Fentanyl in Mexican Pharmacy Pills Triggers a Travel Advisory Call

Congressional lawmakers are calling on the State Department to issue a warning to Americans that some Mexican pharmacies are dispensing counterfeit pills made from fentanyl and methamphetamine as legitimate pharmaceuticals.

U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and member of the House of Representatives. On Friday, David Throne (D-Md.) sent a letter to Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken urging the department to immediately “warn Americans traveling to Mexico of the dangers they face when buying pills from Mexican pharmacies.”

Some pharmacies in Cabo San Lucas sell prescription pills containing banned substances.

Some pharmacies in Cabo San Lucas sell counterfeit prescription pills containing banned substances and pass them off as legitimate pharmaceuticals.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

In explaining the need for such a loud warning, the letter was repeatedly quoted investigation Los Angeles Times and a study by UCLA researchers Both discovered dangerous counterfeit pills sold without a prescription in pharmacies in northwestern Mexico.

“American tourists who inadvertently buy counterfeit pills from Mexican pharmacies—both prescription and over-the-counter, according to the Los Angeles Times—face a deadly risk from drugs that have actually been poisoned,” the letter said.

A State Department spokesman said in an email that the agency “does not comment on congressional correspondence.” The department did not respond to questions about the letter or whether it plans to issue a travel warning.

Markey and Tron sent the letter the day before it was published in The Times. new investigation detailing the last hours of the life of Brennan Harrell, a 29-year-old Californian who overdosed and died in 2019 after consuming fentanyl-tainted pills purchased from a pharmacy in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Harrell’s parents fought unsuccessfully for more than three years to have the State Department publish a prominent warning about the dangers of Mexican pharmacies.

The risks associated with traveling to Mexico due to its booming “medical tourism” industry dropped sharply last week after four Americans were kidnapped in Matamoros, a cartel-riddled Mexican border town. Officials later said travelers may have been victims of misidentification after the attackers thought their van was carrying rival gangsters.

The tablet is on a piece of paper.

Testing on an Adderall tablet in Cabo San Lucas tested positive for a banned substance.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

The incident sparked international tensions as Republican lawmakers in the US proposed sending troops across the border and the Mexican president blamed America’s appetite for illegal drugs for the violence.

“We are very sorry about what is happening in the United States, but why are they not addressing this problem?” Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador said last week. “We don’t manufacture fentanyl here and we don’t consume fentanyl,” he said, despite clear proof otherwise.

The Gulf Cartel started as convicted violence, but only after two abducted American travelers were killed. One of two survivors who both returned to the US after the harrowing ordeal was in Mexico for a tummy tuck, one of nearly 1 million US citizens who seek medical procedures in the country each year.

As The Times reported last month, the high cost of prescription drugs in the US has boosted a lucrative Mexican pharmaceutical market, with some pharmacies selling dangerous fake drugs to oblivious patrons.

“These counterfeit medicines put unsuspecting US tourist customers, some of whom seek to avoid the high prices of pharmaceuticals in the United States, at risk of overdose and death,” Marki and Tron wrote to Blinken. Markey was a member of the U.S. Commission on Combating Illicit Traffic in Synthetic Opioids, and Throne was its co-chair.

“The Los Angeles Times investigation found that 71% of the pills bought by their investigators from Mexican pharmacies were contaminated with hard drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine.”

Travel advisories are public warnings issued by the State Department to inform Americans traveling abroad of the risks they may face when visiting certain countries or places. It is critical that Mexican pharmacies sell counterfeit tainted pills “as an immediate step,” Marki and Tron wrote in their joint letter.

Facade of a pharmacy in Mexico.

Some pharmacies in Cabo San Lucas sell counterfeit prescription pills containing banned substances and pass them off as legitimate pharmaceuticals.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

“The State Department, by publishing travel advisories, plays an important role in protecting the health and safety of Americans traveling abroad,” the letter said.

Stephanie Strathdy, distinguished professor of medicine at the University of California at San Diego and co-author of the UCLA-led study, said the recommendations were not enough.

“I think it’s a band-aid,” she said. “This will not solve the problem, although it may help some people to be more careful – as long as it is not the only thing that has been done.”