THE OPIOID MATRIX PODCAST
#5 The Role of the Taliban in the International Drug Trade
"“Back in the early ‘90s, theTaliban put a ban on opium. What they didn’t ban, however, were the reserves of opium they already had that were later converted into heroin.”
In this episode of The Opioid Matrix: A Journey Into The Rabbit Hole, Jen Lynch chats with Michael Brown, Counter-Narcotics Interdiction Business Development Director about the trends of drug production in this region and how that will have a direct impact on Europe.
Listen to learn more about:
- How the Taliban “banned” opium essentially controlling the market and converting their reserves into heroin
- How this market control has directly led to an increase of methamphetamine production in the country
- How heroin and meth produced in Afghanistan is finding its way into Europe via the Balkan Route
#4 Finding the Weak Links: How to Target Cartel Capabilities
"You must go after the cartel’s logistics, financial transactions and procurement."
In this episode of The Opioid Matrix: A Journey Into The Rabbit Hole, Jen Lynch chats with Michael Brown, Counter-Narcotics Interdiction Business Development Director about his experience for dismantling criminal organizations and stopping the flow of fentanyl.
Listen to learn more about:
- The six key capabilities that cartels need to operate
- How to identify the weak links in the chain and go after them
- How to dismantle these organizations by attacking their finances, procurement practices and logistics
#3 Fruit of The Poisonous Tree: Origins of the Fentanyl Problem
"We simply cannot arrest our way out of this problem. Because the Fentanyl pills coming into the United States are in the hundreds of millions."
In this episode of The Opioid Matrix: A Journey Into The Rabbit Hole, Jen Lynch chats with Michael Brown, Counter-Narcotics Interdiction Business Development Director about the origins of fentanyl. We discuss the connection between China and Mexico that is currently flooding the U.S. with illicit drugs.
Listen to learn more about:
- The symbiotic relationship between Chinese Crime groups and Mexican cartels has resulted in the mass murder of thousands of Americans from fentanyl overdoses.
- Cooperation between international express transshipment companies like Fedex, UPS and DHL and US law enforcement is essential in identifying thousands of parcels that are shipped from China to Mexico containing precursor chemicals used in the production of fentanyl. These transshipment companies are the unwilling life sustaining support system for the cartels.
- Potential Big Data Shipping Auditing analysis could be the way forward for identifying suspect parcels shipped from China to Mexico. Track and attack to stop the precursors from making their way to clandestine drug labs in Mexico.
#2 The International Drug War: Breaking Down the Fentanyl Supply Chain
"In the Early ‘90s, the DEA realized that there were two wars on drugs. A domestic one, which we were winning and an international one, which we were not."
In this episode of The Opioid Matrix: A Journey Into The Rabbit Hole, Jen Lynch chats with Michael Brown, Counter-Narcotics Interdiction Business Development Director about different regions around the globe and how they contribute to the synthetic opioid production.
Listen to learn more about:
- Michael’s 31 year Career In the DEA
- Specifying the idiosyncrasies of the International War on Drugs
- The Importance of degrading the illicit fentanyl precursor chemical supply chain between China and Mexico and how that can disrupt the ability of the cartels to mass produce narcotics.
#1 The Opioid Matrix: The U.S. Domestic Drug War – Is this Battle a Lost Cause?
"It’s like a game of whack-a-mole. Because when drug traffickers pop up on the radar it takes time to conduct an investigation. In that time, other traffickers continuously fill that void."
In this episode of The Opioid Matrix: A Journey Into The Rabbit Hole, Jen Lynch chats with Michael Brown, Counter-Narcotics Interdiction Business Development Director at Rigaku Analytical Devices about the Domestic Side of the war on drugs.
Listen to learn more about:
• The difference between violent drug trafficking in the inner-city and suburban drug use.
• America's Constitutional law enforcement powers stop at the U.S. Mexican border.
• The importance of degrading the precursor chemical infrastructure supply chain that fuels the Drug Trade.
The Opioid Matrix: The Trailer
"You can't turn on the news without seeing how this opioid epidemic is affecting the world, our country, and our communities."
Introducing the new The Opioid Matrix: A Journey Into The Rabbit Hole Podcast by Jen Lynch Marketing Director and Michael Brown, Counter-Narcotics Interdiction Business Development Director at Rigaku Analytical Devices.
Have we as a society lost the War on Drugs? In this introductory episode, we dive into the discussion-has the war on Drugs been a failure?
Listen to learn more about:
• The war on drugs
• The impact of drug influencers on communities
• What to look for in future episodes
