The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico between 2023 and 2025, according to three current and former DEA agents and government records reviewed by The Associated Press. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.

DEA agents repeatedly monitored shipments of fentanyl pills but did not seize them, as federal prosecutors sought to bring bigger criminal cases against traffickers of a synthetic opioid that the White House last year designated a "weapon of mass destruction."

Agents and experts said the tactic amounted to a gamble with public safety, potentially imperiling communities in and around Albuquerque, and may have violated U.S. Justice Department rules intended to safeguard the public.

"We poisoned our community to make cases," DEA Special Agent David Howell told AP. "Through our own willful blindness, we get to say, 'We don't really know what happened to the drugs.' But we 100% got people killed."

The DEA has long contended it would not be plausible to seize every shipment of every drug. But the strategy of allowing staggering amounts of counterfeit painkillers to hit the streets shocked several veteran agents who spoke with AP.

Fentanyl's lethality – a few milligrams can kill the average adult – upended time-tested tactics used against drugs like cocaine and heroin. The U.S. Justice Department developed guidelines encouraging agents to seize the opioid whenever "practicable."

Albuquerque, which has a neighborhood so besieged by drugs it's known as "War Zone," and other regions in New Mexico remain at the epicenter of the fentanyl epidemic. While overdose deaths nationwide fell 14% last year, New Mexico tallied a 21% spike.

Alex Uballez, who served as U.S. attorney in New Mexico from 2022 through last year, said authorities at times allowed drug shipments to go unseized as part of a broader effort to gather intelligence and build cases against major drug traffickers. "The bigger fish are worth catching, and that will save more lives," he said.

Last year, DEA recorded the largest fentanyl bust in its history in Albuquerque.