U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seen a significant uptick in opioid and methamphetamine seizures in the first six months of the government’s fiscal year, and have almost hit the levels seen in the last full fiscal year.
Federal data published Friday indicates little change for seizures of marijuana and cocaine, but seizures of heroin, fentanyl, and meth are spiking, indicating rising demand and new area of concern for the Department of Homeland Security.
U.S. Border Patrol and CBP’s field operations officers confiscated 1,132 pounds of fentanyl from Oct. 1, 2016, through Sept. 30, 2017. However, just halfway through fiscal year 2018, they are already 94 percent of the way to hitting last year’s total haul.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate painkiller and is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. Just three years ago, CBP did not even track even track fentanyl seizures, but the continued growing demand from U.S. consumers prompted drug traffickers to begin shipping it — often through the mail — to the states.
The major uptick in fentanyl is not having a decreasing effect on the demand for heroin.
Heroin busts are already 60 percent of the way to last year’s 4,579 seized pounds. Over the past six months, 2,742 pounds of heroin have been impounded by customs and border officers.
Officers reported 38,287 pounds of meth have been seized, 70 percent of the 2017 total of 54,393 pounds.
Marijuana and cocaine confiscations were 59 percent or less than the previous year’s total. On land, Border Patrol found less than 40 percent of 2017 amount, which could indicate smugglers have found new ways to get around law enforcement or are attempting to bring in less.
The legalization of recreational marijuana in a number of states has also driven some who previously purchased weed illegally from dealers to do so in at a state-approved marijuana shop.
