La crisis de los opioides sintéticos en los Estados Unidos sirve de advertencia a todo el mundo, señala la ONU

El fentanilo, que es entre 50 y 100 veces más potente que la morfina, se ha vinculado en los últimos meses con la muerte de 60 personas en el Reino Unido; también en Australia se ha registrado un número creciente de muertes por esta sustancia. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

Suscríbase a las Alertas mensuales del IDPC para recibir información sobre cuestiones relacionadas con políticas sobre drogas.

By Amanda Holpuch

Efforts to combat the opioid addiction crisis in the US have been weakened by the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which a top UN drug official has warned could infiltrate Europe and Australia in a similar way.

“Other countries with opiate problems should be concerned because fentanyl could quickly be pushed into their supply,” Jeremy Douglas, regional representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to Southeast Asia and the Pacific, told the Guardian.

Fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, was recently tied to the deaths of 60 people in the UK and there have been a growing number of deaths from the drug in Australia, Douglas said.

Fentanyl presents a lucrative business opportunity for drug traffickers because it is incredibly powerful in small amounts and is easy to produce. Since fall 2013, fentanyl has contributed to more than 5,000 overdose deaths in the US – including the musician Prince, whose death in 2016 was caused by “self-administered fentanyl”. From 2009 to 2014, it contributed to at least 655 deaths in Canada.

Click here to read the full article.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Thumbnail Flickr CC Jeff Anderson