Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Terry Cole told CBS News that President Trump's military strikes on suspected drug-running vessels in the Caribbean have helped drive a sharp increase in cocaine prices.

"Cocaine is getting more expensive. And I think what it is — not only more expensive in the U.S., but we're seeing it become more expensive at first stops. So more expensive in Puerto Rico, more expensive in the Dominican, more expensive once it lands in Guatemala and Honduras and Central America," Cole said.

Cole said cocaine prices have surged 30% to 45% per kilogram because the strikes are disrupting the command-and-control networks that move drugs from South and Central America into the U.S. These trafficking pipelines have mainly fueled the nation's deadly drug epidemic, which now claims roughly 100,000 American lives each year.

Much of the increased cost is now being incurred at transit points, including Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Honduras.

He said hiring boat captains, purchasing engines, and building larger transport vessels are also on the rise.

"It's now more expensive to recruit boat captains, it's more expensive to purchase engines, it's more expensive to build larger boats for transportation," he added. "And this is all due to immense pressure."

Democrats and Deep State media outlets have been up in arms about the Trump administration using the military to eliminate Venezuelan drug boats. We wonder why the left is so up in arms about cutting the drug pipelines fueling America's worst-ever drug death crisis.

As for now, Trump's gunboat diplomacy is a foreign-policy strategy to force regime change in Venezuela.