DEA reports on drug trafficking crisis in Western Washington

SEATTLE – According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), overdoses are the leading cause of death among adults ages 18 to 45, more common than traffic accidents, gun violence, and even cancer.

In 2023, more than 110,000 people will die of overdose in the United States. And just on Tuesday, August 20, the King County coroner reported six overdose deaths, ranging from heroin to cocaine to meth and fentanyl.

So far in 2024, more than 690 people have died of overdoses in King County, and opioid-related deaths reached an all-time high in Snohomish County last year, totaling 269. Fentanyl was involved in 95% of those cases.

In response, Snohomish County plans to launch an opioid treatment program this fall. A van staffed by health care workers will travel along portions of Highways 2 and 530, offering opioid addiction medications and other treatment services. The annual cost of maintaining the program is approximately $900,000.

Five people were recently arrested for smuggling fentanyl into Whatcom County for years. Police seized around 30 kilograms of drugs worth up to a million dollars. The sheriff says the suspects had more fentanyl pills on them than half the county's population.

“These drug dealers are coming into our communities and trying to hide and make money off of people's deaths and suffering. That's why we are committed to finding these people,” said DEA Seattle Special Agent in Charge David Reames.

There was also evidence that the suspects used a 3D printer to create undetectable ghost guns. The Department of Homeland Security and the DEA played a key role in the major raid.

“Drug trafficking is inherently violent, so dealers use guns to protect themselves, they use guns to intimidate the competition, they use guns to protect their sources and their roots, so violence is kind of inherent in the program. So ghost guns are just another evolution of that, with the advent of 3D printing, it's so easy to get guns and that's the only way they don't have to worry about it,” Reames said. “So when you buy a gun the traditional way, there's a serial number, you have a buyer, you have someone you can list as the buyer. That doesn't exist with ghost guns, they could just be printed by someone in their home, they're untraceable.”

As illegal weapons become more accessible to criminals, more drugs, including methamphetamine, are entering the market in Western Washington.

“Methamphetamine is a crisis. It's a huge problem. If fentanyl wasn't so deadly, we'd be talking about the methamphetamine crisis now, it's the same magnitude. Fentanyl kind of overshadows it because fentanyl is so much more deadly, but we're seeing quantities of methamphetamine that I've never seen in my life,” Reames said. “There are no more small home labs making methamphetamine, it's all big production, big manufacturing facilities in Mexico making very high purity methamphetamine, high 90s, 100% pure meth, that's what we're seeing today. Hundreds of pounds of it. There's not a week that goes by that we don't seize several pounds of methamphetamine.”

Reames said the DEA is seeing a change in the way the cartel is dealing fentanyl. There are fewer pills on the streets, but more powdered fentanyl mixed with other drugs and pressed into pills by local dealers.

“It can be much more dangerous. Fentanyl is fentanyl, but with fentanyl powder we see purity levels of 80 to 90 percent,” Reames said.

Fentanyl pills can be manufactured by cartels for a fraction of their price, allowing them to make a significant profit even when the pills are sold for 30 cents or $1.

“These cartels are making fentanyl in their labs in Mexico. So they can make as much as they want, as many chemicals as they buy, that's the amount of fentanyl they can make. There's no growing season, they can make as much as they want. So they have an economy that they can scale, they can produce it very cheaply and send it to the United States,” Reames said.

The Mexican cartel is also in the DEA's focus because the Seattle police helped them with a major raid not long ago.

“The Sinaloa Cartel controls the smuggling routes on the west coast of the United States, so I-5 is an area controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel. In June, we had a case with the Seattle Police Department where we bought methamphetamine on the street about 18 months ago. The DEA and Seattle Police Department investigators traced the methamphetamine back to the Sinaloa Cartel and then back to Columbia, the producers of the cocaine that were part of that organization,” Reames said. “In the June bust, we arrested, the Columbia National Police helped us, as did other agencies here in the city, the producers, the distributors, the retailers here in the Seattle area, as well as the money launderers. We pulled the whole weed out from the roots. So that's the kind of thing that the Sinaloa Cartel provides, is kind of control of the process from start to finish. And that's what the DEA is trying to address.”

Reames also advises the public to always test substances before taking them.

“It's impossible to really know what's in the substances you're taking, so don't trust anyone. If a friend gives you something or a dealer sells you something, assume it all contains fentanyl and could potentially kill you,” Reames said.

MORE NEWS FROM FOX SEATTLE

Family of Lynnwood Alderwood Mall shooting victim fights for “Jayda’s Law”

Person dies after shooting on Metro bus in Des Moines

Goodwill closes two Seattle locations due to increasing security and theft concerns

Washington ranks 11th among states with the highest life expectancy

Delays and outages continue after cyber attack on SEA airport

To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX 13 Seattle News.