Will U.S. military strikes slow drug overdose deaths? Experts say no

Will U.S. military strikes slow drug overdose deaths? Experts say no

toggle caption U.S. Southern Command

The U.S. military has carried out at least 22 attacks on suspected drug boats so far this year, leaving more than 80 people dead, according to an analysis by NPR . During a speech this week in Pennsylvania, President Trump said the strikes are making Americans safer.

"Every boat that gets hit, we save 25,000 American lives and when you view it that way, you don't mind," Trump said.

But most experts on criminal cartels and deadly street drugs say military strikes on speedboats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific will have little or no impact on overdose deaths in the United States.

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"Killing a drug mule has minimal effect on the flow of drugs, or the systems of criminal organizations," said Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on drug trafficking and addiction at the Brookings Institution.

According to Felbab-Brown, the street drug fentanyl, which accounts for the vast majority of U.S. drug deaths, isn't produced in Venezuela, or smuggled in boats being targeted. "Whatever actions are taken in the Caribbean have no effect on fentanyl," she said. Cartels operating in the Caribbean region are heavily involved in cocaine trafficking, Felbab-Brown said, but much of that illegal product goes to countries other than the United States.

Others shared the view that the military strikes are likely to be ineffect