DEA Director announces independent investigation into fentanyl distribution in New Mexico

The head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) called for an independent investigation on Thursday into an operation that allegedly allowed a massive sale of fentanyl in the state of New Mexico (southwest) over a two-year period.

The goal was to allow the drug to be sold openly in order to track distribution and manufacturing networks.

According to a DEA whistleblower, David M. Howell, the tactic was employed between 2023 and 2025 in this state bordering Mexico, despite public health concerns surrounding fentanyl.

Synthetic drugs: A “weapon of mass destruction”

President Donald Trump declared this synthetic drug a "weapon of mass destruction" last year, to give law enforcement agencies more power to tackle the problem.

“I am writing to request that the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General conduct an independent review of the DEA’s conduct regarding (...) the public allegations made by Special Agent David M. Howell,” explained the letter from DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole.

The agent’s allegations were reported by the nation’s media.

DEA agents “face extraordinarily dangerous criminal organizations every day, often making difficult operational decisions,” the agency’s head asserts, and these “deserve an objective evaluation.”

Law enforcement operations that deliberately allow criminal acts to occur have regularly sparked scandals across the nation.