Dubai Telegraph - Fentanyl pill surge worries New York drug prosecutor

EUR -
AED 3.847878
AFN 71.355775
ALL 98.683518
AMD 407.90528
ANG 1.887605
AOA 956.471645
ARS 1045.95529
AUD 1.603226
AWG 1.888324
AZN 1.781822
BAM 1.966431
BBD 2.114632
BDT 125.156641
BGN 1.966151
BHD 0.394734
BIF 3093.725774
BMD 1.047614
BND 1.411632
BOB 7.237126
BRL 6.077208
BSD 1.047362
BTN 88.402636
BWP 14.308356
BYN 3.42753
BYR 20533.229892
BZD 2.111113
CAD 1.462317
CDF 3007.698713
CHF 0.934451
CLF 0.037128
CLP 1024.488044
CNY 7.587893
CNH 7.587411
COP 4598.762534
CRC 533.484204
CUC 1.047614
CUP 27.761765
CVE 110.864372
CZK 25.355423
DJF 186.50833
DKK 7.465217
DOP 63.121256
DZD 140.612199
EGP 51.738619
ERN 15.714207
ETB 128.216383
FJD 2.384317
FKP 0.826899
GBP 0.833093
GEL 2.870782
GGP 0.826899
GHS 16.547461
GIP 0.826899
GMD 74.380234
GNF 9027.807516
GTQ 8.084709
GYD 219.114611
HKD 8.154522
HNL 26.46709
HRK 7.4729
HTG 137.483283
HUF 411.178923
IDR 16702.682523
ILS 3.88451
IMP 0.826899
INR 88.456578
IQD 1372.017612
IRR 44078.349107
ISK 146.33087
JEP 0.826899
JMD 166.852061
JOD 0.742864
JPY 161.438289
KES 135.633281
KGS 90.645526
KHR 4216.797496
KMF 495.000342
KPW 942.851996
KRW 1471.38375
KWD 0.322508
KYD 0.872819
KZT 522.947237
LAK 23005.375183
LBP 93789.056763
LKR 304.828008
LRD 189.042028
LSL 18.899678
LTL 3.093331
LVL 0.633691
LYD 5.114652
MAD 10.536263
MDL 19.103279
MGA 4888.428571
MKD 61.864461
MMK 3402.60866
MNT 3559.791534
MOP 8.397299
MRU 41.673301
MUR 49.080863
MVR 16.196605
MWK 1816.118578
MXN 21.342527
MYR 4.680756
MZN 66.953146
NAD 18.899678
NGN 1777.488252
NIO 38.538352
NOK 11.546605
NPR 141.4447
NZD 1.789386
OMR 0.40317
PAB 1.047362
PEN 3.971471
PGK 4.216797
PHP 61.745272
PKR 290.845514
PLN 4.335303
PYG 8176.203443
QAR 3.81965
RON 5.007898
RSD 117.641009
RUB 108.641335
RWF 1429.729623
SAR 3.933191
SBD 8.782728
SCR 14.351263
SDG 630.139998
SEK 11.502008
SGD 1.409512
SHP 0.826899
SLE 23.812353
SLL 21967.941912
SOS 598.535896
SRD 37.184018
STD 21683.489915
SVC 9.164547
SYP 2632.160877
SZL 18.893143
THB 36.239583
TJS 11.154103
TMT 3.666648
TND 3.327389
TOP 2.45362
TRY 36.218968
TTD 7.113458
TWD 34.134924
TZS 2785.961894
UAH 43.329253
UGX 3869.922166
USD 1.047614
UYU 44.540803
UZS 13436.643239
VES 48.775996
VND 26629.29442
VUV 124.374812
WST 2.924509
XAF 659.522612
XAG 0.033459
XAU 0.000386
XCD 2.831229
XDR 0.796707
XOF 659.522612
XPF 119.331742
YER 261.824842
ZAR 18.888413
ZMK 9429.782938
ZMW 28.932419
ZWL 337.331207
  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

Fentanyl pill surge worries New York drug prosecutor
Fentanyl pill surge worries New York drug prosecutor / Photo: Johannes EISELE - AFP

Fentanyl pill surge worries New York drug prosecutor

As America's illegal drug market continues to expand, from heroin and fentanyl to the "zombie drug" known as tranq, AFP spoke with New York's special narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan.

Text size:

Here are her responses:

- Q: What developments are you seeing in fentanyl trafficking? -

"Fentanyl itself has had different variations called analogs. What we've seen most recently is some deadly combinations. Xylazine is now being mixed with fentanyl. And xylazine is not an opioid, it's a sedative. It's an animal tranquilizer. And it works on the body differently. And that combination of xylazine and fentanyl is proving to be not only deadly, but it is very destructive.

"Now what we're seeing is fentanyl pressed into pills, often in Mexico, and sometimes in the US. What we have seen is a real explosion in the number of pills that we've seized. Last year, here in New York City, my office alone seized almost a million fentanyl pills (up 425 percent from 2021). And it continues to expand."

- Q: How are the pills dispersed? -

"The pills are distributed through social media, through websites. They may have the markings of a Xanax prescription, oxycodone prescription, (Attention Deficit Disorder drug) Adderall -- another prescription which incidentally has been in short supply in the US.

"That's one way the criminal organizations look to expand their market. That concerns me quite a bit, because those people who might be buying through social media, through the websites may be far more naive than the people who are buying on the street. And they also may have no tolerance for fentanyl."

"They actually may think that they're buying Adderall but they're really getting fentanyl. And if they have no tolerance whatsoever, it certainly could be fatal."

- Q: What is being done to combat the threat?

"The best thing we can do is take as much supply off the market as possible. The other very important thing is to try to shut down the supply of money that's going back to Mexico, and now going back to China.

"There are many ways to attack the problem, but the most important thing is the one thing we can control somewhat in the US. And that is to decrease the demand for the drugs, decrease the number of people who want to use the drugs, and treat those people who are suffering from addictions to the drugs.

"The other thing that I would like to see is an effective prevention program. Messaging, honest messaging that explains what these drugs are, explains the consequences of using them in simple words, and not trying to terrify people but trying to educate people and especially children.

"Often, abuse of drugs starts when people are quite young. And if you can educate them as we've done with cigarettes, if we can use those same kinds of tools and educate them, then ultimately we'll see the demand diminish."

- Q: Is there anything hampering the fight? -

"The trend that worries me the most is that we seem to be unable to work effectively with Mexico to control the production and distribution of the drugs. We need a more effective strategy to work with the Mexican government.

"The other problem is the more we buy drugs the more we empower the cartels, which corrupt the government there, and really harm the lives of the Mexican people. And so it's just a circular problem.

"The other thing is how to break our cycle here. We'd like to lay all the blame on Mexico but we're the ones using the drugs. And we need to break that cycle.

"The US has decreased the number of treatment programs. You don't see many very straightforward, clear, well done prevention campaigns in the US either anymore. So we're not focusing on all the aspects of this problem."

B.Gopalan--DT