Mexican security forces seized over a ton of fentanyl pills in Sinaloa during the first week of December, marking the largest fentanyl bust in the nation's history. The seizure came just days after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico unless president Claudia Sheinbaum's government ramped up efforts to curb drug trafficking of synthetic opioid crisis, a leading cause of death among young adults in the United States.
A recent New York Times investigation, however, provided a rare glimpse inside a clandestine fentanyl laboratory operated by Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and highlighted the many challenges of combating the issue as, despite an all-out turf war between clashing cartels and intense government pressure, cartels are still doing swift business with the dangerous opioid.
