Baja California, Mexico City And Sinaloa, Among The States With The Highest Consumption Of Fentanyl In Mexico.

Mica for cartelinsider.com

Recently, the Mexican Observatory of Mental Health and Addictions published a report on the current landscape of fentanyl use in the country, both in a medical context and outside of it.

By the year 2023, the Ministry of Health registered 430 cases of individuals who were seeking treatment for the consumption of this opioid, more than double the number reported for 2021 (184).

According to data provided by health authorities, the trend indicates a greater proliferation of fentanyl in territories bordering the United States, such as Baja California, Sonora, and Chihuahua.

Although these entities are the ones that concentrate the highest number of treatment demands, the Observatory revealed that in the list of states with the highest consumption, there are also non-border demarcations.

Such is the case of Mexico City and Sinaloa, which in 2023 accumulated 54 and 52 cases, respectively, of medical emergencies related to the use of opioids.

According to a series of files from the US Department of Justice, Sinaloa, and Mexico City have been high-interest territories for the Sinaloa Cartel since they began their operations with fentanyl in 2014.

In Sinaloa, the first secret laboratory was installed, from which this drug was being sent to Tijuana to finally introduce it to the United States. On the other hand, the accusations from the Joe Biden government suggest that Ovidio Guzmán López, also known as ‘El Ratón’, would have been responsible for coordinating the arrival of fentanyl to Mexico City so that heroin distributors would begin to mix it with their merchandise.

Within the list of entities with the highest number of medical emergencies associated with the consumption of these substances, the Observatory attached to the National Commission against Addictions also included Baja California (218 cases in 2023) and Chihuahua (47).

The official document states, “Mexico has gone from being a transit country, as in the case of other substances, to a country where consumption is being generated, mainly in a border context.”

One of the main factors that triggered this situation, according to previous research, is the fact that drug cartels use border cities as an experimentation field. Before sending their shipments to neighboring countries, operators distribute some doses among consumers in Tijuana and Mexicali to study their effects.

Alongside criminal groups such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) have expanded their operations to produce and traffic fentanyl, the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris) revealed that the country “did not have the levels of narcotics and psychotropic substances [such as morphine and fentanyl] required for basic medical treatments.”

In this sense, the report indicates that there was a significant decrease in the amount of pharmaceutical fentanyl imported in 2023 compared to previous years’ acquisitions.

In 2021, 2,903 kilograms of pharmaceutical fentanyl were imported, and in 2022, the amount increased to 2,983 kg. However, in 2023, only 1,345 kg was imported, and in the first four months of 2024, only 0.51 grams were imported.

Due to authorities recognizing that “the increase in substance use is not due to the availability of pharmaceutical fentanyl,” it is possible to infer that the substance can reach the hands of users through routes such as those used by organized crime.

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Mica

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