López Obrador launches a media offensive in the morning to report on drugs: What is behind it? “Let the people know regarding the production of drugs, the damage they cause, what is being done, what we all have to avoid,” the president said regarding the new space in his press conferences.
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The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, inaugurated this Tuesday in his morning press conference, known as the “mornings”, a new section to “inform regarding drugs”.
“We are going to start this day with a special section to inform regarding drugs, so that we have all the elements, that the people know regarding the production of drugs, the damage they cause, what is being done, what we all have to avoid, because We must not allow it to become a pandemic and talk regarding it, constantly dealing with it,” said the president.
The section, which will be addressed weekly by the Undersecretary for Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo López-Gatell, was called “Social Prevention of Addictions”, according to the Secretary of Health, Jorge Alcocer Varela.
López Obrador indicated that they will address the issue of drugs “with a preventive approach»with the aim of “preventing the spread of the drug addiction problem, especially the use of chemical drugs such as fentanyl, which unfortunately causes so many deaths.”
The president, who described what the fentanyl crisis is causing as “a pandemic”, added that the treatment of the issue in the morning will be accompanied by campaigns in schools and in the media.
“A lot of inequality”
López-Gatell reiterated that this new space in the morning “has information purposes, as well as communication of the risks that are related to the use of substances, drug use or drug abuse, or drug addiction” .
The official added that it is “a very complex process” in which social factors are present, strong pressure from the drug trafficking industry and all of this is also associated with problems of violence, serious distortion of family relationships.
For López-Gatell, it is important to consider that addiction problems «have to do with missed opportunitiesthe loss of spaces for social integration, especially of the youth».
He also commented that, in addition, this is consequence of an economic model that has led to a lot of inequality” over the last 40 years.
fentanyl crisis
At the opening of this section, López-Gatell precisely addressed the issue of fentanyl, which he considered “one of the most dangerous drugs” due to its enormous potential for addiction.
«Immediately addictive, even in small doses; and, furthermore, it has very serious effects on health, with a great capacity to cause overdose and death”, he emphasized.
The official recalled that fentanyl was originally designed as a medication for the management of intense pain, such as in the case of surgery or advanced disease. Chemically, he said, it is a substance that resembles morphine.
“It has been estimated that (fentanyl) is up to 100 times more effective in reducing pain compared to morphine or 50 times more than heroin. But along with that pain-reducing effectiveness is the potential to be addictive,” she detailed.
Regarding consumption in the country, he said that the figures show that it still “doesn’t compare to the huge public health problem the US has. in this fentanyl abuse.”
For example, in 2021, 80,411 people died from opioid use —including fentanyl— in the US, while in Mexico there were only 19.
Regarding its production, he stressed that fentanyl is not manufactured in Mexico, but that the substance “is produced from precursors” that are made in other places, including the US. The substance also has multiple presentations and receives different names , as “white heroin, synthetic heroin, white goat, the fenta, M30”among others.
Along these lines, López-Gatell asserted that the problem around fentanyl is “imported”, since there are routes from the US to Mexico. However, the objective of the López Obrador administration is that what happens in the neighboring nation is not replicated in his country.
Finally, he announced that in the following weeks they will speak in this new section regarding other drugs “that are more frequently used in Mexico,” such as methamphetamines, crystal, cannabis, benzodiazepines, and even alcohol.
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