(NewsNation) — DEA Special Agent Robert Murphy says Americans are “chancing” their lives by not getting prescription medicine from a licensed pharmacist amid cartels disguising dangerous drugs as everyday pills.
Murphy joined “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” on Friday to discuss the challenges facing the agency.
“It’s the same thing I tell my family. … Anything you find on the street, near 100% of the drugs that we see in pill form on the street, are almost all fake,” Murphy said.
The DEA expects to seize double the amount of methamphetamine in 2025 than in the previous year.
“There is a big demand in this country for meth. And we’re seeing more and more of it. And then there’s some other scary things developing in the sense that we’re seeing more and more methamphetamine pills disguised as, you know, coveted pills, like Adderall or oxycodone, and, you know, the MDMA,” Murphy explained.
“Methamphetamine is highly addictive, very cheap, highly addictive, purely synthetic and very profitable. That’s why the Mexican cartels want to focus on it. We’re seeing the demand for pills. There’s less stigma about someone using the pill. It’s, you know, you have to shoot it in your arm,” he added.
The DEA special agent noted that it is so profitable because the Mexican cartel controls the whole process, from manufacturing to distribution, unlike cocaine, which requires collaboration with Colombian cartels.
Murphy added that a drug similar to fentanyl is on the rise. According to Murphy, carfentanil is much more powerful and addictive than fentanyl.
“I can hold two pills in my hand, and I couldn’t tell you which one was real, which one wasn’t. My best advice is to stay away,” Murphy said.