Article

2019-02-15 -Lurid Crime Tales-

Fentanyl deaths from 'Mexican oxy' pills hit Arizona hard

[AP] TUCSON, AZ ‐ Aaron Francisco Chavez swallowed at least one of the sky blue pills at a Halloween party before falling asleep forever.

He became yet another victim killed by a flood of illicit fentanyl smuggled from Mexico into the Southwest -- a profitable new business for drug gangs that has pushed the synthetic opioid to the top spot for fatal U.S. overdoses.

Three others at the party in Tucson also took the pills nicknamed "Mexican oxy" and police flagged down by partygoers saved them by administering naloxone overdose reversal medication. But the treatment came too late for Chavez, who died at age 19.

The four thought they were taking oxycodone, a much less powerful opioid, investigators believe. The death of Chavez and many others, officials said, illustrate how Arizona and other southwestern states bordering Mexico have become a hot spot in the nation's fentanyl crisis. Fentanyl deaths tripled in Arizona alone from 2015 through 2017.

"It's the worst I've seen in 30 years, this toll that it's taken on families," said Doug Coleman, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in charge of Arizona. "The crack (cocaine) crisis was not as bad."

With plenty of pills and powder sold locally out of the arriving fentanyl shipments that are also distributed around the U.S., the drug that has surpassed heroin for overdose deaths has touched all Arizona demographic groups. Chavez' family says he was working at a restaurant as a prep cook with dreams of becoming a chef and trying to turn his life around after serving prison time for a robbery conviction.

Posted by Besoeker 2019-02-15 03:19|| || Front Page|| [11139 views ] Top
File under: Narcos

#1 Bad business for pushers - killing off the host.

Anybody think a tight border would reduce such tragedies?

Comments, Speaker Pelosi?

Posted by Bobby 2019-02-15 10:46|| 2019-02-15 10:46|| Front Page Top

#2 Prefer to decriminalise and make it criminal to be high in public (outside border controlled drug-use zones)

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2019-02-15 10:51|| 2019-02-15 10:51|| Front Page Top

#3 Anybody think a tight border would reduce such tragedies?

Sadly, we may never know. Trump is the first president we've ever had who is serious about our country's drug problem but the Democrats seem to have a vested interest in it and they resist any effort to secure the border with all they've got.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2019-02-15 15:13|| 2019-02-15 15:13|| Front Page Top

#4 Democrats seem to have a vested interest in it

Their lives are not blighted by either drug use or drug dealers in the neighbourhood, and in fact those who indulge enjoy the experience while those who do not refuse to Puritanically sit in judgement on a minor pleasure of their peers, Bobby. And it must be pointed out this attitude is not completely party-aligned — plenty of Republicans, including plenty of Rantburgers, take a libertarian approach to the subject. We’ve had some battles royale here on the subject, and arguments about the destructive impact of drug sales and drug use on poor neighbourhoods are very much discounted.

Posted by trailing wife 2019-02-15 17:42|| 2019-02-15 17:42|| Front Page Top

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