(NEXSTAR) — The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) plays an essential role in the fight against fentanyl. When agents seize drugs, the evidence gets sent to a DEA lab for testing. The agency reports more than 70% of illicit drugs seized are laced with fentanyl.
All drugs seized by federal agencies from five states are sent to a DEA lab in Dallas, Texas to be tested.
“Our vault processes it and stores it until it’s time for our forensic chemist to analyze it. And our forensic chemists determine the content of the evidence, as well as sometimes the purity of it,” DEA Laboratory Assistant Director Jamie Vasquez said.
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Vasquez said the number one drug that they see is methamphetamine, followed by cocaine, fentanyl and heroin.
“It has changed drastically over the last five years. We’ve gone from submissions of 3% fentanyl to now close to 20% of what we see contains some sort of fentanyl,” Vasquez said.
The DEA acts as the first line of defense against drugs coming across the border.