When street fentanyl began spreading in the American street drug supply beginning in 2012, most experts believed the deadly synthetic opioid was unstoppable. Fentanyl is cheap, easy to make and hugely profitable. The black market supply chain that feeds U.S. demand for the drug is operated by some of the most sophisticated and ruthless criminal gangs in the world.
But Dan Ciccarone, a physician and street drug researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, said that over the past six months, he began hearing from street drug experts around the U.S. who also were seeing significantly less fentanyl and fewer overdoses.
Researchers generally agree there has been an "unprecedented" drop in fentanyl purity in some parts of the United States. Labs that test street fentanyl are finding it cut or watered down far more aggressively, often with an industrial chemical known as BTMPS.
Some drug policy experts believe these shifts in the fentanyl supply are factors in the sudden national decline in fentanyl-related deaths, which dropped by roughly 20% last year, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Some analysts believe international pressure on Chinese companies that make fentanyl precursor chemicals may be a factor. Others think a global crackdown on Mexican drug cartels that smuggle fentanyl into the U.S. is finally affecting the black market supply chain.
Last year, the cartels seemed to acknowledge the pressure. They issued public promises to curb fentanyl production and smuggling into the United States. The U.S Drug Enforcement Administration voiced skepticism about the gesture, calling it "a public relations stunt."
Posted by John3262005