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(CNN) — US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents this week intercepted nearly $339,300 worth of suspected fentanyl at the international bridge in Hidalgo, Texas, according to a Press release.
A vehicle attempted to enter the United States from Mexico on Wednesday but was selected for inspection, the statement said. During the inspection, the agents found nine packages weighing almost 10 kilos of alleged fentanyl.
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The Hidalgo International Bridge connects the southern border of Texas with Mexico. The case is being investigated by special agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations, according to the statement.
Fentanyl, an approved pain reliever, is a synthetic opioid that is trafficked primarily overland across the US-Mexico border. It is up to 100 times more potent than morphine and can be found in what is sold as heroin, sometimes taking its place entirely, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Fentanyl can also be mixed with cocaine, methamphetamine, and counterfeit street pills sold as opiate medications.
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The spread and sale of fentanyl has led to an increase in overdose deaths in the United States. Synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, were implicated in nearly two-thirds of overdose deaths in the US in the 12-month period ending April 2021, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Diseases (CDC, for its acronym in English) of the United States. And three-quarters of cocaine overdose deaths last year were associated with fentanyl, said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health.
There are also racial undertones to the fentanyl epidemic, Volkow said. From 2019 to 2021, fentanyl overdose deaths more than tripled among teens and quintupled among black teens, according to an analysis of CDC data by the advocacy group Families Against Fentanyl.
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In April, the DEA sent a letter to federal, state and local law enforcement officials warning of a nationwide increase in mass fentanyl-related overdoses.
“Fentanyl is killing Americans at an unprecedented rate,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “Already this year, numerous mass overdose events have resulted in dozens of overdoses and deaths.”
Andy Miller of Kaiser Health News contributed to this report.
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