The pair of emerald green platform heels are pure disco. They look comically impractical

for the task of law enforcement. But in the 1970s, they helped an undercover agent

blend into Detroit's nightlife and bust a cocaine ring. They can now be found in one

of the capital's order museums, the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum in Arlington, Virginia.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, was founded in 1973, as America was beginning

its war on drugs. Back then, it had 1,500 agents. Over the next 50 years, their number

expanded by a factor of five. Now, enforcement is more sophisticated than officers sneaking

into nightclubs in platform heels, but the drugs and the geopolitics they're caught

up in are much more powerful, too. I'm John Prado and this is checks and balance from

the economist. Each week, we take one big theme, shaping American politics and explore

it in depth. Today, can America stop fentanyl trafficking?

American authorities confiscated a record amount of illegal fentanyl along the southwest

border in 2022. But even so, when the numbers are eventually tallied, 2022 will likely

see the highest number of fatal overdoses in America's 20-year opioid epidemic. Much

of the fentanyl in America comes from China, through Mexico and then across the southern

border. Can that supply chain be interrupted? And how do America's relationships with

the governments of China and Mexico affect the flow of drugs into the US?

With me to do that, our Idris Calune in Washington, an Erin Braun who's written a lot about fentanyl

and opioids and is based in Los Angeles. Idris, how are you doing? What's up in DC?

I am well. It is light and sunny here, unlike in Los Angeles, where it is still dark. So

thanks to Erin for making this work. Erin, you look caffeinated and ready to go. How

things in LA? You guys just energize me. It can't help it. Things in LA are good. It has

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