On several occasions, Mexican authorities have questioned the consumption and production of fentanyl in MexicoHowever, a study conducted at an electronic music festival confirmed that There are people consuming this drug in the country’s capital without knowing it.
The research carried out by scientists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), in coordination with the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav) explained that the study participants expected to receive psychostimulants and hallucinogens in the doses of drugs that they were going to consume at the festival.
The specialists analyzed 51 samples, mostly nominal MDMA and LSD, from 40 users. Fentanyl was present in 2 out of 4 samples of cocaine and in 14 of the 22 confirmed samples of MDMA.
Similarly, 73.5 percent of consumers indicated that The substances were obtained through traffickers. 70 percent got the drugs in Mexico City and the rest in the State of Mexico, Morelos, Querétaro and Aguascalientes.
After carrying out the study, all participants assured that They did not expect to receive fentanyl in the drugs they were consuming at the event in the country’s capital.
The specialists concluded “that substance analysis is a strategy to monitor new drug markets in different street contexts, such as festivals and gathering places where people may be exposed to adulterated substances.
Mexico minimizes fentanyl crisis
Last October, Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena said in a press conference with US authorities, including her counterpart, Anthony Blinken, that Mexico is a country where fentanyl travels and that no laboratories dedicated to manufacturing this drug have been found.
“We reiterate the issue of monitoring chemical precursors, since Mexico is not a fentanyl producer, it is a transit country and No laboratories dedicated to this have been detected in the country.“, he claimed.
However, United States Attorney Merrick Garland He said that once the precursors arrive from Chinaorganizations criminals produce fentanyl in Mexican territory and then They cross it through the northern border.
The analysis carried out by specialists Silvia L. Cruz, Miguel Bencomo Cruz, María E. Medina-Mora, Fabiola Vázquez Quiroz and Clara Fleiz Bautista in said festival, would represent the first drug control study at a festival and detection of fentanyl in the center of Mexico.
The scientists concluded that it is urgent to monitor adulterants at electronic music festivals, since young people vulnerable to risky behavior congregate here, such as consumption of harmful substances such as fentanyl.