The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has reported initial success against the narco-traffickers attempting to market the opioid, fentanyl, in Trinidad and Tobago.
DEA Special Agent Michael Miranda told Trinidad and Tobago Today the Agency has been working with local authorities in the fight against the drug.
“We have worked in conjunction with the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, so much so that we have created a vetted unit here in Trinidad that works directly with the DEA,” he said.
“We share intelligence, we share information. We’ve had some success. I believe the unit has been in effect since late last year. We have done some great things with the police service here because the DEA can’t do this alone. We do need help and we want to be partners in what we are doing,” the DEA Special Agent added.
Mr Miranda says partnership with the TTPS is part of the DEA’s program, Fenanyl Free America.
“Fentanyl Free America is a three-part strategy: First, will be enforcement—we have to find out who the traffickers are. Second will be partnership—working together with local police departments, enabling countries. And third is education, which I think is the most important,” he said.
Mr Miranda said educating young people, communities and schools about the dangers of fentanyl are important.
Fenatanyl is a highly potent opioid that is primarily used as pain medication, which is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
It is the primary driver of the drug overdose epidemic in the US largely due to its extreme potency and its widespread presence as an adulterant in other illicit drugs.
