(NewsNation) — California authorities are the latest to make a massive drug bust in the fight against fentanyl.
Jack Riley, former deputy administrator at the Drug Enforcement Administration, applauded the state’s law enforcement agencies for working together.
“There’s no question about it: If anything can be likened to a weapon of mass destruction, it’s fentanyl,” Riley said. “So, anything we can do to combine intelligence, resources and general information on these organizations who are trafficking I think is a plus-up, and I think we need to do more of it.”
Riley called on the Mexican government to do more to stop trafficking. He said the latest bust is proof of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s inability to quell cartel activity.
“His strategy to make peace with the cartels was flawed from the beginning, and I think now, it’s really coming home to roost,” Riley said Thursday on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” “That stance has been completely unproductive.”
Lopez Obrador said at a news conference earlier this year that Mexico doesn’t produce fentanyl and blamed the opioid crisis in the United States on “social decay.”
He also said last month he is open to a peace deal with cartels.
“Sometimes I’m concerned about what side he’s on,” Riley said.