Inside Chicago's drug vault

The DEA's Chicago evidence vault stores and processes tens of thousands of exhibits, including the most dangerous drugs.

CBS News Chicago was recently granted access to the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) drug evidence vault in Chicago, Illinois.

This center has seven vaults containing drugs seized by the DEA, border patrol, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Bureau of Prisons across 12 Midwestern states.

Each vault holds containers with 50 drug exhibits. "We currently hold about 46,246 exhibits," said Pamela Triplett, the vault supervisor. She added that the containers are always full. "As soon as exhibits are destroyed, more come in to replace them. It’s a constant in and out process."

Inside one of the seven DEA drug vaults in Chicago. Photo: CBS News

Inside one of the seven DEA drug vaults in Chicago. Photo: CBS News

Reporters described the sheer volume of drugs within the center as "unimaginable to outsiders."

"I'm sure the public would be astonished at the amount of drugs seized nationally each year," said Sheila Lyons Dix, the center's leader.

In the first six months of this year, the Chicago DEA seized 1.6 million fentanyl pills, three times the amount seized in all of last year.

Drug cartels are aggressively smuggling drugs into the region at a record pace, Dix said. "They are violent, vicious, but they're not stupid, they're sophisticated, and they do not care who lives or dies.”

In the facility's laboratory, chemist Victoria Barron demonstrated the lethality of fentanyl using 2 mg of sugar as a visual aid. This amount of sugar is tiny next to a penny, but the same amount of fentanyl can be fatal.

"You can barely see it. It’s a very small amount," Barron said.

2 mg of sugar next to a penny. Photo: CBS News

2 mg of sugar next to a penny. Photo: CBS News

The lab is where experts like Barron work to identify each seized drug sample. One of their biggest concerns is the fentanyl cocktails appearing on Chicago's streets. These are mixtures of fentanyl with heroin, painkillers, sugar, or other substances.

The most common mixtures in Chicago are fentanyl with medetomidine and xylazine, which are veterinary tranquilizers. When asked about the lethality of these cocktails compared to pure fentanyl, another lab expert stated grimly, "The difference is that Narcan, the overdose reversal drug, doesn't work on them."

The 1.6 million fentanyl pills seized in the Midwest this year were disguised as oxycodone, a legally sold painkiller. However, 50% of these counterfeit pills contained a lethal dose of fentanyl.

"It’s like playing Russian roulette with this drug. If these got out on the streets, 750,000 people could have died," Dix said.