With $3,600 and a web browser, Reuters journalist Maurice Tamman and his team purchased everything needed to manufacture $3 million worth of fentanyl, the top killer of Americans aged 18 to 44, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, the journalists never made the drug — and never intended to. Instead, they exposed the ease of the purchases in their seven-part series, “Fentanyl Express,” published in December 2024, which won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.
The investigation began in 2023 when Tamman heard an NPR segment with author Ben Westhoff about his book, “Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic.” Tamman had just completed a year-long project tracking how Russia obtained electronics to supply their military hardware manufacturing industry, which required him to spend considerable time analyzing Russian import and export data. As he listened to Westhoff’s interview, Tamman had an idea.
“I was curious whether or not the same methods I had used to look at Russia importing electronics could be applied to the chemicals that are used to create fentanyl,” Tamman said.
Initially, the investigation looked promising, as Tamman knew that Mexico’s import and export data was readily available. He quickly began seeing patterns in the data that suggested he could capture what he was looking for. Then, something strange happened with the data.
“It went from being very robust and seeing a lot of these products being imported into Mexico to being almost non-existent except for very legitimate manufacturers who might be selling them to pharmaceutical companies,” Tamman said.
Tamman knew that something suspicious was going on. He also knew that if he wanted to figure out how the drugs were getting into Mexico without these transactions being captured in official records, he would have to do so without data.
Tamman had spent his career producing long-form projects grounded in data analysis. But this time Tamman, would be doing something he had never done before — he would have to work largely without data, instead leveraging the few data points available to him, such as statistics regarding synthetic opioid deaths.
The reporter went back to his boss and told him that unless he had permission to buy the chemicals necessary to create fentanyl, the story was dead. Once his boss gave him permission, this was the start of an 18-month investigation led by Tamman and supported by an entire team.
The first step was getting in contact with Chinese companies that sold precursor chemicals, or the main ingredients, for fentanyl. The team first used the dark website “Breaking Bad” to find precursor chemical sellers who had listed their Whatsapp or other contact information. But they quickly realized that these same chemicals were advertised on the surface web too, even with Google ads. Advertisements would include images like a pile of white powder with an identifying number that would only make sense to someone who knows what they are looking at, Tamman said.
By directly contacting these sources and omitting that they were journalists, the team was able to order the chemicals and have them within two weeks. Tamman explained that the interactions were friendly and sometimes the people on the other side would be open in their conversations.
“One woman told me how she was going home to make a holiday dinner for her mother that night,” Tamman said. “If you didn’t realize you were buying fentanyl precursor chemicals, it would almost be cute.”
The series mentions that the team bought from chemical supply companies that the U.S. Department of Justice indicted since mid-2023.
“We did it on purpose,” Tamman said.
By choosing these particular sellers, the Reuters team exposed that even being formally accused of selling chemicals for fentanyl did not stop these companies from operating.
Once the team got the chemicals, they purchased the rest of the supplies required, including a pill press, a protective suit and other gear. But they did not actually make it. That was never the goal. In total, all the chemicals and supplies needed added up to $3,607.18.
One of the greatest discoveries of this investigation answered the question of how China was able to export large quantities through U.S. customs without being stopped. The answer is because of the de minimis rule, which allows packages valued under $800 to enter the U.S. with minimal customs scrutiny. With the influx of shipments coming into the U.S. from China, driven in part by the rise of fast fashion retailers like Shein, it became even easier for chemicals to slip through, undetected in packages labeled as hair accessories or doorknobs. Regulating these chemicals is also difficult because many are also used for legitimate purposes, included as ingredients in perfumes, rubbers and dyes.
“The system was so open that people could ship almost anything from everywhere in the world with virtually no checks on where they came from and where they were going,” Tamman said.
The investigation also examined the path of chemicals after they arrived in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The reporters used court documents and contacts that team members already had. Team member Drazen Jorgic, who previously did work in Mexico, leveraged existing contacts to cartel members and others involved in transporting chemicals and fentanyl.
These interviews revealed detailed accounts of cartel operations and methods of intimidation. Though Tamman didn’t conduct the cartel interviews, he emphasized that getting secretive sources to talk requires a counterintuitive approach: silence.
“You will be shocked by what they tell you,” Tamman said. “And you’re thinking to yourself, ‘You should really shut your f***ing mouth right now.’”
The reporting also examined how cartels stay ahead of enforcement efforts by constantly adapting. For example, they use alternative chemicals to create fentanyl so the U.S. can stop it from coming through customs.
“What the cartels have shown time and time again since the war on drugs began in the 1970s is that they are infinitely more agile and more creative than their adversaries are,” Tamman said.
After documenting how fentanyl reaches the U.S. from Mexico, the team went to the streets of Ohio to talk to users. This reporting revealed that fentanyl is as much a demand issue as a supply issue.
Users discussed naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, which became a publicly available tool to prevent overdose. According to Tamman, naloxone is “the only thing that has fundamentally changed the overdose situation.”
This portion of the investigation reframed the crisis. While fentanyl originates abroad, Tamman believes the U.S. must give more attention to address addiction as a public health crisis, not merely a law enforcement issue.
Following Reuters’ reporting, President Donald Trump issued an executive order so that as of May 2, products of China no longer qualify for duty-free treatment under the de minimis administrative exemption. On Aug. 29, an additional executive order was issued to include all countries. Though Trump’s actions could be a result of his own agenda, “Fentanyl Express” could have had an influence as well.
On May 5, the investigation won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize. According to Reuters, the news organization is the first to reveal how the fentanyl chemical supply chain operates and expose why the U.S. government has been unable to stop it despite law enforcement efforts.