From Statistics to Strikes: Trump's Expanding War on Cartels

""In the 12-month period ending in October 2024 [Fiscal Year 2024], 84,076 Americans died from a drug overdose, according to the most recent available provisional statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), underscoring the devastating effect these cartels have on our country. Although these numbers show a 25 percent decline since the same 12-month period last year [Fiscal Year 2023] - when the country lost 112,910 people to drug poisonings - demonstrating positive momentum in the fight against these drugs and the organizations trafficking them, the threat remains grave.""

""The above was excerpted from the , an annual report from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which was published May 12, 2025, by the Trump administration's Department of Justice and the DEA. October 2024 was the eleventh consecutive month in which the CDC reported a reduction, and the current statistics represent the largest 12-month reduction in drug overdose deaths ever recorded.""

""Back on September 5, when President Trump was defending the September killing of 11 alleged Venezuelan narco-traffickers, he said, "We're strong on drugs. We don't want drugs killing our people. I believe we lost 300,000. You know, they always say 95[,000], 100,000. I believe they've been saying that for 20 years. I believe we lost 300,000 people last year." On September 15, during an Oval Office meeting, President Trump said of drug cartels, "They killed 300,000 people in our country last year and we're not letting it happen anymore."""

Provisional CDC statistics show 84,076 Americans died from drug overdoses in the 12 months ending October 2024. That figure represents a 25 percent decline from the previous 12-month period, when 112,910 people died from drug poisonings. October 2024 marked the eleventh consecutive month of reductions and the largest 12-month reduction in overdose deaths on record. The Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration published related findings on May 12, 2025. Public statements previously claimed a much larger annual death toll of 300,000, and those claims were used to justify stepped-up military and law-enforcement actions against alleged narco-traffickers.

Read at The Cipher Brief