How Drug Cartels Infiltrated the Prescription Market With Fake Pills

In a recent episode of “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek talks with Michael Brown about the Mexican drug cartels and the immense profits made from selling fake prescription drugs laced with fentanyl. A former agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration and global director for counter-narcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices, Mr. Brown breaks down the new cartel business model, the cartel’s supply chain, and the role played by Chinese money-laundering proxies. Mr. Jekielek: We’re going to talk about the fentanyl crisis. Please give us a sense of the big picture. Mr. Brown: There are different paradigms being affected by Mexican cartel fentanyl. I’ll start with a new paradigm—fentanyl pills designed to look like Oxycontin, Adderall, Percocet, and Valium. The cartels looked at America’s addiction to prescription drugs because a lot of people will never transition to illegal narcotics like meth, heroin, or cocaine, but they will take prescription drugs....