DEA whistleblower says agency allowed millions of fentanyl pills on the streets

As New Mexico officials sounded alarms this month about a growing fentanyl crisis, a veteran Drug Enforcement Administration agent has alleged the agency has contributed to the problem by allowing the deadly pills to reach the streets.

“For three years, I’ve told my DEA managers that we’re allowing dangerous amounts of fentanyl to hit the street, and we’re doing nothing to stop it, and they didn’t listen to me,” DEA Special Agent David Howell told CBS News in his first television interview.

Howell, who is still an active agent, claims the agency tasked with enforcing federal drug laws has allowed millions of fentanyl pills to “walk” — a tactic in which investigators allow drug traffickers to distribute their product and then follow the trail to build bigger cases.

But because fentanyl is so lethal, Howell said the tactic has done more harm than good.

“We at the DEA have let drugs hit the street, yes. The difference was we were told not to with fentanyl,” he said. 

In 2023, Howell was part of a team tracking a suspect in Albuquerque from the air. Images obtained by CBS News from congressional investigators on the House Oversight Committee showed a person driving a white SUV picking up a child.

“We knew we weren’t going to let the drugs … hit the streets or go to the house when we knew the kid was in the car,” Howell said. 

Agents in a black truck stopped the SUV, secured the child and detained the suspect.

“We took his drugs. We took his gun. It was in a little compartment underneath the seat that the child was sitting on,” Howell said.

Howell said agents found between 6,000 and 7,000 fentanyl pills in the vehicle. 

But he says they faced backlash for taking the fentanyl pills off the streets.

“We thought the U.S. Attorney’s Office [for the District of New Mexico] would be pleased,” Howell said. “Instead, they brought us into their office and chastised us. They were perfectly willing to allow that fentanyl to go to the house with the kid.”

Howell’s whistleblower complaint was first reported last June by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal. 

New Mexico state Attorney General Raúl Torrez has sued the federal government over the practice of letting fentanyl walk. 

“There’s no escaping the conclusion that New Mexico moving in the wrong direction seems to be directly connected to this practice of walking fentanyl in this community,” Torrez said.

Officials in the wider Albuquerque area have declared a state of emergency because of the rising number of fentanyl overdose calls they are receiving. 

The DEA and the DOJ declined CBS News’ request for an interview, but the DOJ provided a statement saying: “When this whistleblower came forward, DEA Administrator Cole immediately requested an independent investigation by DOJ IG. That investigation remains ongoing, and we cannot comment on the status of ongoing investigations.” The DEA has also said, “If improvements are identified, DEA will implement them.”

“Our city is being destroyed by this drug,” Howell said. “That’s why we’re sitting here, and that’s what I’m here to tell the people.”

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