At the morning press conference led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said that the fentanyl issue has been a priority for the Mexican government, and that combating it is one of the main purposes of the Bicentennial Framework.

In response to recent statements made by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the Secretary said, "Mexico's efforts on fentanyl are the most important in the world. There is no other country in the world that is doing as much against the fentanyl that is trafficked into the United States than Mexico."

He stressed that "we do have a very serious problem, but we need to be clear that Mexico has absolutely nothing to do with the origin of this problem. We are helping the United States, not creating the problem." The cause is directly linked to the approval given in 1996 to several pharmaceutical companies in the United States to distribute the analgesic in pharmacies as a prescription medicine.

He said, "Mexico is not the problem. To the contrary, it has been part, and is the main part, of the solution to the problem. Mexico is doing a lot […] just from its latest actions alone, many fentanyl pills bound for the United States have been seized […] if Mexico didn't do that, millions of peope would overdose and perhaps the mortality rate would be much higher. This is a fact.”

He continued by listing recent seizures: "Just on February 7 alone, 300 kilograms of precursors for everything related to fentanyl; 304 kilograms here; from January 27 to March 6, there were 22 laboratories or kitchens, 7,820 kilograms of methamphetamine, 45,200 liters of precursor chemicals, and 19,200 kilograms of precursor chemicals…Mexico's effort to combat fentanyl is...the most important in the world, even if it is compared with the population and the available resources; we are the country that does the most against fentanyl."

The Secretary added, "We are even organizing a coalition of very different countries from around the world, because fentanyl is not just a problem of the United States, it is a problem that can affect us all. For this reason, for President López Obrador, fighting fentanyl has been a priority since 2019 and will continue to be so."

Responding to the recent comments made by Senator Graham, the Foreign Secretary said, “Mexico is the country that contributes the most. Mexico did not create the problem. Mexico is inviting other countries so that together we can address this issue."

In defense of Mexican sovereignty and the actions taken by the current administration, Secretary Ebrard said, "The problem is not created in Mexico, nor is Mexico the cause of this crisis. This is unfair and it is false."

Regarding the fact that the senator did not answer President López Obrador's question about the people who traffic fentanyl, the Foreign Secretary said that 86.3 percent of the people who are in prison for fentanyl trafficking are U.S. citizens, according to official figures from the United States. "It is false that Mexican men and women traffic fentanyl."

Lastly, the Secretary said, “The fight against fentanyl in Mexico has cost 1,791 lives, the last ones unfortunately when Ovidio Guzmán was apprehended. Those lives have been lost due to guns that are part of the illicit trafficking of guns into Mexico that are made and sold in the United States.”

Responding to the senator's statement that you need a license to buy guns in the United States, the Foreign Secretary said, "Senator Graham should not lie, because in the United States anyone can buy guns on any street corner…This is a critical problem, which is why Mexico has insisted a lot and it is part of the actions that we have together under the Bicentennial Framework."

Fentanyl is a very powerful painkiller that was first synthesized in 1960 and approved by the FDA in 1968. From 1968 to 1996, it was used in open-heart operations and as a treatment for cancer; from 1996 to 2013, approval was given to several pharmaceutical companies in the United States to sell the analgesic in pharmacies as a prescription medicine. This created a pandemic in the United States because it is extremely addictive. In 2013, it was banned because the number of deaths began to increase dramatically.

Mexico has helped combat fentanyl trafficking, but all the countries involved must take part in the effort.