An Adderall pill from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico tested positive on January 27, 2023. Pharmacies there sell counterfeit prescription pills containing illegal substances and pass them off as legitimate pharmaceuticals.
Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
An Adderall pill from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico tested positive on January 27, 2023. Pharmacies there sell counterfeit prescription pills containing illegal substances and pass them off as legitimate pharmaceuticals.
Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Mexican pharmacies that cater to US tourists sell drugs that appear safe but often contain deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine.
That’s the conclusion of a new study that examined legally purchased drugs in four cities in northern Mexico, where travelers from the U.S. often seek cheap health care and pharmaceuticals.
“For pills marketed as oxycodone, we tested 27 and found that 10 or 11 of them contained either fentanyl or heroin,” said Chelsea Shover, a researcher at the UCLA School of Medicine.
He said the behavior of retail pharmacies in Mexico undoubtedly puts people at high risk of overdose and death.
“When I see there are fentanyl pills somewhere that look like [prescription drugs]I know there had to be people who died from it,” Shover said.
His team also found drugs laced with methamphetamines being sold in Mexican pharmacies.
While these pharmacies sell drugs to Mexican consumers, Shover says their main customers appear to be Americans.
“Similar products are available at a much lower price in Mexico, so Americans travel to save money.”
Two Democratic lawmakers have sent a letter to the U.S. State Department calling for a travel advisory to warn Americans about the dangers of buying medicine from Mexico.
“We should be absolutely very concerned,” said Rep. David Throne (D-Md.), one of the authors of the letter. “We have 12 million Americans visiting Mexico each year.”
According to Trone, the pharmacies that maximize profits through high-risk practices are located in communities where Americans travel to get rid of expensive prescription drugs sold in the United States.
“There is literally a pharmacy on every corner, downstairs they are everywhere, because the price of drugs is cheaper.”
The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that State Department officials apparently knew about the threat from Mexican pharmacies as early as 2019, but failed to issue a high-level warning to travelers.
At least one U.S. traveler is known to have overdosed and died after taking drugs purchased at a pharmacy in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in 2019, according to a newspaper investigation.
Rep. Throne said if US officials had known about the unsafe drugs being sold at legal outlets in Mexico, they should have warned travelers sooner.
“We haven’t heard anything [from the State Department] and it’s very disappointing,” he added.
The State Department sent a statement to NPR saying it would not comment on the lawmakers’ letter.
The official pointed to an advisory included in the State Department’s standard online information about Mexico that urges travelers to “use caution when purchasing medications abroad.”
“Counterfeit medicines are common and may be ineffective, have the wrong strength or contain dangerous ingredients,” the advisory said.
However, there is no reference to the specific risks of dangerous drugs containing fentanyl sold in legal pharmacies.
At a press briefing Monday, spokesman Ned Price said U.S. officials are constantly updating security advisories for Mexico.
“We’re always looking for information to determine if we need to move our travel warnings in one direction or another,” he said.
Earlier this month, four Americans were kidnapped by gunmen while traveling to Mexico to get cheap medical care. Two of them were killed.
That incident had already raised concerns about the safety of medical tourism in the country.