Fentanyl-Laced Substances Detected: Contaminated Drugs Found in Mexico City

In Mexico, organized crime groups involved in drug trafficking – such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) – have been held responsible for manufacturing and distributing fentanyl. Despite this, consumption of synthetic opioids in the country has not been as high as in the United States, where it has caused a public health crisis.

Although fentanyl has not caused alarms in Mexico City (most seizures occur in the north of the Republic), a study from the medical magazine Harm Reduction Journal revealed that this drug has reached the country’s capital. However, it is not presented in the form of tablets, as regularly occurs, but it is mixed with other illegal substances.

The study was published on December 6th and was conducted by researchers Silvia Cruz, Miguel Bencomo, Maria Medina Mora, Fabiola Vazquez Quiroz, and Clara Fleiz Bautista. In total, 51 drug samples from 40 people who voluntarily agreed to participate in the test were analyzed.

For this, the scientists attended an electronic music festival in Mexico City in 2021. The name of the event and the location where it was held were not specified. Still, it was indicated that the objective was to identify the pharmaceutical composition of narcotics and determine if they were contaminated with fentanyl.

The samples collected tested positive for three main substances: cocaine, LSD, and MDMA, a synthetic drug acting as both a hallucinogen and stimulant. It is also known as “ecstasy” when in tablet or capsule form, and its effects include distortion of sensory and temporal perception.

None of the participants expected to find fentanyl in the substances they acquired, but of the 22 MDMA samples analyzed, at least 14 were contaminated with the opioid.

Furthermore, two out of four cocaine samples were also mixed with fentanyl. “Knowing that false positives can occur in concentrated samples of MDMA, we analyzed if there was a correlation between fentanyl positive and high concentration of MDMA, but the result did not reach statistical significance,” the study reads.

In the border city of Tijuana, Baja California, drugs mixed with fentanyl have also been detected, according to a study published in June 2022 in the International Journal of Drug Policy.

In Tijuana, fentanyl is regularly mixed with the powder white heroin presented, called “white china.” This increases the risk of overdose for the most vulnerable populations, as in most cases, consumers are unaware that their substances have been mixed with other components.

“The reasons for combining opioids and psychostimulants include increasing the psychoactive effect of opioids, decreasing the excessive stimulation caused by cocaine or amphetamines, and decreasing the intensity of the withdrawal syndrome. The people who sell these substances have replaced heroin with fentanyl due to its high addiction,” the researchers explained.

In addition to cocaine, heroin, and MDMA, fentanyl has also been found in counterfeit pills of OxyContin, Percocet, and Xanax.