# DEA Special Agent Derrick Ress Warns of Carfentanil Threat as Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team Battles Meth Seizures

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — For the fourth year in a row, drug overdose deaths in Michigan are on track to decline, but a new deadly threat is emerging from cartel trafficking that law enforcement officials warn could reverse those gains.

"That's 600 million potential deadly doses," DEA Special Agent Derrick Ress of Grand Rapids said. "Enough to wipe out the entire population of North America."

Ress made the startling statement while discussing a record seizure of carfentanil that passed through Kalamazoo last year. Federal agents intercepted 12.4 kilograms of the synthetic opioid on a truck traveling from Mexico to Detroit, according to DEA officials.

The carfentanil seizure was traced to the Sinaloa cartel, with origins in Mexico and distribution routed through California. DEA officials say the shipment was the largest drug seizure ever recorded in Michigan and the fourth largest seizure ever recorded worldwide.

Meth Seizures on the Rise

While DEA agents fight carfentanil, local law enforcement is seeing a resurgence of methamphetamine that dealers know is highly addictive.