Claudia Guerrero and Antonio Baranda/Agencia Reforma
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 | 08:35
Mexico City.- President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on doctors and scientists to ban fentanyl for medical use.
“I am going to ask Mexican doctors and scientists to analyze the possibility that we can replace fentanyl for medical purposes with other analgesics, to stop using it, to see if it is possible,” he said in a morning conference.
“Because other analgesics were used before and so although we have control over the entry of fentanyl for medical uses that we did not have before, in any case, since it is prohibited, there would no longer be any possibility that it could be imported and we replaced it with other analgesics, see if it’s viable.”
The President insisted that Mexico will continue to fight smuggling and urged the US to also apply the ban in the medical sector.
“Everything that enters by smuggling will continue to be combated and the same thing that we will do in Mexico we ask for the US, which also prohibits them for medical purposes, I am going to inform you of the analysis, the result of this call, the call is open so that Scientists, doctors, can inform us, we all know that it is used to relieve pain in terminal illnesses, other procedures, but other analgesics were used before, this possibility must be explored,” he mentioned.
López Obrador pointed out that, unlike Mexico, in the US no harmful effects, seizures or arrests for fentanyl trafficking are reported, but they blame the country for “hypocrisy”.
“We are doing a lot in Mexico, now, the Republican politicians and some also Democrats in the US who have not done anything, because this drug is distributed there and there are no known seizures or arrests, there is not even information in the media about the damage of fentanyl “, held.
“But it is easy for them to unjustifiably blame Mexico for politicking, for hypocrisy, and they have dared to say that if we do not control the entry of fentanyl into the US, they will even present an initiative for the US military to stop drug gangs. in Mexico, violating sovereignty, we will never allow that”.
