CULIACÁN, Mexico – In a chilling revelation, Mexican cartels have been conducting dangerous experiments with fentanyl, offering homeless individuals up to $30 to inject themselves with new drug formulas. This practice, aimed at maintaining fentanyl production and potency amidst global crackdowns, has resulted in numerous deaths.
Pedro López Camacho, a resident of a homeless encampment in northwest Mexico, recounted how cartel operatives frequently visited, offering money for volunteers to test their latest fentanyl concoctions. “When it’s really strong, it knocks you out or kills you,” López Camacho said, noting that many did not survive.
Global efforts to curb the synthetic opioid have made it difficult for cartels to source the necessary chemical compounds, particularly after China restricted exports of raw ingredients. This has led to the use of risky additives, including animal sedatives and other dangerous anesthetics. Cartel “cooks” test these mixtures on humans and animals, with deadly results.
Former national security commissioner Renato Sales likened the experiments to those of “Dr. Death,” highlighting the cartels’ ruthless methods. The New York Times observed fentanyl production in cartel labs and safe houses, interviewing individuals involved in the process. These included cooks, chemistry students, high-level operatives, and a recruiter for the Sinaloa Cartel, which the US government blames for fueling the opioid epidemic.
Cooks described mixing fentanyl with various additives, such as oral surgery anesthetics and animal tranquilizers like xylazine, known on the streets as “Tranq.” If test subjects, including rabbits and chickens, survived too long, the mixture was deemed too weak for sale.
Data from the Mexican government shows a rise in fentanyl mixed with xylazine, especially near the US border. Dr. Alexiz Bojorge Estrada of Mexico’s mental health and addiction commission noted that cutting fentanyl with other substances increases profits.
US drug researchers have also observed a rise in “weirder and messier” fentanyl, with a variety of chemical compounds found in street samples. Dr. Caleb Banta-Green of the University of Washington School of Medicine described the situation as “absolute chaos.”
The cartels’ decentralized structure complicates efforts to standardize fentanyl production. Some cooks aim to create a safer product, while others see lethality as a marketing tactic. A US federal indictment against the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán revealed that the Sinaloa Cartel continued sending fentanyl to the US even after an addict died testing it in Mexico.
Despite the dangers, many American users seek out particularly deadly batches for their potency. “One dies, and 10 more addicts are born,” said a high-level cartel operative. “We don’t worry about them.”