Fentanyl ingredients travel thousands of miles before crossing into the U.S. (El País graphic) |
They write, "It's a big threat. A cheap, white powder — 50 times more powerful than heroin — which kills more than 70,000 people each year in the United States and countless others across the rest of the Western Hemisphere. El País, in a long-term investigation that spanned two continents and included interviews with anti-drug czars in the U.S. and China, visited the clandestine laboratories in Sinaloa, Mexico, where fentanyl is manufactured."
They use as an example how the crisis has affected people in Philadephia. El País reports, "Hundreds of people who are addicted to the powerful opioid live and die on these streets. . . .The fate of all of them begins about 2,500 miles away, next to a different set of train tracks: those that cross Culiacán, in the heart of Mexican drug trafficking territory."
State of Sinaloa within Mexico (Wikipedia map) |
El País reports, "Fentanyl that enters the United States from Mexico comes in powder or, increasingly, in the form of fake pills, which are camouflaged as commercial brands such as Xanax, Vicodin or OxyContin. Drug traffickers press them with machines that they also buy from China."
The point of entry is the hardest for fentanyl traffickers. "According to U.S. authorities, more than 90% of fentanyl enters the country via official ports of entry, hidden in private vehicles or cargo trucks, In 2018 — according to data from Customs and Border Protection — 600 kilos of the substance were intercepted. In 2022, the amount rose to 7,200 kilos."
To read more in-depth about how cartels infiltrate the U.S., and China's involvement in fentanyl trade, click here.
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