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> It is easier, less stressful and arguably more dignified buy illegal drugs on the black market.

I'd say that's a pretty clear sign they "fragile" supply chains is not the root cause. Somehow you can easily buy something that's had to be smuggled into the country in who knows what way, but not a legally manufactured product.

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Smuggled drugs don't have to go through the byzantine bureaucracy of the DEA and myriad of other organizations. But that also means they don't have to go through any of those controls that actually ensure quality. As poorly as some of those controls seem to function, they are better than nothing.

What part of the DEA ensures drug quality? I thought that was in the realm of the FDA?

I still think it's ironic that it's easier to get illegal drugs past an apparatus designed to stop block them, than to deliver legal drugs - that effectively the FDA is better at stopping drug trade than the DEA.

Any analysis of a Supply chain includes political and logistical constraints, of which regulations and corporate operating procedures are included.

It is important to note that we're choosing to have drug shortages. There are no physical constraints.

No doubt. Like every product, production targets are based on profit for capital chasing margins, nothing else matters.

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