MEXICO Metropolis — The U.S. Point out Office has issued a vacation warning about perilous counterfeit tablets becoming marketed at pharmacies in Mexico that often include fentanyl.
The journey inform posted Friday suggests People should really “exercise warning when purchasing treatment in Mexico.”
Modest pharmacies in vacationer areas and border locations from time to time provide remedies marketed as OxyContin, Percocet, Xanax and other people without having a prescription.
The State Section warned that this kind of drugs are frequently counterfeit and “may have fatal doses of fentanyl.”
“Counterfeit tablets are readily marketed on social media and can be bought at tiny, non-chain pharmacies in Mexico together the border and in tourist parts,” it reported.
A analyze led by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles observed that 68% of the 40 Mexican pharmacies visited in 4 northern Mexico cities sold Oxycodone, Xanax or Adderall, and that 27% of all those pharmacies ended up advertising faux capsules.
UCLA reported the review, printed in January, uncovered that “brick and mortar pharmacies in Northern Mexican vacationer cities are providing counterfeit tablets made up of fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine. These drugs are offered mainly to US visitors, and are generally handed off as managed substances this kind of as Oxycodone, Percocet, and Adderall.”
“These counterfeit supplements depict a severe overdose possibility to buyers who think they are getting a regarded quantity of a weaker drug,” mentioned Chelsea Shover, assistant professor-in-residence of medicine at the David Geffen Faculty of Medication at UCLA.
Anecdotal evidence propose that the problem exists in beach resorts like Playa del Carmen and Tulum, not just in border towns.
The State Office did not answer to a request for comment on regardless of whether any Americans experienced overdosed or died because of to the Mexico drug gross sales.
A Condition Office spokesperson wrote in response to the request that “The U.S. Department of Condition has no better precedence than the protection and security of U.S. citizens overseas. We take severely our dedication to give U.S. citizens with apparent, well timed, and reliable information and facts about each and every region in the entire world so they can make informed journey choices.”
