The federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has asked the U.S. Justice Department’s internal watchdog to investigate claims that DEA agents allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico.
Investigation and Controversy
The request came after an Associated Press investigation found that agents repeatedly monitored but did not seize major shipments of the synthetic opioid between 2023 and 2025. Current and former DEA agents told the AP that this strategy, known as letting the counterfeit painkillers ‘walk,’ amounted to a gamble with public safety in a state ravaged by the fentanyl epidemic.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked the state’s attorney general to examine whether the agency’s actions violated New Mexico law, an extraordinary challenge to a federal law enforcement agency at a time when fentanyl remains one of the country’s deadliest public health threats.
Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico sent a letter to DEA administrator Terry Cole asking for a briefing on the DEA’s tactics in the state. ‘New Mexicans are paying the price for a fentanyl epidemic that is tearing families apart and deserve answers,’ U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury said in a statement.
Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.
