Synthetic drugs and fentanyl drive US overdose deaths as Chicago faces new wave

A wave of homemade synthetic drugs is spreading across the United States, raising fears that it will deepen the country's long opioid crisis. President Trump has promised to demolish the power of drug cartels and has designated many drug gangs as terrorist organisations. At the peak of the crisis in 2022, more than 110,000 Americans a year died from overdoses, mostly from opioids. That figure has fallen to about 70,000 last year, but drugs remain plentiful, cheaper and increasingly deadly as new synthetics are added to the mix, along with the animal tranquiliser known as Tranq.

On the front line in Chicago, police officers in one of the city's most violent neighbourhoods say synthetic opioids, fentanyl and crack cocaine are the biggest threats to the community. A traffic stop quickly escalated when officers surrounded a car and found armed men inside. One officer said dealers were so numerous that 'you could throw a rock and hit one'.

A masked fentanyl dealer named Dove, described as one of Chicago's most established, said Mexican cartels still push drugs into the city and he sells their product on the West Side. He said a new homegrown threat is emerging on American soil. Dove put the toll at half a million dead Americans and 50,000 dying each year. Asked about his role in the crisis, he said: 'I know it's wrong. I know it's illicit. I know it's killing people.' He said ends justified the means but accepted that his hands were not clean. He said the synthetic game is the biggest change and warned: 'We haven't seen what synthetics can do yet. It's not even the tip of the iceberg.'

At Cook County Jail, inmate collapses in 2023 showed that synthetics had arrived. The drugs are synthetic cannabinoids, extremely powerful and able to cause fatal seizures. Synthetic drug use is rampant. Officers search cells hard before drugs are flushed down toilets, and they find contraband every time. Drugs are getting in soaked into book pages and letters. Up to 300 letters and packages a day are checked by a sniffer dog, and the jail uses high-tech methods to detect saturation. Investigator Billy Pellegrini showed how a test turns red where paper has been sprayed with drug residue.

A former Cook County inmate, identified only as James, demonstrated in a Chicago basement how paper can be soaked with drugs. He said the supplies are all on hand and no Mexican cartels are required. He said he could put together 'our own drug' in a Chicago house. The report noted that the border may no longer be the main problem.

Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more powerful than heroin. Narcan or naloxone has saved tens of thousands of lives, but it does not work when fentanyl is mixed with new synthetic tranquilisers. In Chicago and across America, the opioid crisis and the drugs are mutating into new formulations that are more powerful and riskier. As the Trump administration targets cartels far from the US border, the drugs on the streets are as powerful as ever. For people already trapped in addiction, the next hit is a life or death gamble.