On October 15, 2015, the DEA announced the arrest of 151 people from their 15 month investigation dubbed Project Synergy III. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) gets a bad rap much of the time, but this is an important bust.
Project Synergy III targeted Chinese imports of designer drugs. Read their press release here. The DEA has a list of 400 brand new designer drugs flooding the United States market. They seem to be manufactured in China and proceeds of the sale going to the Middle East, no doubt to fund terrorism. Scary stuff. We have blogged about these drugs before in the piece titled Flaka and also in our post Synthetic Marijuana.
These synthetic drugs are found in smoke shops or convenience stores and flea markets. The drugs can be marketed as potpourri, incense, jewelry cleaner or plant food.
These so called designer drugs are lethal and unpredictable. And although this bust by the DEA was huge, it is a drop in the bucket. What can we do? Get educated. Maybe your co-worker that uses these drugs on the weekend might be interested to know the proceeds fund terrorism. Maybe the gas/convenience store you frequent would be surprised when you point out the “plant food” he is selling is in actuality a drug and you are shopping else where. Talk about it with your friends, your family, your kids
Knowledge is power.
Thank you DEA for making a difference.