Guatemalan Poppy Farmers Suffer as Fentanyl Overtakes Heroin in the US
A Guatemalan Army service member participates in a poppy crop eradication operation in the municipalities of Ixchiguán and Tajumulco, July 3, 2022. (Photo: Guatemalan Army/ Twitter)
Many Americans are concerned that over 150 of their fellow citizens overdose on fentanyl every day, but do they ever stop to think about how this shift to fentanyl negatively affects the lives of opium and cocaine growers in Latin America? This seems to be the question being asked by human rights groups, and as always, the blame and the cost are put on the United States.
Fentanyl makes better business sense for the Mexican cartels compared to opium. It can be easily manufactured using chemicals sourced from China.
