Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum launched a national campaign against drug use, particularly fentanyl, on Tuesday, which seeks to reach 11.8 million young people.
The initiative comes amid pressure from future President Donald Trump, who has threatened to impose strong tariffs on Mexico if it does not stop trafficking of the synthetic opioid to the United States.
When announcing the “Stay away from drugs, fentanyl kills” campaign, Sheinbaum stated that “fentanyl in our country is not really a problem, there is not a crisis like there is in the United States,” but maintained that “we do not want it to arrive to our country.”
During her morning conference, the president defended the actions that have been undertaken since the beginning of her government in October to combat trafficking in fentanyl and other drugs and stated that “the laboratories that have been dismantled in our country are mainly for methamphetamines or crystal.” .
Sheinbaum recalled the seizure last month of more than a ton of fentanyl in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, the largest operation of its kind in the Latin American country.
The president’s position was supported by the Secretary of Health, David Kershenobich, who pointed out that most of the drugs consumed in Mexico “are more or less in a stable state,” but admitted that an increase in attention for methamphetamine addictions.
Although Mexico is considered a large producer of fentanyl, which generates millions in income for the two main Mexican cartels, the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel, Mexican authorities have repeatedly denied this.
The government of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) always minimized the issue and during his administration seizures fell drastically. In the first half of 2024, only 130 kilos of fentanyl were seized throughout the country.
As part of the campaign, educational authorities will give weekly sessions of 10 to 15 minutes in secondary schools and middle schools where teachers will talk about the effects caused by drug use, explained the Secretary of Education, Mario Delgado.
One million guides will also be distributed for teachers and 10 million for families and more than 13,000 assemblies will be held in schools.
The Mexican government hopes that the campaign reaches some 11.8 million students, Delgado said.
Likewise, the authorities set up a telephone hotline with 150 specialists to provide emotional support, information, crisis intervention and guidance.
During López Obrador’s six-year term, a campaign against fentanyl consumption was also launched.
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