The President's Daily Brief - November 4th, 2022. Fentanyl Continues to Kill Americans 18-45. Who You Vote For Could Help Solve This Ongoing Tragedy

Episode Date: November 4, 2022

It’s November 4th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ The CDC announced a few months back that, if you are an American between the ages of 18 and 45, there’s one thing that’s killing your generation more than any other: drug overdoses, especially by fentanyl. We’re going to do a deep dive into how this drug starts in China, transits into Mexico, and ends up in your hometown. And we’re doing this today so that you can decide, as you vote next week, which politician or party is most likely to do something about this terrible killer. After our main brief this morning, we’ll wrap up the podcast with a question from Pat out of Seattle, Washington, who’s hearing rumors that Ukraine’s Wheat isn’t getting to poor countries around the world like we were told it would. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's November 4th. You're listening to the President's Daily Brief. I'm your host and former CIA officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. First up, the CDC announced a couple of months ago that if you are an American between the ages of 18 and 45, there is one thing that is killing your generation more than any other, and that's drug overdoses, especially by fentanyl. We are going to do a deep dive into how this drug starts in China, transits into Mexico, and ends up in your hometown. And we're going to do this today so that you can decide as you vote next week, which politician or party is more likely to do something about this terrible killer. And after our main brief this morning, we are going to wrap up the podcast with a question from Pat out of Seattle, Washington, who is hearing rumors that Ukraine's wheat isn't getting to pour countries around the world like we were told it would.

But first, let's get started with today's main brief. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention released some very sobering data a couple months back. The drug overdoses killed more than 107,000 Americans last year. That is a record of 15% from 2020. To think of that differently, it's more people than the number of U.S. military personnel killed during the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam combined. That means, folks, that overdoses are now the leading cause of death and adult. in America, age 18 to 45. And of the 107,000 deaths, 70% died from one drug called fentanyl, which is a highly dangerous synthetic opiate. It's about 50 times stronger than heroin,

about 100 times stronger than morphine. Now, most of that fentanyl is not made in America. Much of it actually starts in China and then snakes its way through Mexico and eventually into our country. So for today's PDB, we are going to talk about that global journey. so that you can understand the roots of this epidemic. And then you can decide if this horrific data is simply a sad story or rather an attack by foreign governments and their agents. Most importantly, you all can decide next week as you vote, which politician or which party is most likely to take on

what I think we all can agree is a pretty horrible issue. So let's start this brief with this. If you wanted fentanyl before the year 2019, all you had to do was go online and order it. Chinese manufacturers actually had websites and Twitter accounts, you name it. It was very easy to purchase. You simply selected the drug and they shipped it via UPS or good old-fashioned postal service. And as you might remember from a number of years ago,

American politicians were outraged by this happening. And they complained very loudly to President Xi of China. And his response, well, generally was one of two things. First, he said the accusations were false, a lie created by Americans to smear his country. Or, second, there was nothing that he or his government could do about it. So let me just give you one example of the many. About five years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted a number of Chinese nationals for their roles in selling this fentanyl around the country.

But when asked for comment, the Chinese government said that the charges were false and that they were, quote, harmful to a cooperative atmosphere between our two countries, end quote. Now, you should know that the response that you just heard is very typical by the Chinese government. When they get caught doing something bad, they just deny it or ignore it. So here's a non-drug example of that, one that I know personally. There's a man named Carl Lee, who for the past 15 years has resided in China while selling weapons of mass destruction gear to lots of, of nations around the world. But for 15 years, China has denied that he's in their country, which is a lie, or that they can't do anything about it, which is also a lie. They know exactly

where he lives and exactly what he's selling. At any rate, China has done nothing about Corley and wasn't going to do anything about the fentanyl issue either. That is, until President Trump, well, he raised a stink. He waged a trade war back in 2018 and 19. And then China agreed to crack down, at least on some of that, the direct sales from China to the United States using the mail system. They also agreed to ban the finished drug that is fentanyl. But there was a little loophole. China banned the finished drug of fentanyl all right, but they said nothing about banning the chemicals that make it. So to create a rough analogy here, they sort of banned the dessert, but not any of the ingredients to make it.

or at least not most of the ingredients. So no surprise then on what happened next. All of those Chinese fentanyl dealers and manufacturers started selling the chemicals, the ingredients, not the finished product. Now, some of those ingredients came directly to the United States where people cooked up the drug themselves, but something very important happened, something else. Mexican cartels, they figured out that there was a lot of money to be made.

