
Fentanyl, an ultra-potent synthetic opioid, has become a very lucrative source of revenue for Mexican cartels. Fifty times more powerful than heroin, this product has many advantages for traffickers, including its lightness, discretion and ease of production and transport. The drug quickly gained popularity in the United States, causing a veritable epidemic of addiction and overdose deaths. Fentanyl has thus changed the landscape of Mexican drug trafficking, because it no longer requires traditional resources such as opium and rural communities. American authorities now have the difficult task of combating this deadly epidemic and putting an end to the devastation caused by fentanyl and Mexican cartels.