Tijuana Pharma-Cartels Rake It in with US Addicts Laura Sanchez - El Universal
go to original March 5, 2015

El Universal found out that the Attorney for the Southern District of California has investigated six pharma-catels operating on the border and arrested more than 25 people since 2012. (EKO)

Tijuana is a paradise for lovers of controlled drugs. The three main avenues of the tourist area of the city have 49 drugstores. All of them offer products such as strong painkillers, muscle relaxants, antidepressants and sedatives 30, 50, even 70% cheaper than in the United States.

The ads written in English, French or Cantonese make clear that their clientele is not local. Meds for Less, Discount Pharmacy, Trip Pharmacy are some of the names that stand out in neon marquees on Revolución Avenue.

At one of these drugstores the pharmacist offered tramadol instead of oxycodone: one hundred pills of 100 milligrams for US$20, compared to 30 pills for US$80 in the United States.

At another drugstore called New Mexico an employee offered oxycodone for US$25. However he warned that it was the reformulated version that can not be ground, inhaled or cooked to inject it as heroin because it could lead to the emergency room or directly to the morgue.

Juan Manuel Gastelum, head of the regional unit of the Commission for the Protection of Health Risks, explained that in the last six years the pharmaceutical industry in the border has grown about 12%.

Read the rest at El Universal

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