President Trump's policies could leave the U.S. more vulnerable to dangerous synthetic drug trafficking from abroad, even as the administration has vowed to stop fentanyl from entering the country, former government officials say, The Guardian reports. Last week, Trump imposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, ostensibly as a tactic to stem the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S. Jim Crotty, former Drug Enforcement Administration deputy chief of staff, called the approach “coercive” and said it has the potential to backfire. Federal funding cuts could leave U.S. borders more insecure, according to Enrique Roig, a former Department of State official who oversaw Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) portfolios. U.S. overdose deaths began to drop significantly for the first time in 2023, after rising for decades.
Crotty says this progress is fragile. “We’re seeing this decrease in overdose deaths and everyone’s still trying to suss out exactly why. I don’t think now is the time that we want to stop any of those existing efforts because we know that at least some, or a combination of them, have been working,” Crotty said. Roig agreed: “All this has to be working together in concert.” Federal funding cuts could put the U.S. behind when it comes to drug detection technology. The global drug supply has increasingly shifted towards highly potent synthetic substances such as fentanyl and newly emerging nitazines. Often, these drugs arrive in the form of powders or precursor chemicals that take up minimal space, and are difficult to detect by odor. Roig says advanced drug detection technology is vital, but Trump’s federal funding and staff cuts mean less money for the latest technology and equipment, and fewer people to install it. Some of Trump’s measures are more showy than they are constructive, Crotty and Roig said. The designation of certain cartels as terrorist organizations “doesn’t do much of anything,," they said.
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