Fentanyl in Spain. Evidence, perceptions and realities
Publisher – Year:
Episteme Social, 2024
Author:
David Pere Martínez Oró
Keywords: fentanyl, drug policy, prevention, media, opium, heroin, Afghanistan, Spain.
Founded by:
Synopsis
In Spain, between 2022 and 2024, fentanyl has been the protagonist of a paradoxical phenomenon without precedent in the history of drugs: it has received extraordinary media attention while its presence as a drug of abuse has been nil. The unusual attention has been the result of the fear that Spain could suffer a public health crisis similar to the crisis that is ravaging North America. This fear has stimulated the media to publish news about fentanyl because it aroused the interest of the Spanish audience, to the point of creating a media storm that went so far as to claim that illicit fentanyl use was a reality in Spain.
From a geopolitical and socio-cultural perspective, the study ‘Fentanyl in Spain. Evidencias, percepciones y realidades’ analyses to what extent the substitution hypothesis will be fulfilled in Spain, i.e. fentanyl will replace heroin as the opioid of choice among the addicted population. The study rules out the substitution hypothesis on the basis of an analysis of four main areas. First, the reality in Afghanistan and other opium-producing countries shows that heroin will continue to supply European markets, leaving no room for synthetic opioids. Second, the international synthetic opioid markets show a shortage of fentanyls and the emergence of nitazenes. Third, low demand for heroin leaves little room for synthetic opioids. Fourth, an addiction treatment network that is ready to respond to any new threat.
This study is a snapshot of the reality of 2024 that allows us to affirm that a fentanyl crisis in Spain is now materially impossible, although in a changing world in constant transformation, the future of drugs is once again uncertain.
