Whistleblower says DEA let fentanyl pills hit the streets

DEA Special Agent David Howell tells CBS News the agency tasked with enforcing federal drug laws has allowed millions of fentanyl pills to hit 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