The Explosion Of Fentanyl Addiction In Mexican Border Cities And What's Driving It (10/27/25)
The Explosion Of Fentanyl Addiction In Mexican Border Cities And What's Driving It (10/27/25)Update: 2025-10-27
Description
In recent years, towns along Mexico’s northern border with the United States—such as Tijuana and other cities in Baja California, Sonora and elsewhere—have been hit by a sharp rise in use of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Traditionally, much of the public-health focus in Mexico had been on heroin or methamphetamine use, but mounting evidence shows that fentanyl has begun to penetrate these border communities, altering drug-use patterns in ways that raise new risks. Studies show that fentanyl is increasingly tied to the local illicit-drug supply—often mixed into powder heroin or pressed into pills for use or export.
This surge in fentanyl use is compounded by weaknesses in local addiction-treatment infrastructure and traditional harm-reduction services. In border towns, factors like deportation (for example in Tijuana over 40 % of people who inject drugs report having been deported from the U.S.) greatly increase vulnerability. At the same time, surveillance in Mexico for overdoses tied to fentanyl is minimal, and life-saving tools like naloxone are much less available than in the U.S. Without strong public-health responses, the rising availability of high-potency synthetic opioids means more rapid escalation from use to overdose, particularly in areas already grappling with poverty, stigma and limited services.
to contact me:
bobbycapucci@protonmail.com
This surge in fentanyl use is compounded by weaknesses in local addiction-treatment infrastructure and traditional harm-reduction services. In border towns, factors like deportation (for example in Tijuana over 40 % of people who inject drugs report having been deported from the U.S.) greatly increase vulnerability. At the same time, surveillance in Mexico for overdoses tied to fentanyl is minimal, and life-saving tools like naloxone are much less available than in the U.S. Without strong public-health responses, the rising availability of high-potency synthetic opioids means more rapid escalation from use to overdose, particularly in areas already grappling with poverty, stigma and limited services.
to contact me:
bobbycapucci@protonmail.com
Comments
In Channel
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States00:00
00:00
x
