St. Louis region, local busts indicative of growing national fentanyl problem

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents in the St. Louis district seized enough fentanyl in 2023 to kill 24 million people.

The St. Louis DEA took possession of 735 pounds of fentanyl powder and more than 345,000 fentanyl-laced pills last year, according to a news release. That amount equates to about 24 million fatal doses.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be prescribed for treating severe pain, especially advanced pain caused by cancer, and it's 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Illegally made fentanyl is sold on the streets for its heroin-like effect, often mixed with heroin or cocaine without the user's knowledge. Users cannot see, smell or taste fentanyl. The illegal use has contributed to tens of thousands of deaths annually; fentanyl overdose is the leading cause of death for 18- to 45-year-olds in the United States, according to the DEA.

A spokesperson from the St. Louis DEA division said fentanyl busts are much higher in urban cities than in areas like Cape Girardeau, but it is becoming more of a problem locally as well.

For example:

• The Jackson Police Department this week arrested Charles D. Dobyns, 33, from Benton and Jerrad R. Hovis, 29, from Jackson alleging they committed multiple felonies relating to the trafficking of fentanyl and methamphetamine. The vehicle they were in contained 39 pills that later tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl, according to a probable cause statement. Both men were charged with a Class B felony of second-degree drug trafficking and a Class C felony of delivering a controlled substance.
• In August, a Scott City couple, Alberto Cruz, 67, and Jo Anne Barajas, 47, were charged with possessing and distributing fentanyl from their residence. In that bust, officers said they found 274 prescription pills packaged for distribution. Police seized more than $36,000, which was transferred to a federal agency, according to online court records. That case is now being handled through the federal courts.
• Last May, a registered nurse pleaded guilty to using left-over fentanyl from the hospital for which she worked.
• In July, the DEA in Cape Girardeau announced it had busted 19 members of the "Just Bout Money" organization in Charleston, which was, according to the DEA, the "main supplier of methamphetamine and fentanyl in Southeast Missouri". During that bust, local, state and federal agents seized 653 grams of fentanyl. Two gang members were believed to have been responsible for two murders in Cape Girardeau in 2022.

"Drug trafficking organizations like this one are spider webs of illegal activity with connections across the country," said assistant special agent in charge Colin Dickey, lead of DEA investigations in Eastern Missouri, at the time of the arrest. "DEA takes particular interest in dismantling and destroying them -- from street level dealers and up the chain."

Detective Austin Reed of the Jackson Police Department formerly worked for the DEA in the Cape Girardeau area from 2020 to 2022.

“Fentanyl is becoming a pretty common thing around the Cape Girardeau County area,” he said. “We’re seeing quite a bit of it, especially since 2020. It’s increasing every year. Fentanyl is becoming much easier to obtain, and that’s why we’re seeing more of it.”

When asked how many fentanyl overdose deaths he has investigated, he said he didn’t know the number of cases by memory, but more than 10.

While in some situations users may not know they are consuming fentanyl when it is combined with other drugs, he said most know they are using fentanyl and seek it out. The most common reason for overdose is the inconsistent concentration of fentanyl from one pill to another, he said.

“The way it’s distributed nowadays, it’s mixed with a cutting agent, then the finished product is put into capsules,” he said. “So you buy the fentanyl, but you don’t know the concentration. One capsule may have more concentration than another capsule in the same bag.”

He said users of fentanyl are often heroin addicts, who are looking for a high they can no longer achieve from their drug of choice. He said such addicts can underestimate the lethal danger from fentanyl.

Drug overdoses nationwide have risen from less than 20,000 in 2000 to more than 106,000 by 2021, according to data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The number of opioid overdose deaths has risen from roughly 5,000 in 2000 to 80,000 by 2021. Fentanyl overdose deaths began to spike in 2015. The number of deadly fentanyl deaths have nearly quadrupled in the last six years, according to data on NIDA's website.

Nationally, the DEA collected more than 77 million fentanyl pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder in 2023 drug busts, according to a news release. The numbers represent a record amount of fentanyl seized in a calendar year.

The DEA said in its release that its mission is to defeat two cartels responsible for most of the imported fentanyl: the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel. The DEA is working us developing intelligence and mapping the the global networks. The cartels are based in Mexico, but there are more than 50 other countries where cartels operate. The DEA has targeted Chinese chemical companies that sell the precursor chemicals.

In December, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen went to Mexico to talk with government and private sector leaders about stopping the financing of the drug trade. A Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force was created to create an overlap of resources within the Treasury Department and the IRS Criminal Investigation to collaborate on the flow of drugs into the country, the Associated Press reported.

"Combating the flow of deadly fentanyl into communities across the United States is a top priority for President Biden as well as the Treasury Department," Yellen said in a statement. She said the new group will "allow us to bring the department's unrivaled expertise in fighting financial crime to bear against this deadly epidemic."