Mexico, US, Canada to Launch Heroin Fight at Upcoming Three Amigos Summit Dave Graham and Ana Isabel Martinez - Reuters
go to original June 10, 2016

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto will meet in Ottawa for a North American leaders' Summit. (NDTV)

Mexico, the United States and Canada will unveil a plan to combat increased opium poppy cultivation and heroin use across North America at a summit later this month, a senior Mexican official said reported.

Leaders of the three nations are due to meet in Ottowa on June 29, amid growing concern about the rising North American death toll from opioids such as heroin and fentanyl, and a surge in poppy cultivation in Mexico by violent drug gangs.

In a phone call last month, U.S. President Barack Obama and his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto agreed to intensify the fight against heroin production, and government officials say the problem has been under discussion for months.

Paulo Carreno, Mexican deputy foreign minister in charge of North America, said in an interview that Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also committed to the plan due to be launched at the so-called Three Amigos summit later this month.

VICE News travels to the fertile mountains of western Mexico, where we see the beginning of the path black tar heroin takes to the US on plantations growing poppies used to make opium. We then head across the US border to witness the human cost there of the lucrative but destructive heroin trade. (VICE News)

"This isn't just about destroying (plantations), it's about finding solutions for people forced to cultivate poppies, and there will be an important announcement in this context at the summit on a new cooperation plan between the three countries to deal with problems that obviously concerns us all," he said.

Carreno declined to offer details but said additional resources would devoted to all parts of the problem.

Read the rest at Daily Mail

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!