DEA administrator warns Congress about nation’s drug epidemic; says getting illegal drugs in US is as easy as calling Uber Eats

WASHINGTON — The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration testified that getting illegal drugs in the United States is as easy as calling Uber Eats.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram warned Congress on Wednesday that social media and other technology has made it easier than ever to purchase drugs.

Milgram called the drug epidemic a national tragedy that is responsible for the deaths of 22 teenagers in the U.S. every week.

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The agency is asking Congress for more funding to better track drugs entering the country.

“We are committed to using the best technology we can,” Milgram said. “My personal feeling is that we cannot allow the speed of crime to move faster than the speed of government. We have to be agile.”

Fentanyl is now the leading cause of drug deaths.

Officials say more than 321,000 children in the U.S. lost a parent to a drug overdose between 2011 and 2021. That’s nearly double the rate from the previous decade.