DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY

Recent mass overdoses in Florida have the Drug Enforcement Administration sounding the alarm.

Two Central Florida were arrested last week in Jacksonville after authorities found them with 240 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A joint operation between the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Agency has led to 20 pounds of near-pure crystal methamphetamine tied to Mexican drug cartels being taken off area streets. A major crystal meth bust has netted approximately 20 pounds of the drug and more than $32,000 in cash. He was accused of distributing kilogram-sized quantities of crystal meth in both Clay and Duval counties. “We learned of one of these individuals as a major meth dealer here in the area," said DEA agent Matt Dubet. “This particular meth seizure was 98% pure crystal meth,” he said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two weeks after Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Timothy Shea visited Florida and spent time talking with Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams about violent crime in the city, the DEA has announced the launch of Project Safeguard. It’s a violent crime reduction initiative that allows the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and federal marshals to partner with local police to go after violent offenders -- especially since the DEA says many of the violent crimes in Jacksonville are linked to illegal narcotics trafficking. Police in 41 cities throughout Florida are taking part in Project Safeguard. Only time will tell if the initiative reduces violent crime throughout the state. Project Safeguard is being deployed in other areas of the country such as Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

DEA head addresses drug-related violence during Jacksonville visitPublished: October 7, 2020, 11:35 pmThe Drug Enforcement Agency’s top cop who oversees all operations in both the U.S. and abroad was in Jacksonville to meet with Sheriff Mike Williams.

“What fuels the violence in cities like Jacksonville and throughout the country is drug trafficking organizations,” Shea said. Atlanta is one of several major U.S. cities identified by the DEA as a regional drug distribution hub. According to the DEA, CJNG has operatives in Atlanta that are responsible for the distribution of meth into the southeastern region of the U.S., which includes North Florida. He also told News4Jax that his office in Washington D.C. has Jacksonville’s drug-related gun violence on its radar as well as the violence in other cities linked to drug trafficking. Recently, the DEA began a six month operation called “Operation Crystal Shield,” which targeted the smuggling and distribution of meth into America.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Drug Enforcement Agency recently released its 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment, which outlines threats posed by illegal drugs and drug traffickers. According to what’s in the report, while there has been a 13% decline in opioid overdoses across the United States, methamphetamine trafficking and usage continues to be an overwhelming problem for law enforcement. DEA Special Agent in Charge Mike Dubet said the cartels are flooding Florida streets with crystal meth, especially Northeast Florida. According to the recent DEA threat assessment, Mexican drug cartels are mass producing major quantities of meth at alarming rates. READ: 2019 DEA National Drug Threat AssessmentAnd there’s another trend that’s been studied during the last three years.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Panama Park residents are asking for answers about a police pursuit that ended in a deadly crash Monday evening in their neighborhood. "During a joint operation with other law enforcement agencies, a vehicle was driving in an erratic and dangerous manner. A pursuit was initiated to try to stop that vehicle," Burgos said during a news briefing Monday night. RELATED: 1 dead when SUV crashes in Panama Park during police chase, JSO saysThe Sheriff's Office, however, was not involved in the chase, according to the agency's spokesman. As far as which agencies were involved in the chase, JSO said it was not involved, it only responded afterward.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Due to the American opioid epidemic, the Drug Enforcement Agency is proposing a reduction of five drugs manufactured in the United States. The DEA is proposing manufacturers produce only enough opioids for people who legitimately need painkillers, preventing the overproduction of drugs. The DEA has a diversion control division tasked with making sure prescription medication isnt given to people who dont need it. The proposal calls for:31% reduction in fentanyl10% reduction in hydrocodone25% reduction in hydromorphone55% reduction in oxymorphone9% reduction in oxycodone. The DEA is hoping a reduction in opioid production will put a lower those fatality statistics.

CNNCLEVELAND, Ohio - In 20 years, drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and practitioners acted as street drug couriers and shipped "hundreds of millions" of suspicious opioid doses into two Ohio counties, according to a motion filed in the US District Court in the Northern District of Ohio. The suspicious order systemTo catch suspicious orders, companies are required to design a "Suspicious Order Monitoring" system, which the more than 400 defendants in this case failed to create, the attorneys allege in the court documents. The defendants are also charged with "turning a blind eye" to suspicious pharmaceutical orders that allowed the two counties to be flooded with opioids, as they didn't report suspicious orders to the DEA and shipped orders that were or should have been flagged as suspicious. "Their failure to identify suspicious orders was their business model: they turned a blind eye and called themselves mere "deliverymen" with no responsibility for what they delivered or to whom. Mallinckrodt shipped more than 53 million orders of opioid products between 2003 and 2011, marked 38,000 orders as potentially suspicious, but only stopped and reported 33, the filing alleges.