Federal confiscations of synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and fentanyl are rising in Mexico, according to data published on Dec. 27 by the Mexican Defense Department.
Fentanyl is a highly addictive and deadly drug of which just a two-milligram dose can prove fatal, while methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. The majority of meth in the United States is currently produced by cartels in Mexico.
As per figures issued by Mexico’s Defense Department, seizures of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl soared by 525 percent in the first three years of the current administration, which took office on Dec. 1, 2018, when compared to the previous three years.
Law enforcement confiscated 1,232 pounds (559 kilograms) of fentanyl—which is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine—from 2016 to 2018 and 7,710 pounds (3,497 kilograms) from 2019 to 2021.
Mexican Defense Secretary Gen. Luis Cresencio Sandoval acknowledged that Mexican cartels have moved away from naturally grown drugs such as opium and marijuana, where seizures and crop eradication have fallen, and moved toward synthetic drugs.
Seizures of methamphetamines have more than doubled. Meth seizures rose from 120,100 pounds (54,521 kilograms) from 2016 to 2018 to almost 275,000 pounds (124,735 kilograms) in the past three years, an increase of 128 percent.
“There was a change in consumption. There was a change in drug markets due to the ease of producing synthetic drugs,” Sandoval said.
The change was reflected in a drop of more than 50 percent in the amount of opium poppy fields destroyed in the past three years. The eradication of marijuana fields in Mexico also has dropped by about 50 percent, which could also be partially attributed to the legalization of marijuana in many U.S. states.
More and more Mexican cartels are turning to large, industrial-scale labs to produce synthetic drugs, and Sandoval noted that the number of drug labs raided fell to 203 over the past three years from 287 from 2016 to 2018. However, he said the labs that were raided were noticeably larger.
“The laboratories that have been discovered or seized in this administration have had larger capacities, which has allowed us to seize a larger quantity of methamphetamine products,” Sandoval said.
“We are in the midst of an overdose crisis in the United States, and this tragic trajectory goes far beyond an opioid epidemic. In addition to heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine are becoming more dangerous due to contamination with highly potent fentanyl and increases in higher-risk use patterns such as multiple substance use and regular use,” NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, one of the authors of the study, said in September.
“Public health approaches must be tailored to address methamphetamine use across the diverse communities at risk and particularly for American Indian and Alaska Native communities, who have the highest risk for methamphetamine misuse and are too often underserved.”
