2 weeks ago, I attended a briefing by the head of a local Drug Enforcement Agency field office. He spoke a lot about fentanyl, which the DEA considers its biggest problem. During the course of the briefing, he answered the big question I had, which was… [1/5] 
…about why the cartels are putting lethal dosages of fentanyl into the pills they sell. This seems to be against the cartels’ interests, to kill off their own customers. He explained that they put it into counterfeit oxycontin and Adderall pills… [2/5]
…and the crafting of these pills is done in hasty labs in Mexico, sometimes in an open field. Fentanyl is so concentrated that getting dosages right is a difficult laboratory challenge. The cartels could spend more on quality control, but… [3/5]
…spending more would not pay off for them. They have done the analysis on this, per dealers the DEA has captured. Because fentanyl is so addictive, the math equation is to hope that they can addict enough new users to replace any who die. [4/5]
Thus far, the DEA is not seeing fentanyl being added to the marijuana being smuggled in from Mexico. They worry about the effect when that starts happening. [5/5]
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