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Assignment: Killer drug: Fentanyl in the US

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Killer Drug: Fentanyl in the US

23/03/2023 GMT

Killer drug: Fentanyl in the US

BBC World Service - Assignment, Killer drug: Fentanyl in the US

The synthetic opioid that’s destroying thousands of lives in southern California

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid made in Mexico is destroying lives all over the United States.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is destroying lives all over the United States. Manufactured illegally and at a huge profit by drug cartels in Mexico, it is smuggled across the border into southern California and Arizona. The director at one entry point on the border acknowledges that they are looking for needles in a haystack. And she says that the drug organisations have more money than they do.

In the second of a two-part series, Assignment crosses into the US from Mexico to examine the devastation that this lethal drug has left in its wake in San Diego County. 

Presenter/producer: Linda Pressly
Producer: Tim Mansel

(Photo: The wall between the US and Mexico from the Mexican side. The city of San Diego is in the distance. Credit: Tim Mansel).

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Killer drug: Fentanyl in the US

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