This week, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken discussed chemicals that could be used to make fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, with Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.
Their talk comes on the heels of a study that indicates that fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine-laced pills can be found at tourist-oriented pharmacies in Mexico.
“These counterfeit pills represent a serious overdose risk to buyers who think they are getting a known quantity of a weaker drug,” said senior author Chelsea Shover, assistant professor-in-residence of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
As of last month, the study was a pre-print and had not been peer-reviewed. However, a Los Angeles Times report corroborated its main findings. According to the study, the three controlled substances could be obtained in any form with no prescription at 68.3% of pharmacies and as single pills at 46.3% of them.
“Pharmacies providing counterfeit drugs were uniformly located in tourist-serving micro-neighborhoods, and generally featured English-language advertisements for erectile dysfunction medications and ‘painkillers,’” it said.
Last week, lawmakers sent a letter to Blinken regarding the reports of laced drugs being sold at Mexican pharmacies.
“We write to urge the State Department, which plays a critical role in ensuring the safety of Americans traveling abroad, to immediately issue a travel advisory warning of the dangers of buying adulterated pharmaceuticals,” it said.
In a Spring Break warning issued Monday, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico also warned that “counterfeit medication is common and may prove to be ineffective, the wrong strength, or contain dangerous ingredients.”
Pills with fentanyl could pose a particular risk, since it is typically around 50 times more potent than heroin, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. Overdose deaths related to fentanyl have been on the rise in recent years, per U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
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