The cartels were intrigued by this stuff because fentanyl can be cooked up in very tiny batches and transported very easily. Just the smallest amount of grains of sand can get someone high or kill them. So it was a much easier drug for them to manufacture and transport and profit from. And so over the past three years or so, those cartels have gone into business with those pharmaceutical companies in China, both legitimate and criminal alike. So let's put some names and numbers to this, starting with China. There are around 5,000 drug manufacturers in China, legitimate and illicit. Now, that industry is poorly regulated,

which means that the drug ingredients for fentanyl are pretty easy to divert to clandestine labs or buyers. And even if these precursor ingredients are actually found, well, some very sneaky chemists in China have slightly modified the molecule, of those ingredients such that they're actually legal. But regardless, Chinese manufacturers sell all these drug ingredients to Mexican cartel buyers, with the transaction paid for, interestingly, with cryptocurrencies increasingly, or sometimes they barter for things like endangered Mexican animals. They use those in traditional Chinese medicine.

There are several cartels in Mexico that receive these chemicals that are in business with the Chinese. One is called the Halisco New Generation Cartel and the other is the Sinaloa Cartel. Both are very well known to the U.S. government for doing all sorts of terrible things, from human trafficking of illegal migrants to, of course, drug running. Now, here is what I think is an incredible part of this story. The cartels don't have any trouble shipping the ingredients from China to Mexico, in part because they actually control and operate some of the ports on Mexico.

Mexico's West Coast. It would be like a gang controlling the ports in Los Angeles or Seattle. So let me give you one example. The port of Lazaro Cardenas in the state of Michoacan. A few years ago, the president of Mexico actually admitted that the cartels controlled that entire port. The Mexican government, he said, had no ability to stop anything coming in or going out from that entire port. Now, he since claimed that he's cleaned up the place, but a lot of U.S. government officials aren't convinced. Regardless, once these chemical ingredients get to Mexico from China, they're cooked up in a relatively small set of, well, in some cases, portable labs.

Now, occasionally, the U.S. and Mexican government, you know, they gin up some operations to bust those labs. In fact, the DEA has said that they have seized thousands of pounds of these chemicals in just the past year, about a billion doses worth. But even the DEA is saying that it is struggling. to stop the shipments of both the chemicals and the cooked fentanyl, in no small part because these labs are so hard to find and they're portable. And that folks takes us to the final step in the process of those drugs leaving China, transiting Mexico, and getting into this country.

Of course, the cartels have to get it across the border. Now, for the past couple of years, almost all of the fentanyl in America was coming through Southern California. Now, that's still largely the case, but it's increasingly coming through Arizona too. And remember, the packages of this stuff are very small, easy to conceal in cars on people, and certainly buried in big shipments of legitimate goods. Get this, we're also seeing it come through private jets, often landing in smaller airports with less security. For example, one was seized while back in Gary, Indiana, of all places. And that underlines the scope of this problem. It's not just a border state issue.

These drugs and these cartels are moving their product all throughout America. In fact, what state do you think was the hardest hit last year in terms of the greatest percent increase of drug deaths? What state would you choose in our union? Well, the answer is Alaska. Alaska experienced the biggest increase in overdose deaths in 2021, roughly 75% increase according to federal data. All right, my friends, that finishes the brief of facts and data this morning on fentanyl.

Let's actually take a quick break. And when we come back, I'll offer up my analysis and counsel to you this morning, especially as you consider who to vote for next week. Because really, this is a political problem. We'll be right back. Own it all. Pay off your home. Travel for life.

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UN. Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Welcome back to the PDB folks. This morning, we're talking about the shocking story of drug overdoses in this country. It's now the greatest cause of death for 18 to 45-year-olds than any other.

In fact, it's taken more lives than the number of U.S. military personnel killed during the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam combined. So of that horrifying number of deaths from overdoses, over 100,000, around 70% of those are from the drug fentanyl. Now, to refresh our memories, almost all fentanyl starts its drug life first in China, and then it continues on through Mexico, thanks to the cartels, before landing on the streets of your hometown. Again, China knows who's producing these precursor chemicals, those ingredients for all sorts of drugs to include fentanyl. But they're protecting these companies and these people, the manufacturers, regardless. Meanwhile, the Mexican government knows exactly which cartels and which cartel members

are cooking and shipping the drugs. but Mexico is either too corrupt or too incompetent to ever fully stop it. So that leads us to a very tough set of questions. First and foremost, how do we stop this problem? Now, some of you might I think correctly suggest that we start with the demand for the drugs, the Americans choosing to buy and use them. And you know what? That's fair.

And it's important. But I'm going to leave that for another brief because it is a very complex challenge and it deserves a lot more time and attention than we have this morning. In the meantime, we obviously have a supply problem to address too. China and Mexico are the suppliers. Their governments are complicit in the drug trade. So let's start there. And let's start with China.

