{"id":705,"date":"2026-05-20T04:34:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T04:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=705"},"modified":"2026-05-20T04:34:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T04:34:19","slug":"cheaper-cocaine-fueling-increasing-addiction-overdoses-feds-and-doctors-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=705","title":{"rendered":"Cheaper cocaine fueling increasing addiction, overdoses, feds and doctors say"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

MIAMI \u2014 Inside the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s Miami laboratory, cocaine is king.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe see a lot of cocaine, for sure,\u201d said DEA Miami Southeast Laboratory Associate Director Cami Dubach. \u201cMiami is like the capital for cocaine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local 10 News\u2019 Byron Tollefson was recently granted an exclusive look inside the agency\u2019s busiest drug lab in the country. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeventy percent of all drugs the DEA seizes and processes pass through this laboratory here in the southeast in the Miami area,\u201d said DEA Miami Field Division Special Agent in Charge Miley Aley. <\/p>\n

DEA Forensic Chemist Alyssa Sanchez tests the drugs all the time to confirm it\u2019s cocaine and its level of purity.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I\u2019ve seen ones that are well over 1,000,\u201d she said, \u201cI think I\u2019ve had ones that are in the 3,000s. They seize very large amounts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami is infamous for the city\u2019s \u201cCocaine Cowboys\u201d days in the 1980s. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen cocaine was everywhere,\u201d said Aley, \u201cthere were millions upon millions of dollars being made. The violence that went with that was an affliction on our community. It cost many lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, cocaine remains pervasive in Miami\u2019s nightlife culture and party scene, but how it gets here is much more complicated. <\/p>\n

Aley explained cocaine is flooding into South Florida from Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes in fishing vessels, in small boats, big boats, sailboats, it comes in commercial shipping containers, it comes in on cruise ships, commercial airlines, private flights,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to be everywhere at once.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Aley said U.S. military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea last year on alleged drug traffickers briefly made cocaine less available, but now, he says drug traffickers have bounced back.<\/p>\n

Their agents are seeing the lowest drug prices in over a decade, meaning there is more cocaine on the streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur agents are buying kilos of cocaine from these organizations, $10,000 to $13,000 a kilo, that\u2019s much lower than what we\u2019re used to,\u201d said Aley. \u201cIt\u2019s the lowest I\u2019ve seen during my 22-year career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broward Health Associate Medical Director Dr. Edmara Nieves said the hospital is seeing more and more patients lately from cocaine abuse and overdoses.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times we have patients that we can\u2019t even wake them up and we\u2019re thinking there\u2019s definitely something wrong, there\u2019s multiple drugs involved, and a lot of times it\u2019s just only cocaine,\u201d said Nieves. <\/p>\n

Even worse, she says people are taking cocaine without knowing it\u2019s secretly laced with the deadly opioid fentanyl.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt leads to that patient going into cardiopulmonary arrest from that fentanyl overdose, which is terrifying,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Because cocaine is so addictive, many use it long-term, and eventually, Nieves said it will catch up with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can cause permanent heart injury, and sadly it\u2019s related to strokes,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can see permanent brain damage from its overuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCE<\/b><\/u><\/p>\n

Miami-Dade Substance Abuse Treatment Programs<\/p>\n

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Inside the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s Miami laboratory, cocaine is king.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCheaper cocaine fueling increasing addiction, overdoses, feds and doctors say - South Florida Moving Guides<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=705\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cheaper cocaine fueling increasing addiction, overdoses, feds and doctors say - South Florida Moving Guides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Inside the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s Miami laboratory, cocaine is king.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=705\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Florida Moving Guides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-20T04:34:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=705#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=705\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20969a46eb23057893f2f0726e65003e\"},\"headline\":\"Cheaper cocaine fueling increasing addiction, overdoses, feds and doctors say\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-20T04:34:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=705\"},\"wordCount\":581,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=705#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/5019954b6f323438e34326f697b22ba2.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=705#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=705\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=705\",\"name\":\"Cheaper cocaine fueling increasing addiction, overdoses, feds and doctors say - 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