The following is a transcript of an interview with DEA Administrator Anne Milgram on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” aired on August 18, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are the leading cause of overdose deaths in the United States, according to the CDC. But in light of the recent death of actor Matthew Perry from an overdose of ketamine, a controlled substance that can be used in clinical and therapeutic settings, concerns about abuse of the drug are growing. Joining us to discuss this is Anne Milgram, Director of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). She’s in New York this morning. Welcome, Madam Administrator.
ADMINISTRATOR ANNE MILGRAM: Thank you for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you made these arrests this week, as we’ve reported. Ketamine is an anesthetic, but it can sometimes be used to treat depression. When you announced these charges, you said this was a case where the substance abuse started in a doctor’s office and ended up on the street. How common is ketamine abuse today?
ADMINISTRATOR ANNE MILGRAM: That’s correct. Margaret, so in the case of Matthew Perry’s death, we announced charges against the five individuals that we believe were responsible for this. And again, what happened there is it started with two unscrupulous doctors who were really violating – we filed charges – violating their oath, which is to take care of their patients, and instead providing Matthew Perry with massive amounts of ketamine in exchange for massive amounts of money. And then it moved to the street where Matthew – where Matthew Perry was buying ketamine from two drug dealers on the streets of Los Angeles. And so, unfortunately, it’s a tragedy. [unintelligible] that we saw when we looked back on opioids – the beginning of the opioid epidemic, where many Americans became addicted to controlled substances in doctors’ offices and through medical practitioners, which then also turned into addiction on the street.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, exactly on that point, it’s a little bit like the beginning of the opioid crisis, we were talking about pill mills. Now we’re seeing ketamine clinics popping up that claim to treat depression and other illnesses. Do they need to be more regulated? How do you deal with that?
ADMINISTRATOR ANNE MILGRAM: So it’s important to recognize that ketamine is a controlled substance and it has a high potential for addiction and other problems. The FDA regulates the prescription of ketamine and so they have approved it as an anesthetic. They have also approved it as a nasal spray for the treatment of depression. So they regulate the medical aspect of this substance. At the DEA, we’re focused on physicians, nurse practitioners, anyone who is essentially diverting legitimate controlled substances from normal medical practice to do what we saw happening here, where the physicians, these doctors, were not evaluating Matthew Perry, they were not supervising the injections. They were leaving vials of ketamine behind for Matthew Perry to be injected by his assistant. So we focus on controlled substances, but we target and investigate every day doctors, nurses, and others who violate that duty of trust to their patients by overprescribing or unnecessarily prescribing medications. And again, we alleged that these doctors were seeking a huge compensation package from Matthew Perry. They billed him about $50,000 over a period of one month to provide him with ketamine.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Fentanyl is also used medically, but it turns out to be the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45, according to the DEA. That’s a staggering statistic. We’ve heard a lot about it on the campaign trail. We’ve heard President Biden talk about sanctions against Chinese entities, we’ve heard about charges against Mexican cartels doing business with Chinese groups, and yet we’re still hearing about high rates of overdoses due to fentanyl. Why is it so hard to crack down on this?
ADMINISTRATOR ANNE MILGRAM: Margaret, you’re right to point out that in 2022, we’ve lost 107,941 American lives to fentanyl and methamphetamine. We’re facing a tragic, tragic situation where fentanyl is prevalent in every community in the United States, from coast to coast and everywhere in between. And what we’re seeing is that the cost of manufacturing fentanyl for the two Mexican cartels responsible, the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, is pennies, and so it’s the cheapest drug we’ve ever faced. And the only limit to how much of the drug can be manufactured is the chemicals that the cartels are buying from China and essentially the production, which, again, costs these two cartels pennies. So we’re fighting what I consider to be the greatest narcotics threat that we’ve ever faced, and at DEA, we’re focused on saving American lives. One of the primary ways that we do that is by working across their network. These two cartels operate in over 50 countries around the world, and we’re targeting every part of that global supply chain, from the Chinese chemical companies and the Chinese nationals that we indicted last year and this year to the Mexican cartel leaders, to the manufacturers, to the people who sell drugs into the United States on behalf of the cartels, and then to the money launderers who work for the cartels. In 2023, we took action across that network. We’re going to do the same in 2024, and so we have a strategic plan. We’re working to dismantle these networks, and we’re starting to see progress, but there’s still a long way to go because fentanyl is highly addictive, and tiny amounts can kill someone. And for the first time, the cartels are hiding fentanyl in other drugs. They’re making them look like real prescription drugs, which are just fentanyl and fillers. So this is a radically different landscape that we’re taking on head on. And every day, we’re fighting to save lives by defeating these two cartels and stopping fentanyl.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The president of Mexico has said he’s not going to fight the Mexican drug cartels. His slogan is “hugs, not bullets.” The new president, who will be sworn in on October 1, has said she’s going to follow the policies of her predecessor. That’s going to be a big problem for your law enforcement, isn’t it?
ADMINISTRATOR ANNE MILGRAM: So we have to work around the world to stop this threat, to stop Americans from dying, and so we’re focused on a number of criminal charges in China. We’ve also started since last November, when President Biden met with President Xi, to have new contacts. We’ve reengaged with the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. Recently, we did a case in Los Angeles where we established a connection. We basically showed that a Chinese money laundering organization was working directly with the Sinaloa Cartel. In China, they made an arrest, and in Mexico, they made an arrest. It’s that kind of working together that will help us have an impact and stop this threat.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Administrator Milgram, we will follow your progress. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
