U.S. Urges Mexico to Tackle Increasing Heroin and Fentanyl Trafficking CBS News
go to original October 25, 2017

To better understand the drug war in Mexico, Mariana Van Zeller follows the heroin to its source: poppy farms in the state of Guerrero (National Geographic)

Update: Greatest Drug Threat to the United States is Homegrown: DEA (InSight Crime)

The U.S. government wants stronger efforts to stem the flow of heroin and fentanyl from Mexico and is critical of a dip in opium poppy eradication, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said in its 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment that Mexican heroin accounted for 93 percent of heroin tested in U.S. markets in 2015, practically displacing production from South America.

It said Mexico's opium production more than tripled between 2013 and 2016, noting "this increase was driven in part by reduced poppy eradication." The Mexican government's own figures showed poppy eradication dropped by 15 percent in 2016, but appeared to be rebounding strongly in 2017.

The DEA said Mexico's increasingly refined "white powder" heroin is purer than other varieties. "Increasing poppy cultivation in Mexico, the primary supplier of U.S. heroin markets, ensures it will remain high-purity," the U.S. anti-drug agency said.

Sullivan told a business meeting in the northern Mexican city of San Luis Potosi Monday the U.S. wants to do more to stop the flow of heroin and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid blamed for a spike in overdoses and deaths.

"More rigorous, collaborative efforts to confront the threat posed by the production and distribution of heroin and fentanyl are a priority for the United States," Sullivan said.

Sullivan acknowledged the responsibility - and pain - shared on both sides of the border.

Read the rest at CBS News

Related: The Great USA Opioid Epidemic with Expert Insight (ConsumerProtect)

Related: The Opioid Crisis in America and Mexico (Council on Hemispheric Affairs)

Related: Here's How Drugs Are Getting Smuggled from South America to the US (Business Insider)

Related: How FIU Hopes to Pinpoint Where Heroin Is Grown and Help Stop the Opioid Crisis (Miami Herald)

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