I want a new drug…

Is this right? Morphine was invented to replace opium, and prevent the scourge of opium addiction. Then herion, to lessen the dependence on morphine. Then Fentinyl. And… so… with a nudge from the United States, Mexico is going to cease using fentinyl (for pain relief, mostly in treating persons with terminal illnesses) and replace it with…. ? What, we’re not sure.

Fun fact. In February 1940, on the advise of his health ministry, President Lazaro Cardenas legalized herion… not that there was all that huge a population of addicts While addicts were still socially ostracized, and pharmacies in “reputable” neighbnorhoods were unwilling to keep heroin in stock, it did provide a safe and legal outlet. Users were less likely to commit crimes and, absent legal problems, will more willing to seek treatment, or at least hold down regular jobs.

Which, of course, the United States took a dim view of. At the time, most pharmaceutals dispensed in Mexico were US imports, by “sanctioning” medical exports to Mexico, Cardenas was forced to reverse course, and again criminize production and distrivution… Just in time for the United States to enter the Second World War when… cut off from its usual Asian supplier, there was a crying need for opium deratives for military needs, as well as a sense that it was better to keep illegal drugs available on the black market, rather than have addicts turn to “enemy agents” who had access to opiates thru Japanese control of east Asia and Nazi control of the Balkans (the other major source of the time).

And, so… Mexican planted (illegally. with the connivance of both US and Mexican authorties) more opium poppies, that after the War, without a domestic market had to go .. somewhere.

Perhaps that excess opium production can be used to replace the small market in Mexico for pharmaceutal fentenyl… though… given the opium to morphine to heroin to fentinyl story… unless it’s a step back to good old-fashioned opium or even heroin … one assumes whatever comes on the market next will lead to stories about the dangers of XYZ, said to be more deadly than fentinyl by a factor of… oh… 10, or 100, or a thousand.

And, the US… rather than look at why it has so many users, and why they continuinally think just criminalizing the disagreeable will resolve a problem… will blame Mexico for supplying what it is they crave.