Mexican pharmacies & fentanyl

[SLB_SA]

This NPR article Mexican pharmacies are selling pills laced with deadly fentanyl to U.S. travelers says
Mexican pharmacies that cater to U.S. tourists are selling medications that appear safe but are frequently laced with deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine. That's the conclusion of new research that examined medications purchased legally in four cities in northern Mexico where travelers from the U.S. often seek low-cost health care and pharmaceuticals.
Two Democratic requested the State Department issue a travel advisory to warn Americans of the danger of purchasing medications in Mexico. This seems like a "Safety on the Road" issue.

 

[wayne49]

What are the connections between those congress critters [assumed, post does not mention their positions] and the US pharmaceutical industry?

Those border towns are heavily dependent on US dollars, and it would not be in their best interests to be selling crap that could kill that cash flow.

 

[SLB_SA]

The article notes:
According to the newspaper's investigation, at least one U.S. traveler is known to have overdosed and died after taking medications purchased at a drug store in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in 2019. Rep. Trone said if U.S. officials knew about unsafe medications being sold at legal outlets in Mexico, they should have warned travelers sooner. "We've heard nothing back [from the State Department] and it's very frustrating," he added. The State Department sent a statement to NPR saying it wouldn't comment on the letter from lawmakers.
The lawmakers are Senator Edward J. Markey and Representative David Trone and the letter is here. The research was conducted by the UCLA School of Medicine. The article also says On Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reported State Department officials apparently knew about the danger posed by Mexican pharmacies as long ago as 2019 but failed to issue a high-profile alert to travelers.

 

[bullfrog !]

If you are taking enough oxycodone you have to go to Mexico to buy it you got more problems than just impurities in your pills! Some veterans resort to cheap street drugs after having been over prescribed pain and depression meds through the VA which after becoming addicted are cut off, I haven’t heard of any having to travel to Mexico! Probably most of the drugs sold in this country are imported from another country anyway. Makes you wonder how safe those drugs are that are sold in the USA after being relabeled. How well enforced are the USA standards? Are the drugs being sold here really better monitored? Drug companies seem to have enough political power to do pretty much what ever is profitable anymore in this country with out regard to the need of the people that need them, after all it seems to be all about the profit.

 

[Morgana]

You need to choose your pharmacy carefully just like you choose any of the other services carefully when you cross the border for the deep discounts. It blows my mind that people just follow those carnival-barker-type guys into the first place that offers them a cheap deal. But they must -- otherwise those guys wouldn't still be employed.

I felt pretty confident using the Benavides pharmacies because they're part of a big chain which also has some kind of affiliation with Walgreens (yeah, I know, a Big Pharma connection is not the most confidence-inspiring thing in the world, but in this context it's better than "psst, lady, want cheap drugs?" At one place I knew, there was also a restaurant/bar/pharmacy (!) that had been around for decades and long-time locals on the US side knew it and swore by it; something like that seems reasonably safe to trust, too.

When I say "choose carefully" that doesn't mean it's easy to figure this out. I wish there was more oversight or better advising -- those "medical broker" companies don't seem much use. I haven't read those fentanyl articles yet; if it turns out Benavides is one of the offenders I'll eat some vegetarian crow, but a chain seems like it would have more to lose offending this way.

Not easy to figure out! This has sure been a bad week for Mexican border towns dependent on US dollars. It's a #$%^ shame for the honest people who I'm sure are in the majority.

 

[Morgana]

Recent LA Times story on the same subject here.
They did their own study and they cite a UCLA study (maybe the same one cited in the NPR article above).
Some of it seemed like you'd know something was wrong -- people selling loose pills, or pill bottles with skeezy looking labels -- but some of it sounds scary authentic-looking and coming from legit pharmacies. I couldn't tell if the problem was limited to narcotics or if other types of medicines were also at risk.
There seemed to be some worry that the cartels were moving into the prescription drug business, iow that things could be changing for the worse.
Lots of medications are legitimately available without prescription in Mexico, but it sounded many of the ones mentioned in this article are not, so maybe knowing which is which gives you another good warning sign.
But don't rely on my summary, you can read it for yourself.

