U.S. authorities have known for years that Americans have died after consuming counterfeit pills containing fentanyl purchased from pharmacies in Mexico.
Officials at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and State Department have known for more than three years that some pharmacies in Mexico are selling counterfeit medications laced with illicit fentanyl — and that American tourists are overdosing and dying from them.
“This case could have been a canary in the coal mine and could have prevented more deaths that have surely occurred since then,” Shover said. “We knew when we detected counterfeits that there would be people who died, but it’s deeply concerning that there was compelling evidence of this a few years ago, and yet there wasn’t any kind of public information campaign about it.”
U.S. government inaction and the fact that many Mexican toxicology screenings don’t include fentanyl have combined to create a serious but unquantifiable problem that’s poised to claim more American lives. It’s a frustration Mary Harrell knows all too well“No one should have to go through what we went through,” she said. “No one.”Growing up in Camarillo, an affluent suburb just east of Oxnard, Brennan Harrell was well-behaved and did well in school.
He was looking forward to letting loose with half a dozen friends. Over dinner, Mary Harrell offered some motherly advice about the imminent trip. When it came time for dinner, the rest of the group decided to go to a steakhouse downtown. But Harrell and his friend stayed back.Around that time, Rosemary Allison landed in Cabo for a weeklong getaway with about a dozen friends — a trip she’d coincidentally scheduled for the same time as Harrell’s. Allison had been friends with the Harrells for years and lived down the street from them.
While she reeled, her daughter scrambled to find her parents an earlier flight to Mexico so they could arrange to accompany Harrell’s remains home and figure out what had happened to him. Around 7 a.m. — roughly 24 hours after their son had left California — the Harrells lifted off from Los Angeles. After two long days of looking for answers, the Harrells on April 14 went out to dinner with their friends.
“He said they went to a pharmacy and bought whatever they bought,” Bob Harrell said. “And then something happened.” “I remember explaining this case and emphasizing that this wasn’t one from my county, but that I just wanted them to be aware of it,” he said, noting that he brought it up more than once.In fact, the DEA was concerned enough that agents called Bob and Mary Harrell.
Signed “Mary A. Harrell and Family,” the November 2019 email detailed their ordeal and called into question a regulatory system that’s supposed to keep people like the healthy 29-year-old safe.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Mexican gang said to apologize over deaths of AmericansSomeone claiming to be the Mexican drug cartel allegedly responsible for the abduction of four Americans – two of whom died – has condemned the violence and purportedly turned over its own members who were involved to authorities.
Read more »
Apology Letter From Mexican Cartel Found Following Americans’ KidnappingThe letter states that the cartel condemns the violence, writing that the individuals responsible for the kidnapping had gone against the cartel’s rule of “respecting the life and well-being of the innocent.'
Read more »
Mexican cartel reportedly apologizes for kidnapping, killing AmericansIn an apology letter, cartel leaders said those responsible for the deadly kidnappings had a 'lack of discipline' and acted on their own.
Read more »
Mexican cartel allegedly takes responsibility for kidnapping of 4 AmericansGulf Cartel, a powerful Mexican cartel, has allegedly taken responsibility for the kidnapping of four U.S. citizens and killing of two of them in Matamoros.
Read more »
Mexican cartel says sorry for attack on Americans, serves up five suspectsFive purported gang members were handed over as a would-be apology for the abduction of four Americans, according to local media and a source familiar with the probe.
Read more »
Mexican Drug Gang Turns In Members It Blames for Americans’ DeathsA faction of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel left five men tied up in downtown Matamoros with a sign claiming responsibility for kidnapping four Americans, and killing two of them as well as a Mexican woman hit by a stray bullet.
Read more »