The United States is experiencing an unprecedented crisis of fentanyl-related addictions and deaths, but the problem has also created friction with Mexico, a country they claim is the world’s top producer of the said opioid. Focusing on stopping the illegal trade in this drug, the Mexican cartels are experimenting with substances to produce other drugs to replace the one that causes so much controversy.
criminal organizations such as Sinaloa cartel And Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) use the pharmaceutical industry to sell their creations, taking advantage of the corruption and legal vacuum that prevails in Mexico. As with the production of fentanyl, drug lords are turning to China and India for the precursors that are used to make the drug.
This was reported by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), an organization that also listed substances that are trying to replace hard drugs, which in total give up to 150. These include isotonitasen, norfentanil, 4-anilino-piperidine (N-phenylpiperidine-4-amine), 4-anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine, 1-bok-4-anilinopiperidine, phenylamino, piperidine, and tert-butylcarboxylate.
Raul Martin del Campo Sanchez, former INCB member, said that So far, Mexican cartels have “invented” 74 synthetic opioid precursors.and that’s in nine years, since in 2014, according to the newspaper El Universal, there were only four types of fentanyl.
The same publication published an excerpt from an interview with Martín del Campo Sánchez, who explained that Cartels produce such hard drugs because they have highly trained chemists on their staff..
He also spoke about the extent of corruption run by the Mexican cartels as they gained access to drugs that are under development to use them as illicit substances and produce fentanyl.
As an example, he cited the case brurphine, a very strong opioid such as fentanyl and that the pharmaceutical industry is investigating its commercialization as a drug, but drug cartels are already using it as an illegal drug.