 

[user 22017]

If you are taking enough oxycodone you have to go to Mexico to buy it you got more problems than just impurities in your pills!

Every pill listed in these links happen to be ones that are also used recreationally.

Yet the LA Times article (cited in the letter SLB_SA linked to) says, "The Los Angeles Times investigation found that 71% of the pills their investigators purchased from Mexican pharmacies were contaminated with powerful drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine.9"

71%?! Hard for me to believe that number. Something is screwy.

 

[eDJ_]

In the USA we have a Pure Food and Drug Act but now that Globalization has become commonplace we have been trying to strengthen cooperate even more between the nations. Our health and well being will depend on it as the food supply is a daily consumption between numerous countries. So safety is of paramount importance.

Efforts between the USA and Mexico are detailed in this FDA article but more efforts on pure drugs is needed if people are going to consume meds while in different countries.

FDA’s Partnership with Mexico’s Regulators Strengthens Food Safety Protections

 

[tx2sturgis]

The numbers vary but Americans die in far higher numbers from legal prescriptions on this side of the border. Prescription errors, deadly side effects, drug interactions, aging patients, etc etc etc.

https://health.usnews.com/health-ne...7/the-danger-in-taking-prescribed-medications

 

[Gr8ful]

I hear a commercial all the time saying over 100 people a day die from opioids in the US per day & you should turn in all unused presription opioids. Fact is only 1 or 2 deaths are from prescribed opioids. Fentanyl causes 200-300 more deaths per day. The media lies much of the time. Fentanyl is just a cheap synthetic opioid developed by big pharma, 100 times more powerful than morphine made in china who sells it to the drug cartels as well as US drug companies.
Same with violent crime, it's almost 1/2 now compared to 1990 but the media lies about also & the lie that guns are the leading cause of children's death. It's like the assault rifle lie, in 2019 10258 murders by firearms only 364 were by ALL Rifles combined! The NFA of 1934 started with only handguns then added machine guns, short barreled rifles, shotguns, silencers then dropped handguns. Machine guns & all of the above are legal after paying for a $200 tax stamp. You have to find the facts yourself as the media just plain lies.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/191219/reported-violent-crime-rate-in-the-usa-since-1990/https://www.criminalattorneycolumbus.com/which-weapons-are-most-commonly-used-for-homicides/

 

[Morgana]

Americans die in far higher numbers from legal prescriptions on this side of the border. Prescription errors, deadly side effects, drug interactions, aging patients, etc etc etc

Americans buy and use prescription drugs in much higher numbers on this side of the border. You're comparing apples to tiny bites of apples.

"Prescription errors, deadly side effects, drug interactions, aging patients, etc." can all happen with drugs purchased in a less regulated/more vulnerable setting too -- plus the dangers from counterfeits, contamination, cartel involvement, and self-prescription errors.

Lots more people smoke than smoke in bed. That doesn't make it any safer to smoke in bed.

I would still feel comfortable buying medicines in Mexico as long as I chose the pharmacy carefully and the drug I needed wasn't a narcotic (that seems to be where the illegal efforts are concentrated ... so far). Even if I needed, and could figure out, the narcotics, I sure as h3ll would not buy, without a prescription, something for which Mexico requires a prescription (which seems to be the worst danger zone of all).

I think it's a bit safer to buy from a chain pharmacy than an indie. And obviously, don't just follow the first carnival barker who says "hey lady want cheap drugs?" There are ways to do your homework and do this carefully.

Too many people seem to think of Mexico as some kind of party zone where you can safely turn your mind off. And too many think of prescription drugs as some easy fix you don't have to think about. Mix those two attitudes and you can get in real trouble.

 

[RvNaut]

You're comparing apples to tiny bites of apples.

Yes, but fear mongering and panicking are more fun!

 

[WanderingRose]

I have never been into Mexico, much less for meds, dental treatments, etc., but there are many, many snowbirds who go regularly into the same towns in Mexico every year to shop and buy medications that would require prescriptions in the U.S. and Canada.

A good friend of mine, a nurse, did this for years with her husband, always the same town, always without incident.

She said the town was heavily patrolled by police, to keep the tourists upon whom the town relied for their livelihood safe.

The same attention appeared to being paid to pharmaceuticals.

I don’t remember which town they went into, but if you get down by the Rio Grande and talk with others, they will tell you.

 

[maki2]

The medications I have purchased in Mexico from the pharmacy were of equal quality to what I buy in the US. But I was not after any restricted medications. Why would anyone bother to put fentanyl into an arthritis anti inflammatory, high blood pressure, diabetes or antibiotics? It just does not make economic sense for a drug company in any country to waste even a synthetic opioid in such medications.

 

[Morgana]

Read the article and/or the preceding posts; that's not what they say.

 

[tx2sturgis]

It's amazing that you guys don't understand what I said.

I was not fear mongering or comparing apples to apple bites.

(btw are those cinnamon-sugar apple bites? Yum!)

I was simply stating in my own thought-provoking way, that taking legal drugs, prescriptions and OTC, always carries a risk, and that the media blast about a few people (or was it one person?) having died from taking pharmaceuticals bought in Mexico, which pales in comparison to the people who die in this country from taking prescription drugs right here in good ol' America.

EVERYTHING carries a risk...and I would bet higher numbers of people die in motor vehicles on the way to the border towns every year than the number who actually die from a few contaminated bottles of pills dispensed in Mexico. It does not mean we should all stop doing those things.

I'm reminded of the media phrase: "Dog Bites Man" is not a newsworthy headline, but "Man Bites Dog" IS.

 

[BelgianPup]

Maybe I'm just naturally suspicious, but.....

Our pharmaceutical industry has the reputation of being one of the greediest industries we've got.

Question: If you were on the Board of this industry, and were frustrated with all of these 'rich' Americans running across the border to buy prescription drugs in Mexico, what might be your first idea as to how to scare people into buying here rather than there? (p.s.: Lying is okay)

 

[Morgana]

It's amazing that you guys don't understand what I said.

I was not fear mongering or comparing apples to apple bites.

Well, arguably, when you say "higher" it is a way of "comparing" ...
and you are comparing a very large sample size (US prescription drug takers) to a very small one (USians who buy drugs in Mexico), so the fact that the second number is smaller is not surprising ... Both problems are real; we don't have to choose only one to take seriously.

But I can still see how my post might not have seemed like a really fair summary. I tried to get my language neutral so I didn't put words in your mouth. Obviously didn't succeed, so apologies for that. Nobody likes to be misrepresented.

But we do have folks who shop al otro lado, and I hope they will continue to do their research and use common sense. Times are complicated and changing. That's not media hype, that's "news you can use."

And be careful with your US-side prescriptions too! of course!

 

[RonDean]

We all know Americans pay far more for medications than any other comparable country. This, is spite of US taxpayers funding much of the medical research. As many as 18 million Americans can't afford their prescribed medications, a new nationwide poll finds. That's 7% of the adult population in the United States. But when it comes to households making less than $24,000 per year, the percentage jumps to 19%, the West Health/Gallup poll revealed.
(https://www.westhealth.org/news/18-million-americans-cant-pay-for-needed-meds/)

Allowing the US government (Medicare) to negotiate drug prices, like European countries do would help a lot. But then we would have to expect politicians to care more about voters more than lobbyists. I don't see that changing anytime soon. In the meantime, I am thankful my continued existence does not require expensive drugs. If or when it does, I think making a few trips across the border is a lower risk than doing without or letting it drive me into poverty.

 

[Morgana]

As far as I can tell, nobody in this entire thread, or the news articles cited, or the people quoted in the news articles, has once suggested that we not go to Mexico to buy medicines.

It has been suggested that we use caution.

But hey, if y'all don't want to use caution, go ahead and jaywalk naked too!