“The evidence trickled in. The first time agents purchased a large load of meth from Rubio, they said, it arrived in a five-pound tub of sour cream called La Crema Mexicana. The agents wondered whether there was a connection between the extended family’s restaurant and Rubio’s drug trade. The tub solved one of Wilson’s problems — what to call the investigation: Operation Sour Cream.” It’s a new era of synthetic drugs and international sellers are setting up shop in a lot more places. WaPo (Gift Article): A DEA agent tracked the source of fentanyl in Mormon country — a Mexican cartel.

+ This is part of an excellent series from WaPo (Gift Article). Cartel Rx: From Mexican labs to U.S. streets, a lethal pipeline. “Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin, and its compactness makes it far easier to smuggle. The synthetic opioid is so powerful that a year’s supply of pure fentanyl powder for the U.S. market would fit in the beds of two pickup trucks.” (Don’t forget where the the fentanyl crisis was created. Right here at home. Before there was Cartel Rx there was Sackler Rx. Actually, maybe those phrases are interchangeable.)