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Comment by wonderwonder | Hacker News Reader

To the best of my knowledge, Europe does not have a fentanyl problem comparable to that of the US with last I checked 50+% of overdoses in the US having traces of it in their system. Our wide open southern border [not a comment on immigration] allows this poison to spread far and wide.

OxyContin and similar prescription drug addictions are widespread, at one time (still?) heavily pushed by deep pocketed pharmaceutical companies. I think that was a uniquely American situation. I wonder how many of the people now addicted to other opioids in the US were initially exposed via these prescription drugs.

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Fentanyl is smuggled into the United States by US citizens[1] and by closing the border may have accelerated its adoption. And yes, while it does come from our southern border, data suggests it's being carried over by US citizens who have the right to come and go across the border legally.

Or are we using the term "open border" to suggest freedom of US citizens to leave (and re-enter) the country?

[1] https://www.cato.org/blog/fentanyl-smuggled-us-citizens-us-c...

This fentanyl is produced in china. It comes from factories producing it in large quantities, then smuggled to Mexico and into the us.

Why smuggle into Mexico first? Why not directly import where it could be hidden in plain sight?

Could be that it is easier and less risky to get into Mexico. Plus, the cartels there are a wholesale buyer and have established supply and distribution networks from Mexico into the US and within the US.

Good points!

Ive seen plenty of European drug culture and heroin is only a last resort drug for lost souls, fentanyl is basically still unheard of as a street drug as far as I can tell.

Junkies even test their heroin more often because they don't want that dirty stuff to be here.

I for one don't understand at all what goes wrong in America. But those images are scary.

But the difference in drug laws predates the arrival of fentanyl in the US black market.

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