Fentanyl

All About Fentanyl

NEWS

How Fentanyl, More than Heroin, Drives US Opioid Market

FEATURED / 28 APR 2021

The deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl has displaced heroin as the leading driver of the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States and is contributing to a deadly scramble for market-control…

Fentanyl Seizures Explode Across United States

FENTANYL / 14 APR 2021

Seizures of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl by customs agents in the United States have skyrocketed nationwide, underscoring potential shifts in drug markets amid the country’s ongoing opioid crisis.

DEA Report: Drug Traffickers Adapt to COVID-19 Crisis

COVID AND CRIME / 23 MAR 2021

Though crime syndicates struggled to move drugs in the initial months of the pandemic when global shipping shut down and transit came to a halt, they soon learned to adapt.

Mexico's Fentanyl Crisis Reached New Heights in 2020

FENTANYL / 14 JAN 2021

Trafficking of the deadly opioid fentanyl skyrocketed in 2020 throughout Mexico, solidifying the synthetic drug's status as a top criminal economy and the country's role as an international trafficking transit…

US Chemicals Help Fuel Mexico Drug Production: Report

FENTANYL / 11 SEP 2020

Authorities in Mexico said they will look into the mass-scale diversion of chemicals from US companies to produce drugs that are trafficked over the border to feed consumers in the…

Mexico City Fentanyl Seizures May Point to Shifting Trafficking Trends

COVID AND CRIME / 21 AUG 2020

Authorities in Mexico have recently seized large quantities of fentanyl and precursor chemicals used to make the synthetic drug at the international airport in the capital, raising questions as to…

Continued Street Drug Sales in Tijuana Puts Users at Risk of Coronavirus

COVID AND CRIME / 2 JUN 2020

A coronavirus outbreak in the Mexico border city of Tijuana has not stymied street-level heroin and methamphetamine sales, and its large population of drug users is at high risk of…

Coronavirus Squeezing Finances of Mexico's Criminal Groups

CONTRABAND / 18 MAR 2020

Contacts in China provide Mexican criminal groups with everything from counterfeit luxury goods to chemical precursors for making fentanyl. But with the spread of the coronavirus, shipments from China have…

Fentanyl Trade Fuels Cartel Battle in Central Mexico

FENTANYL / 2 MAR 2020

Five gangs are reportedly vying for control of the fentanyl trade in Mexico's inland state of Zacatecas, suggesting that trafficking of this dangerous opioid is happening more widely across Mexico.

Fentanyl Enters Heroin Supply in Tijuana, Mexico

FENTANYL / 30 JAN 2020

Drug users in Tijuana are being unwittingly exposed to the deadly opioid fentanyl in a corridor where the drug is frequently smuggled, but where the effects of the opioid crisis…

China Fentanyl Ban Yet to Hamper Mexico’s Crime Groups

CHINA AND CRIME / 4 SEP 2019

Authorities in Mexico continue to make large seizures of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, even as China, the world’s top producer of the drug, tightens regulations. …

The End of the Big Cartels - Why There Won't Be Another Chapo

DRUG POLICY / 18 MAR 2019

Earlier this month, a federal jury in New York convicted Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, the former kingpin of Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa Cartel, on ten charges related to drug trafficking.

US Mailing System Key to Future Fentanyl Trafficking Prevention

FENTANYL / 6 MAR 2019

Authorities in the United States and Mexico are working together to combat criminal groups capitalizing on growing demand for the deadly and highly lucrative synthetic opioid fentanyl, but the US…

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About InSight Crime

ABOUT US

THE ORGANIZATION

Combating Environmental Crime in Colombia

15 JUN 2021

InSight Crime presented findings from an investigation into the main criminal activities fueling environmental destruction in Colombia.

THE ORGANIZATION

Collaborating on Citizen Security Initiatives

8 JUN 2021

Co-director Steven Dudley worked with Chemonics, a DC-based development firm, to analyze the organization’s citizen security programs in Mexico.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Deepens Its Connections with Universities

31 MAY 2021

A partnership with the University for Peace will complement InSight Crime’s research methodology and expertise on Costa Rica.

THE ORGANIZATION

With Support from USAID, InSight Crime Will Investigate Organized Crime in Haiti

31 MAY 2021

The project will seek to map out Haiti's principal criminal economies, profile the specific groups and actors, and detail their links to elements of the state.