Staggering amounts of fentanyl hit streets as the DEA watched and took no action, records show

DEA Special Agent David Howell stated that the agency permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico between 2023 and 2025, a tactic he described as "willful blindness." This investigative strategy, aimed at building larger cases against traffickers, occurred even as overdose deaths in New Mexico surged 21% while falling nationwide.