The U.S. government absolutely knows where the drug labs are in China. They know who the people are who own them, the ships that they use to transport this stuff. And now it's a question if we are willing to arrest or, frankly, kill. some of these people to blow up their labs to sink their ships all because China won't help us. And that, those choices around sinking ships and killing people, that's all really a political question. And it's one that depending on the operation could be very risky for the operators to pull off. And that's why voters like you all need to decide if our politician should start taking those risks. should we give our military and our intelligence officials the green light to launch those probably covert operations,

knowing that such comes with risks of confrontation with China? I'll leave that up to you to decide whether to ask your politicians today to get them to push harder, to take more risks, but also for when you go to the voting booth next week and you think about the politicians and the party and which ones might do some of these more aggressive operations. Now, let's next consider Mexico. We have to decide whether the Mexican government can ever fully root out the corruption in its country so that they can take on the cartels. And if so, how long will that take them? Again, that is a very big brief for another time, but let me give you the upshot.

Most folks that I've spoken with about this issue who know the Mexican government well say this. the government in Mexico City will be deeply corrupt for generations to come. Their Navy is about the only government group military or otherwise that has any hope or redeeming value. But ultimately the Navy can't get this done, not without top cover for Mexico City, the government, the central government of Mexico. So that means in the meantime, what do we do about the cartels? Because obviously we can't negotiate with them, interestingly enough. president has actually tried and failed to do that. So if we can't negotiate with them, that means that some of them, well, some of them have to die. And I hate to be so blunt and perhaps cavalier about

that. But that is the solution that I would encourage an American president to adopt using what's called a lethal finding authorized by the president and using something called Title X and Title 50 authorities, all of which is a fancy legal way of saying, take the gloves off. Our special forces and intelligence operatives can take care of this problem, but it's a political decision, a political call, because it involves risk. And that means it's ultimately your decision to determine which politician or party will make that tough choice, that tough decision, and take those aggressive risks. And that leads to the final option, perhaps the most obvious and perhaps simple, secure our southern border. Because if we're not

willing to take the political risks that come with taking on China or the Mexican government and the cartels. Well, the border is all we have left. That's the only thing that we have in our immediate control. But as PDB listeners know, the border isn't under our control, not really. We had back-to-back record years of crossings by illegal migrants over two million this year. And of course, a record amount of fentanyl coming across too. And that, folks, is another political question for you all to wrestle with between now and election day. Once again, you have to decide which politician or which party is serious about securing our southern border. Because of this problem of record deaths from fentanyl, it's not going away. Consider this quote by a man named Keith Humphreys. He's a drug policy

researcher at Stanford University. He was asked about these numbers of Americans who were killed because of drugs, fentanyl in particular. And here's what he said. Quote, as horrible as 2021 was, the record numbers of dead Americans, the year 2022 will quite possibly be even worse, end quote. And that, folks, is why this brief was so important. And that's why next week's election is so important too. And with that, I've got one more thing before I let you go.

A listener question. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the PDB, ladies and gentlemen. One more thing before I let you go. Pat from Seattle, Washington, or at least that area, wrote in asking about the wheat wars. Specifically, Pat commented on rumors that a lot of Ukraine's wheat isn't getting to the poorest nations all around the world

and is wondering if that is true. So to quickly refresh our memories here, Russia and Ukraine had agreed back in July to let wheat and corn and other agricultural products get out into the global market. place, especially for poor countries. That was working pretty well until earlier this week when Russia pulled out of the deal, sort of, after waterborne drones struck at least three of its naval ships. Moscow is now blaming not just Ukraine, but also the United Kingdom for those drone attacks,

saying that London actually trained the Ukrainians on how to do it. But then, in midst of all of that, quite suddenly on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin backed off his, his threat to leave the wheat deal, at least for now. He's saying that he's not sure if you'll rejoin the deal when it's set to expire on November 19th. Pat's question, though, is all about where that wheat and corn and other ag products have really gone since July, because the idea was that it would all or mostly go to poor countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Lebanon. And Pat, you know what? You're right. It's not going to those poor countries, at least not most of it anyway. Here's what the latest data show, according to fresh analysis done by the Black Sea

Grain Initiative just this week. The biggest buyers of Ukraine's grain exports are actually in Europe. Spain is hands down the largest buyer of Ukraine's ag goods, with Turkey, Italy, and the Netherlands not far behind. China is also a big buyer, about a million tons. Meanwhile, Germany is actually buying more than Bangladesh. Belgium is getting more than Ethiopia. France. They're getting more than Kenya. The point then is that this

grain deal was sold to everyone all around the world as a critical solution to very desperately poor and very desperately hungry people. But the data show that that's not who's buying most of it. Instead, it's ending up in the hands and the mouths

of people who don't really need it. And that, ladies, gentlemen concludes your morning brief. As always, we close out the show, reminding each other of why we are here, talking about our country and our world. It's the creed of every good spy and every smart American. It's from John, chapter 8, verse 32. And you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free. Good day.