César Raúl González, state director of the Forensic Medical Service (Semefo) of Baja California, said that around 16.6% of the bodies that enter the Semefos of Tijuana and Mexicali have the presence of fentanyl.
This was indicated by the director of the Semefo of said state in an interview with Ciro Gómez Leyva in his program for Radio Fórmula.
He explained that for two years around 4,600 studies have been carried out, which indicate a greater positivity of the presence of fentanyl in bodies that enter Semefos in Mexicali with 20%, while in Tijuana it only corresponds to 12.3%.
The study consists of taking some fluid from the corpse and when the tests are applied they only give a positive or negative result.
Raúl González stressed that this study is qualitative and does not work for quantification, since it cannot determine who dies from an overdose.
That is to say, the result only shows whether the person had contact with fentanyl, but does not indicate that the death was caused by it.
He explained that the program began as a three-month pilot where fentanyl was included in the parameters for drug abuse, which already considered methamphetamines, marijuana, cocaine and benzodiazepines.
The study consisted of adding a fentanyl test strip and after the results it was decided to change the methodology “the results were very high, the presence of drugs was detected in half of the bodies and in 20 and 25% there was a record of fentanyl,” declared Cesar Raúl.
Therefore, the test began to be carried out on all the bodies that entered the Semefos of Mexicali and Baja California.
They seek to quantify deaths due to fentanyl overdose
The doctor indicated that support has been received from the American embassy through training, and also indicated that the cost of this test is one dollar.
However, the aim is to quantify the cost of the test, which would raise the cost of the test to 40 dollars.
“We want to take it to a quantification level so that in case there is an overdose or poisoning, we have the elements to record it on the death certificate,” she said.
Government rejects fentanyl crisis in Mexico
Previously, President Claudia Sheinbaum said that in Mexico there is no crisis due to fentanyl consumption as there is in the United States and Canada.
“As you can see, fentanyl in our country is not really a problem, there is no crisis like there is in the United States, in some cities in the United States, in some cities in Canada, mainly,” she said in her morning press conference on January 7, after announcing a campaign against drug use.
The President also stated that values in society and in the family have made the difference with the US in not reaching a crisis of fentanyl use.
For his part, David Kershenobich, Secretary of Health, stressed that in Mexico the proportions of use of this drug that other countries have are not reached.
Source: eluniversal
