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Updated March 19th, 2023 at 07:20 IST

Mexico president blames 'lack of love and hugs' in US families for fentanyl crisis

The growing number of young Americans dying due to drug overdose is because the families in the US do not hug their kids enough, Mexico's president said.

Reported by: Megha Rawat
US Fentanyl crisis
Image: AP | Image:self
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Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asserted that US families were to blame for the fentanyl overdose crisis because they do not hug their kids enough. The president's remark is the culmination of a week of controversial remarks regarding the fentanyl issue, which is thought to be responsible for approximately 70,000 overdose fatalities annually in the US and is trafficked by Mexican cartels.

Further, López Obrador said family values have broken down in the United States because parents don’t let their children live at home long enough. He has also denied that Mexico produces fentanyl.

In a news briefing, the Mexican president said that the problem was caused by a lack of hugs and embraces.“There is a lot of disintegration of families, there is a lot of individualism, there is a lack of love, of brotherhood, of hugs and embraces," he stated. The Mexican President further said: “That is why they US officials should be dedicating funds to address the causes.”

López Obrador has often asserted that Mexico's strong family values have shielded it from the fentanyl overdose epidemic. According to experts, Mexican cartels are currently profiting so greatly from the US market that they no longer feel the need to sell fentanyl in their domestic market.

Methamphetamines are widely sold by cartels in Mexico, where the drug is more prevalent due to its alleged ability to make users work longer hours. Calls in the United States to label Mexican drug gangs as terrorist groups have irked López Obrador. Republicans have shown support for utilising the US military to combat Mexican cartels.

On Wednesday, López Obrador called anti-drug policies in the US a failure. He proposed a ban in both countries on using fentanyl in medicine, even though little of the drug crosses from hospitals into the illegal market.

The majority of illicit fentanyl, according to US investigators, is manufactured in clandestine Mexico labs utilising Chinese precursor chemicals. The amount of illegal fentanyl that is diverted from the legal market is relatively less because it is utilised as an anaesthesia in surgeries and other procedures.

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Published March 19th, 2023 at 07:20 IST

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