According to current and former DEA agents and records reviewed by The Associated Press, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico from 2023 to 2025. The tactic was intended to build larger cases against drug traffickers. But whistleblower David Howell says the DEA gambled with public safety and violated Justice Department rules intended to protect the public from the dangerous drug. Ridding the streets of illicit fentanyl became the DEA’s top priority over the past decade as overdose deaths surged.