On Thursday, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) called upon the internal watchdog of the U.S. Justice Department to delve into whistleblower allegations. These serious claims assert that DEA agents allowed vast quantities of fentanyl pills to make their way onto New Mexico’s streets.
In a letter dispatched to the Justice Department’s Inspector General, DEA Administrator Terry Cole emphasized the urgency of an internal investigation. The move comes in response to widespread public scrutiny and concerns over the DEA’s operational choices, supervisory practices, and handling of the situation.
Cole clarified in a public statement that this request does not imply any doubt about the professionalism or integrity of DEA staff, nor does it question the decisions made during these investigations.
He further stated, “Should any areas for enhancement be discovered, the DEA is committed to making necessary changes. Robust institutions thrive on transparent oversight and a commitment to ongoing improvement.”
Several current and former DEA agents informed the Associated Press that the investigative plan, which involved allowing the counterfeit painkillers to circulate, risked public safety in a state severely impacted by the fentanyl crisis. This strategy could potentially breach Justice Department regulations meant to protect the public from substances the White House has labeled as “weapons of mass destruction.”
The AP investigation cited three current and former agents and government records, including an internal report of a 2023 delivery of 74,000 pills the DEA watched happen at a mobile home park in Albuquerque. One of those agents, David Howell, first raised serious concerns about this strategy in a 2023 whistleblower complaint. He continued to raise his objections internally and spoke at length with the AP about what he described as a strategy that “poisoned our community to make cases.”
In an earlier statement to AP, a DEA spokesperson said “public descriptions suggesting that DEA knowingly permitted fentanyl to reach communities are false and fundamentally mischaracterize the facts.”
The DEA’s request for the watchdog investigation came just a day after New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked the state’s attorney general to examine whether the agency’s actions violated New Mexico law, an extraordinary challenge to a federal law enforcement agency at a time when fentanyl remains one of the country’s deadliest public health threats.
“There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway.”