MEXICO: Gov’t launches fentanyl prevention campaign

Thank you for reading LatinNews' chosen article from the LatinNews Daily - 8 January 2025

On 7 January Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum announced a new national prevention campaign against the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Analysis:

Sheinbaum’s government has been working to demonstrate its commitment to cracking down on fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that is driving overdose deaths in the US. The launch of the campaign, which aims to prevent young people from consuming the drug, follows a record seizure of fentanyl in Sinaloa state in December and the passage of two pieces of legislation at the end of last year, one adding fentanyl-related crimes to the list of those carrying mandatory pre-trial detention and the other constitutionally prohibiting and sanctioning the “illicit use of fentanyl”. This all comes as US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico if it does not stem the flow of fentanyl across the border.

• Sheinbaum unveiled the new campaign, entitled ‘Aléjate de las drogas. El fentanilo te mata’ (Stay away from drugs. Fentanyl kills), at a press conference yesterday. The campaign has two key pillars: prevention efforts led by the education and culture ministries and healthcare efforts led by the health ministry.
• Secondary schools and higher education institutions will deliver sessions to students to prevent drug consumption, reaching some 11.8m young people. The Consejo?de la?Comunicación, a business group dedicated to generating advertising campaigns,?will invest M$300m (US$14.7m) in supporting an information campaign.
• Sheinbaum noted that there was not a crisis of fentanyl consumption in Mexico as in the US, and the campaign would ensure this remained the case.
• Sheinbaum repeated the claim that fentanyl was not produced in Mexico, saying no evidence had been found that “the whole process” takes place in the country. This contradicts the line of the US and the findings of a recent article by The New York Times, which the government has refuted.
• Speaking to the local press yesterday, Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard stated that the government would act with “a cool head and intelligence” in the face of any tariffs imposed after Trump takes office on 20 January.

Looking Ahead: Yesterday lawyers representing two of Los Chapitos, the faction of the Sinaloa drug trafficking organisation (DTO) that the US claims is largely responsible for the fentanyl on the US market, requested more time to finalise a plea deal with US authorities during the latest hearing in Chicago. The next court dates are scheduled for February and March.

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