How the D.E.A. Traced the Fentanyl Epidemic to China

2019年10月18日星期五

October 18, 2019

In 2015, in a town called Grand Forks in North Dakota, 18-year-old Bailey Henke overdosed on a drug called fentanyl and died. Another local teenager — his friend — overdosed and survived. There were several other overdoses that same evening.

In this week's cover story, Alex W. Palmer follows the case that led law enforcement back to the source of the fentanyl epidemic: China.

His reporting uncovers the surprising ease with which powerful synthetic opioids make it into the United States — and how the Postal Service suddenly became perhaps the largest drug-transportation network in the world.

THE COVER STORY

Photo illustration by Najeebah Al-Ghadban

The China Connection: How One D.E.A. Agent Cracked a Global Fentanyl Ring

Fentanyl is quickly becoming America's deadliest drug. But law enforcement couldn't trace it to its source — until one teenager overdosed in North Dakota.

By Alex W. Palmer

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David Williams/Redux, for The New York Times

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