Law enforcement seized over 220 pounds of illegal substances worth an estimated $8M in street value in Massachusetts in the biggest-ever drug bust in New England, the US Justice Department announced Monday.
On Wednesday, federal investigators raided a home in the North Shore area of Mass. in connection with an ongoing overdose death investigation and seized over 100 kilos of controlled substances, half a kilo of cocaine base, and several guns. Investigators say that several children were living in the home where the lethal substances were being stored.
This raid is a law enforcement victory. The suspects involved in this investigation had provided lethal drugs like fentanyl to the community unchecked for a ridiculous amount of time, leading to at least one death. It's time that these criminals are held accountable for drug trafficking and they should be punished to the full extent of the law.
While it's good that these individual drug traffickers were taken off the street, the reality is that someone else will likely fill their places in a dangerous market. The fact that some of the seized drugs were made to look like candy increases the risk to children and emphasizes the importance of stopping drug trafficking as an entire complex system.