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Neil A. Carousso produces NewsNation original “Kurt’s Country” – a celebration of country music and a slice of Americana with host Kurt Bardella.
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EXCLUSIVE: Retired Immigration Agent on the Heroin Epidemic as the FBI Director Links it to Mexican Drug Cartels
By Neil A. Carousso
FBI Director James Comey said that the heroin epidemic sweeping the United States traces to Mexican drug cartels.
“We cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” said Comey at an opioid summit in Virginia on Wednesday.
Mexican cartels have monetized the heroin business even selling the addictive drug for a loss in order to hook new clients. Heroin cannot be made in the United States. Production grew 160 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to DEA estimates. The following year, opium poppy cultivation in Mexico saw a 64 percent increase.
Retired Immigration and Naturalization Service Agent Michael Cutler sits down with this reporter in an exclusive to air on “The Neil A. Carousso Show” on Sunday. Watch a preview of the interview below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N8kokqdn5A
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prescription and illicid opioids, like heroin, accounted for 33,091 overdose deaths in 2015, quadrupling from 1999. These are the latest statistics available from the CDC.
“Our job is to try to crack down on the supply, literally, to be very blunt, to drive up the price to make it less and less attractive for people who are addicted to pills to move to heroin,” FBI Director Comey said.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency for the opioid crisis in his state, committing an addition $50 million over the next five years for increased enforcement, prevention and treatment services. The Maryland Governor lost a cousin to addiction.
