No pills or needles, just paper: A new kind of drug war
Traffickers and fringe chemists are transforming the illicit drug market in jails.
From The Times
March 25, 2026

Traffickers and fringe chemists are lacing letters, books and other everyday materials with deadly, untraceable synthetic drugs that are then being smuggled into jails, killing inmates and frustrating investigators.

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Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

“Each time we get rid of one substance, they come up with something more potent,” a forensic chemist said.

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