by Chinese money-laundering proxies.
Mr. Jekielek: We’re going to talk about the fentanyl crisis. Please give us a sense of the big picture.
Mr. Brown: There are different paradigms being affected by Mexican cartel fentanyl. I'll start with a new paradigm—fentanyl pills designed to look like Oxycontin, Adderall, Percocet, and Valium. The cartels looked at America’s addiction to prescription drugs because a lot of people will never transition to illegal narcotics like meth, heroin, or cocaine, but they will take prescription drugs.
They were successful in creating that paradigm. A large majority of overdose deaths we see now are people who thought they were taking an Oxycontin or a Vicodin, but it was a pill with more than two milligrams of fentanyl, and it killed them within 30 seconds.
The cartels realized they were onto something, so they started putting fentanyl into the cocaine and marijuana supply. They understand that fentanyl is so powerful that the individual who was already addicted will transition to fentanyl. In some states, drug users are only seeking out fentanyl now because it’s so strong. It has really changed a number of drug-user paradigms, bringing in people not predisposed to using illicit narcotics.
Each of those drugs is highly addictive, but fentanyl is 10 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Right now, fentanyl is king of the game.
Mr. Jekielek: Please outline the fentanyl supply chain for us, from the precursors to these fake prescription pills.
Mr. Brown: Let’s imagine you’re a precursor chemical broker in Mexico, and you work for the Sinaloa Cartel. You get on your phone app, reach out to one of several chemical brokers in China, and say, “Look, I need four pounds of some precursors for fentanyl.”
They go to a chemical supplier, purchase those chemicals, and send them to you as air cargo or express parcel with an international courier. That package will come to an individual’s house, and they'll take that to the cartel. The cartel will then take those precursors to one of the clandestine laboratories, where it will be produced into fentanyl powder or pressed into pills.
Once we produce the fentanyl in a laboratory, we'll take it to a shop housing vehicles that have hidden traps. A trap is a compartment where fentanyl can be hidden and smuggled across the border. With CBP [U.S. Customs & Border Protection] seizures, they are finding millions of pills hidden in wheel wells, dashboards, and engine blocks. We know that 95 percent, if not more, of the fentanyl pills smuggled into the country are in vehicles and commercial cargo. We also see backpackers coming across the border bringing them in.
Mr. Jekielek: How are the pills getting into the normal drug supply chain, or are these just on the street?
Mr. Brown: There are dealers out there selling legitimate Oxycontin, Adderall, and Xanax. The supply chain and the method of distribution are already there. Now, they’re just putting new substances into that supply chain. If you buy a non-prescribed Percocet from your local dealer, he may not even know he’s selling you a Percocet that contains fentanyl. We also have domestic drug trafficking groups buying fentanyl from the cartels and mixing in these substances and making their own pills for distribution. A number of individuals who use cocaine recreationally have died because it contained fentanyl.
Mr. Jekielek: Please tell us about your background.
Mr. Brown: I started with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 1989 and retired approximately two years ago. I spent 20 to 25 years working overseas in drug production countries, primarily the Middle East and Southeast Asia. I spent my last two years at DEA headquarters working as part of the transnational task force on organized crime, targeting precursor chemicals and larger drug trafficking organizations.
Now I’m the director of Counter-Narcotics Technology for Rigaku Analytical Devices. It’s a company that produces a device that uses Raman spectroscopy and a laser to identify unknown substances. If a police officer was to stop a vehicle and they had a number of plastic baggies containing an unknown powder, by using that device, they could quickly identify that substance with a presumptive analysis.
If you find a package with an unknown substance, you don’t want to open it because it could be fentanyl or another substance that could prove harmful. Using this Raman technology, you can scan that package and identify it without having to open it.
Mr. Jekielek: We have this extreme border situation, which allows for movement of drugs across the border. Wouldn’t tackling the border have an impact?
Mr. Brown: My plan would be: one, strengthen the border capability; and two, initiate massive money laundering investigations to Chinese proxies working in conjunction with the cartels in the United States.
We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars being laundered through a remittance or mirror process through Chinese-based companies in the United States to accounts in China and then back to Mexico. If you were able to shut down that money train and deter money launderers that assist the cartels, they would back away because they’re risking their businesses and need to make a profit.
Mr. Jekielek: A final thought as we finish up?
Mr. Brown: America has to realize the opioid crisis—the fentanyl crisis—isn’t going to resolve itself. If China and Mexico are unwilling to cooperate, then the question for the administration is, “Do we tolerate another 100,000 overdose deaths by the end of the year, or do we look at the cartels as narcoterrorist organizations and take more aggressive action?” That’s the decision the administration and the American people have to make.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity
