A one-year-old child died and a four-year-old has recovered after being exposed to the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl in the drug-plagued northern Mexico state of Sinaloa, authorities said Monday. The state\u2019s governor acknowledged that so far this year, a total of four children have been treated for exposure to fentanyl in Sinaloa, Mexico\u2019s best-known drug-trafficking state and home to the cartel of the same name. But Gov. Ruben Rocha sought to downplay the issue at a news conference Monday, saying that so far \u201conly one child has died, the other three didn\u2019t.\u201d He also at one point claimed there was no fentanyl in his state, despite its reputation for being a major producer.<\/p>\n
Rocha said the kids may have been exposed through contact with an addict or someone who worked in a clandestine fentanyl pill-pressing workshop, which is common in the state and which presses fentanyl powder into fake pills made to look like Oxycontin, Valium, Xanax or other medications. Many people in the United States have died because they took pills they didn\u2019t know contained fentanyl. Fentanyl addiction is still rare in Mexico because the pills go for export. Rocha claimed that fentanyl \u201cis not allowed in\u201d Sinaloa state. \u201cThere is no fentanyl, what is known as the active substance,\u201d he told the news conference, echoing claims made by President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador.<\/p>\n
However, experts agree that Mexican cartels import precursor chemicals from China, process them into fentanyl and then ship pills to the United States. Rocha said there were no drug \u201claboratories\u201d in his state, though he conceded there were drug \u201cworkshops.\u201d And when he described one of these suspected workshops, he appeared to marvel at the sophistication of the traffickers in how they mix various ingredients together. \u201cThis is to give the pill color, that is to avoid stomach aches for those who use it, this is to avoid giving users headaches \u2013 all this the traffickers are careful about,\u201d Rocha said.<\/p>\n
Rocha belongs to the president\u2019s Morena party. L\u00f3pez Obrador has sought to shed Sinaloa\u2019s reputation for drug-trafficking, saying the state is home to \u201chard-working people.\u201d But while the state is an agricultural powerhouse, experts agree its largest single source of income is the drug trade and associated illicit businesses. Sinaloa state Health Secretary Cuitl\u00e1huac Gonz\u00e1lez said the children appear to have been exposed to fentanyl at two different events last week, and that the four-year-old is expected to be released from the hospital soon.<\/p>\n
Gonz\u00e1lez also ruled out the possibility that the children could have eaten drug-laced candy, a common folk belief in Mexico. Around 70,000 adult die annually in the United States from fentanyl overdoses. But exposure to even the tiniest trace amounts of fentanyl can be deadly for small children. In September, a child died at a New York City child care center after being exposed to fentanyl. The 1-year-old boy, Nicholas Dominici, suddenly died at the Bronx day care center. During nap time, other children at the center experienced symptoms of opioid poisoning and needed to be revived with the drug Narcan.<\/p>\n
In that case, police found a brick of fentanyl stored on top of play-mats for the children, along with equipment often used to package drugs. A further search led to the discovery of a trap door in a play area, under which police found more packages of drugs and other materials. Several people have been arrested in the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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