The Fentanyl Road: From China and Mexico to the streets of America

KSFR | By Mary Lou Cooper

Published August 19, 2022 at 9:57 AM MDT

All across America, an epidemic worse than COVID-19 is killing kids and younger adults.

The killer's name is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid.

KSFR's Mary Lou Cooper explores the fentanyl road with Mike Vigil, native New Mexican and former chief of international operations for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

From raw ingredients made in China to rustic manufacturing labs in Mexico to distribution points across the border, Vigil discusses why Mexican cartels are transitioning from traditional drugs to fentanyl.

The story also explores solutions on both the supply and demand side of the fentanyl equation.

Criminal Justice

Mary Lou Cooper

Mary Lou Cooper has reported for KSFR for over a decade, focusing on consumer issues, health, politics, and more. She is a former US Congressional staffer and remains a political junkie to this day. Cooper has received journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Associated Press, National Federation of Press Women and New Mexico Press Women. She grew up in Oak Ridge, TN and received her BA from Emory University in Atlanta and her MA from the University of Texas Austin. She holds fiction and screenwriting certificates from the University of Washington.

See stories by Mary Lou Cooper