The recent announcement of a brand-new multi-agency effort to halt fentanyl in its tracks was good news to Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Taekuk Cho.
The Joint Fentanyl Impact Team was officially unveiled this week, involving the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Kansas Attorney General’s Office, Kansas Highway Patrol and HSI. Cho tells KVOE News an approach like this is needed to slow down fentanyl trafficking, whether it’s as the drug is brought into the state or as the precursor materials get processed overseas in China and Mexico.
Besides the precursor side of the process, Cho says the HSI effort involves reducing both the domestic and international opioid supply and “attack” the transnational criminal syndicates dealing in illicit drugs, financial crimes, cybercrimes and weapons smuggling. HSI also works with the private sector to reduce counterfeit opioids.
JFIT is designed to identify and halt trafficking and distribution networks as overdose numbers explode across Kansas and the nation at large. Cho says overdoses are up exponentially over the last few years since fentanyl became a major drug of choice for users and traffickers.
A prescription painkiller in legal circumstances, Cho tells KVOE News fentanyl use has exploded the past five years because the high is significantly stronger than with heroin and access through certain pharmaceutical companies became easier until a recent series of multi-billion-dollar settlements. During part of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cho says people could also order fentanyl online directly from China. The equivalent of two sugar packets can keep somebody high for a year — if a person survives using the drug. Cho says fentanyl is notorious for not having consistent doses, and accidentally touching raw fentanyl can cause overdoses or death.
Traffickers are also getting more into the fentanyl trade because of its profitability. Cho says $200 in precursor chemicals can produce a kilo of fentanyl that can be worth as much as $50,000 on the street.
