United States Drug Enforcement Administration

Americans today are experiencing the most devastating drug crisis in our nation’s history. This is because one drug—illicit fentanyl—has transformed the criminal landscape. Illicit fentanyl is exceptionally cheap to make, exceptionally easy to disguise, and exceptionally deadly to those who take it. It is the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 to 45, and it kills Americans from all walks of life, in every state and community in this country. Two Mexican drug cartels—the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco Cartel—are primarily responsible for driving the drug poisoning epidemic in the United States. They are modern, sophisticated, and extremely violent cartels that rely on a global supply chain to manufacture, transport, and sell illicit fentanyl, and on a global illicit financial network to pocket billions of dollars in revenue from those sales.