(NPR) Pandemic Disrupts Illegal Drug Trade, Upending Both Product And Profits

Pandemic Disrupts Illegal Drug Trade, Upending Both Product And Profits









Tablets believed to be laced with fentanyl are displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration Northeast Regional Laboratory on Oct. 8, 2019, in New York. According to the DEA, one drug that remains widely available in much of the U.S. is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid.



Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images


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Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images












Pandemic Disrupts Illegal Drug Trade, Upending Both Product And Profits






The pandemic's disruption of international labor and transportation sectors has made it harder to produce and transport illegal drugs and to send profits back across national borders.