Part 3/10:
However, this approach has proven increasingly ineffective, with only about 4% of cocaine smuggling attempts intercepted in 2023. The vast majority—more than 90%—still make it into the United States, especially as cartels diversify their operations and flood American markets with fentanyl—a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than morphine. Fentanyl is responsible for approximately 80,000 American deaths annually, many of whom are young people unwittingly consuming it at parties, mistaking it for less dangerous substances like Molly.