{"id":55243,"date":"2022-12-13T19:26:58","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T03:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=55243"},"modified":"2022-12-13T19:26:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T03:26:58","slug":"a-national-poisoning-synthetic-drugs-flooding-the-u-s-mexico-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=55243","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018National Poisoning\u2019 \u2014 Synthetic Drugs Flooding the U.S.-Mexico Border"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_65 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_65\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span><a class=\"tdb-author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/author\/peter-white\/\">Peter White<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_66 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_66\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2022-12-13T10:06:25-08:00\">Dec 13, 2022<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_68 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_68\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"entry-thumb td-animation-stack-type0-2\" title=\"synthetic drugs\" src=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/synthetic-drugs.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/synthetic-drugs.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/synthetic-drugs-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/synthetic-drugs-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/synthetic-drugs-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/synthetic-drugs-696x464.jpg 696w\" alt=\"synthetic drugs\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_69 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_69\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Synthetic drugs made in Mexico and sold for cheap in the U.S. are killing tens of thousands while fueling a growing humanitarian catastrophe. Many of the victims are young, many are homeless, and many are people of color.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s according to award-winning reporter Sam Quinones, author of four acclaimed books dealing with synthetic drug production in Mexico and their impact on the U.S., including the 2021 book, \u201cThe Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Quinones spoke during an EMS briefing looking at the alarming rise in meth and fentanyl addiction, linked to more than 107,000 deaths in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis has never happened before, where one source, the Mexican trafficking world in this case, has covered the entire country from Los Angeles to Maine\u2026 with not one, but two of these very potent and devastating drugs,\u201d Quinones said.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018No such thing as a long-term fentanyl addict\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget2\" title=\"Quality and Quantity \u2013 New Production Methods Make Drugs More Lethal\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UdVt3bld21c?feature=oembed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-10=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>A\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamapsychiatry\/fullarticle\/2784468?guestAccessKey=1837a046-b52e-47d7-8c53-ff58b49abaa2&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=092221\">study from last year<\/a>\u00a0found a tenfold increase in meth use among Black Americans between 2015 and 2019. Nationally, Native Americans and Alaska Natives are among the groups most impacted by methamphetamine use.<\/p>\n<p>Quinones also noted that meth and cocaine are increasingly laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl. He cited the case of actor Michael K. Williams, who played Omar in the HBO hit crime series, The Wire. \u201cHe died about a year ago from cocaine. He had a cocaine problem, but the cocaine he bought was laced with fentanyl, and he died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fentanyl overdoses surged 94% during the pandemic, currently killing on average some 196 Americans per day, according to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/investigations\/interactive\/2022\/dea-fentanyl-failure\/\">reporting from the Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden Administration recently launched a public messaging campaign,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dea.gov\/onepill\">One Pill Can Kill<\/a>, which seeks to warn people about the dangers of fentanyl.<\/p>\n<p>With these new drugs, you don\u2019t have the luxury of time, says Quinones. Unlike heroin addicts who can use for decades, the fentanyl and meth coming out of Mexico today are far more damaging and potentially lethal, sometimes with a single dose.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as a long-term fentanyl addict,\u201d said Quinones. Two milligrams of the drug can kill you. And barring extraordinary intervention like multiple doses of Narcan, fentanyl is so addictive, and dosage\/pill vary so wildly that it is now among the most lethal drugs out there.<\/p>\n<p>One kilogram of pure fentanyl can produce half a million lethal doses. Traffickers often cut it with lactose and other things to increase volume and the DEA says fentanyl is often mixed with other drugs like meth, heroin, and cocaine.<\/p>\n<h2>Straining healthcare systems<\/h2>\n<p>Quinones spoke alongside an ER physician working in a major Western city who has spent much of the pandemic treating patients addicted to meth and fentanyl. He asked to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important to know that heroin and morphine, oxycodone, your typical opiates before fentanyl, are dosed in milligrams (one thousandth of a gram), right? Whereas fentanyl is dosed in micrograms,\u201d or one millionth of a gram, highlighting its potency, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Fentanyl is often used in ER settings for patients who are bleeding and have low blood pressure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, patients will get fentanyl, they\u2019ll be high for a very short amount of time, or their pain will be treated for a very short amount of time, and then they\u2019ll have pain again,\u201d the physician noted. \u201cBut on the street, it\u2019s very hard for people to use it in a way that is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hospitals began seeing increasing cases of \u201copioid use disorder\u201d around 2019 and 2020, coinciding with the pandemic, the physician noted.<\/p>\n<p>With methamphetamine, the highly pure meth being shipped into the country by Mexico\u2019s cartels induces psychosis in many patients that the physician says can take \u201cweeks to months to even years to go away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That psychosis is playing out in growing homeless populations in major urban centers around the country, Quinones argues, noting meth addicts will \u201cgo to any length not to be separated from the drug.\u201d He says discussions around homelessness that focus only on the shortage of affordable housing miss this crucial point.<\/p>\n<p>Hospitals, meanwhile, are struggling to cope with the influx of fentanyl and meth patients amid a surge in COVID, flu and the respiratory illness RSV.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t have the capacity in most ERs to put every person who comes in with methamphetamine intoxication on the 72 hours hold because we need those beds for heart attacks, for strokes, for everything else. There\u2019s not enough capacity in health care to address this issue,\u201d the physician said.<\/p>\n<h2>A \u2018massive trade\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget4\" title=\"\u201cSocial Media is the New Street Corner\u201d\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K-sPCXLUK-k?feature=oembed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-10=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Border officials have seized some 2,200 pounds of fentanyl per month since July, according to the Washington Post. The tally represents a fraction of what is making it into the country, they say.<\/p>\n<p>According to Quinones, trade along the 1,933-mile border between the U.S. and Mexico helps to camouflage shipment of the drugs. He estimates that just around five percent of trucks are inspected, and that cartels have come up with \u201camazingly ingenious ways\u201d of hiding the drugs in trucks that cross the border every day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe massive quantities of trade between the two countries\u2026 we just simply do not have the capacity to check even a moderate percentage of all the trucks coming through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once the drugs are in the country,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2021\/09\/28\/tiktok-snapchat-fentanyl\/\">social media platforms<\/a>\u00a0are providing an easy channel for traffickers to reach buyers, including young people. Quinones recalls a protest in Santa Monica last year organized by parents of children who died after purchasing fentanyl-laced pills online.<\/p>\n<p>Social media apps have \u201cbecome kind of like the new street corner\u201d for drug buys, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Given the severity of the crisis, something Quinones describes as a \u201cnational poisoning,\u201d he says international collaboration between Mexico and the United States absolutely has to happen. Current interdiction programs are inadequate. \u201cI think this has reached beyond simply a drug issue\u2026 It really has to be taken up by the State Department.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_separator td_block_wrap vc_separator tdi_73  td_separator_solid td_separator_center\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ByPeter White Dec 13, 2022 Synthetic&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55244,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55243\/revisions\/55244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}