America’s fentanyl-fueled drug crisis is finally showing signs of easing — but former DEA chief Derek Maltz warns that this is no time to celebrate.

After years of staggering losses, drug overdose deaths in the US have seen a remarkable and sudden decline.

In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a record high of 110,037 deaths, a number exceeding the seating capacity of Michigan Stadium, the largest football venue in the nation.

By May, the CDC announced a significant decline of 27 percent in fatalities, reducing the death count to approximately 80,391. This reduction was primarily due to synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, which are predominantly produced in Mexico with chemicals imported from China.

Experts have scrambled to explain how such a steep decline is even possible.

The decrease is attributed to various factors, including increased availability of naloxone — a life-saving drug that reverses overdoses — now accessible in places like bars, schools, and even vending machines, as well as new treatment programs and stricter border regulations.

However, Maltz, who was the acting DEA Administrator during the first half of 2025 under President Donald Trump, claims that this reduction can also be traced to three unacknowledged, yet crucial developments.

Alarmingly, he mentions that the organizations responsible for America’s drug crisis — Mexico’s cartels and allies of China’s ruling class — are altering their strategies, making the outlook concerning.

Beijing vehemently denies these claims as ‘totally groundless’ and ‘slander’.

Derek Maltz, who served as acting DEA Administrator, told the Daily Mail the real reasons drug deaths were falling

Maltz says China is ‘bombing America with synthetic drugs’ from labs like this facility in Shandong Province

Smarter cartels

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Maltz expressed his firm belief that the downward trend in deaths is real and is expected to continue decreasing significantly.

‘The Mexican cartels… got smarter and advanced a little bit in the manufacturing process.

‘They don’t want the US government and President Trump shooting off missiles at their labs.’

According to Maltz, one major factor is that drug traffickers are killing off fewer customers.

Fentanyl pills today are less deadly than those sold in previous years.

In 2024, DEA lab tests found that about five in ten pills contained the 2mg dose of fentanyl that is considered potentially fatal.

In past years, that figure was closer to seven in ten. Maltz believes this shift is intentional.

‘The cartels are shifting their strategy. They’re sending in more methamphetamine and cocaine instead of just fentanyl,’ he said.

The DEA’s 2025 threat report also pointed to China-based chemical suppliers intentionally diluting the potency of precursors before they reach North America.

The pitiful sight of fentanyl addicts has become all-too common on the streets of San Francisco and other US cities 

Drug Enforcement Administration agents took part in these immigration enforcement raids in New York in January 

Experienced users

The second reason, Maltz says, is that drug users themselves are getting savvier.

More are now carrying Narcan, using fentanyl test strips, and smoking pills rather than injecting — which can reduce overdose risk.

‘Narcan has been a literal lifesaver… but don’t downplay the army of families going into schools, testifying in Congress, and educating the country,’ he said.

Still, Maltz is sharply critical of federal data collection.

‘It’s an embarrassment to America how unreliable the statistics have been from the CDC,’ he said.

‘During COVID, we had death counts on TV every night. But with fentanyl poisoning, we can’t even get accurate statistics.’

‘If I were king for a day, I’d demand monthly stats on how many times Narcan was administered… not names, just numbers — it’s a national emergency.’

An aerial view of two drug smugglers getting busted by border guards agents after crossing the frontier from Mexico

Trump’s crackdown

The third reason, says Maltz, is the harder line taken by President Trump since returning to the White House in January.

Trump’s administration has tightened the southern border, slapped tariffs on China and Canada to block fentanyl and its precursors, and pressured Mexico to dismantle drug labs.

The former DEA chief says those moves are already paying off.

‘We should have declared the Mexican cartels foreign terrorist organizations a long time ago. Trump finally did it,’ he said.

‘Law enforcement is doing a much better job now — Homeland Security task forces are going after cartel threats more aggressively than ever.’

Maltz dismissed soft-on-crime policies pushed by some cities during the last administration.

‘Anyone who thinks defunding the police is a good idea doesn’t understand the threats to this country,’ he said.

Drug smugglers were caught bringing cannabis into the United States from Mexico in Tucson, Arizona 

The threat evolves

Despite the positive data, Maltz insists America is still under chemical attack from Chinese transnational criminal networks and Mexican gangsters — and the threats are rapidly evolving.

‘America is under attack — a chemical attack — from Chinese criminal networks. They’ve done a phenomenal job destabilizing our communities and families,’ he said.

‘They’re bombing America with synthetic drugs — first fentanyl, then xylazine, now nitazenes. And they’re laundering the money too.’

According to the former DEA chief, dangerous new substances are emerging, including tianeptine — nicknamed ‘gas station heroin’ — and ultra-potent nitazenes, which can be dozens of times stronger than fentanyl.

Deadly combinations are also on the rise: fentanyl laced with tranquilizers like xylazine and medetomidine — neither of which respond to naloxone.

Fentanyl is also being mixed with meth and cocaine, creating unpredictable and often fatal drug cocktails.

‘This isn’t just fentanyl anymore. It’s xylazine, nitazenes, Chinese-sprayed marijuana, and next up: vapes. They’re always one step ahead,’ said Maltz.

He warned of a surge in Chinese-controlled black market marijuana grows on US soil, where crops are being sprayed with toxic pesticides that are sending teens to the ER with hallucinations and psychosis.

‘They’re running massive illicit marijuana grows inside the US, spraying them with Chinese pesticides, and causing kids to be hospitalized with psychosis,’ he added.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington DC rejected the claims as ‘totally groundless’ and ‘slanders against China’.

Beijing regularly inspects chemical factories for compliance with drug laws, works with US law enforcement, and undertakes ‘special network cleanup operations’ to halt the fentanyl scourge, Liu told the Daily Mail.

‘The US should not repay evil with virtue, but should objectively and rationally view and deal with its own fentanyl problem, cherish China’s goodwill, maintain the hard-won good situation of China-US anti-drug cooperation, and promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-US relations,’ he added. 

Malts says that vapes could be the next route for China to impact what happens in America 

Scary omens

Maltz remains a tireless advocate for action, education, and reform. He’s made collages of overdose victims — 25 pages long, with 90 photos on each — and brought them to Capitol Hill and TV studios.

‘We’ve never been hit like this in American history when it comes to death and destruction of families… and people just aren’t getting it,’ he said.

He’s also keen to avoid political division.

‘This isn’t a red or blue issue. It’s a red, white and blue issue. Every American should care about the deaths of our kids.’

America’s overdose death rate is dropping fast — but the war is far from won. Maltz wants the nation to stay vigilant, fight smarter, and stay one step ahead of the traffickers killing Americans with every shipment.

Maltz served in the Drug Enforcement Administration for 28 years, including by running New York’s anti-drug efforts and nearly a decade spent at the Department of Justice.