Mafia's New Zombie Drug Plan - 'The Wave Is Coming'

Drugs

Intelligence: The mafia brings the deadly drug to Europe

Knut Sahlin Ekberg

Published 22.21

Drug seizure of cocaine in Italy. It has become increasingly common for drugs to be laced with deadly fentanyl. Photo: Italian Police

Fentanyl has claimed 250,000 lives in six years in the United States.

Now Italian intelligence shows that the mafia plans to take the drug to Europe.

- The question is not if it will come, but when, says Pierre Lapaque of the drug organization INCB to Foreign Policy.
Quick version          

• Italian intelligence services are warning that the Mafia plans to introduce the deadly drug fentanyl, an opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, into Europe.
• Fentanyl has led to over 250,000 drug-related deaths in the US in six years, the Italian president has sounded the alarm and published a national plan to combat the addiction.
• The epidemic in Sweden has declined since a peak in the 2010s with 369 deaths between 2015-2018, but Pierre Lapaque from the INCB warns that the drug will reach Europe: "The question is not if it will come; it is when".

It has been called death drug and zombie drug. In the United States, it has led to an epidemic and sky-high death tolls from overdoses.

Now Italian intelligence reveals that the mafia plans to take the drug to the European market.

Fentanyl has long been used in healthcare as a pain reliever. The opioid is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.

In 2014, the US Narcotics Bureau raised a warning flag for illegal distribution of the drug. And in 2024, it accounts for 70 percent of all deaths from drug overdoses in the United States, writes The Economist.

          

Drugs laced with fentanyl have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths in the United States. Photo: AP

Mixed with other drugs

A large proportion of those who die from the drug do not know that it is fentanyl they have taken. Fentanyl powder is often mixed with other drugs.

Since 2018, fentanyl has claimed 250,000 lives in the United States, reports SVT Nyheter.

According to Italian intelligence, the infamous Camorra and Calabrian mafia 'Ndrangheta have shown interest in taking the drug to Europe.

After the reports, the government has sounded the alarm.

In March, the Italian president published a national plan to counter the abuse of fentanyl.

          
          Mexican heroin seized by US police and found to contain fentanyl. Photo: American Police

Three milligrams kills

“It is a powerful pain reliever with potentially devastating effects. Just three milligrams is enough to kill a person," the press release says.

In 2022, 70,000 people died in the United States as a result of the drug - this contrasts with the 137 people who died in Europe in 2021. But now there is concern that fentanyl will take hold of the continent, and that a situation similar to that in the United States will arise here, reports Foreign Policy magazine.

One reason why the drug is starting to spread is believed to be the lack of heroin. Heroin is mainly produced in Afghanistan, but in 2022 the Taliban regime banned all production of opioids in the country. This in turn led to production being reduced by 95 percent, according to a report report from the UN.

"The wave is coming"

In the void of heroin, criminal networks are now looking for a replacement - which appears to be fentanyl.

In an interview with the magazine, the board member of the International Narcotics Control Board, INCB, Pierre Lapaque, said that it is not a question of the drug coming to Europe.

- I don't know how we can avoid it. The question is not if it will come, but when and how big the wave or hurricane will be. European governments are fully aware of that, he says.
Upswing in the 2010s

In Sweden, there was a fentanyl epidemic that took off in 2015. According to a report from the police in 2018, 369 people died between 2015-2018. The development led to a special orientation at the National Intelligence Unit (NOA). Since then, deaths have decreased.

In a report from the National Board of Health and Welfare in 2022, deaths from drug poisoning are reported. There they describe a "strong increase in deaths in the mid-2010s" as a result of the drug boom. One reason for the reduction is believed to be that the drug was classified as a narcotic and that knowledge of the drug's effects spread.

FACTS

Fentanyl

• Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid used as a pain reliever and anesthetic. It is approximately 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin as a pain reliever.
• Fentanyl is consumed by being sniffed, smoked, taken orally via pill or tablet, applied to absorbent paper, through patches. It is usually sold alone or in combination with heroin and other substances. It has been identified in counterfeit pills that mimic drugs such as oxycodone.
• Like other opioid pain relievers, fentanyl produces effects such as: relaxation, euphoria, analgesia, sedation, confusion, drowsiness, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, urinary retention, pupil dilation and respiratory depression.
•      An overdose can cause drowsiness, changes in pupil size, cold sweaty skin, cyanosis, coma and respiratory failure leading to death. The presence of a triad of symptoms such as coma, punctate pupils, and respiratory depression strongly suggests opioid intoxication.
   
  Source: US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)