Can you walk me through what happened inside of that pharmacy just now?
What do they sell?
You mean what don’t they sell in this pharmacy?
Drugwise, they sell everything besides crack cocaine and ecstasy
and molly and LSD, I guess.
But all the drug drugs like cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, weed, Xanax,
Vicodin, Adderall, ketamine.
It’s like a fucking Disneyland for drugs.
Medical tourism to Mexico from the US is huge,
with an estimated 3 million inbound medical travelers in 2020.
Medication is cheaper in Mexico,
and you can buy most drugs without a prescription.
While most people are able to find the care they desperately need,
some are also buying cheap, unregulated meds
without knowing they’re fake.
We don’t know what’s in it.
It could be rat poison.
The ingredients can be completely unknown.
And in recent years, the DEA has seized counterfeit medication
laced with the deadly opioid fentanyl.
Fake, cloned, pirated, and original but stolen.
It’s estimated that 8 million people consume illicit medication
in Mexico every year.
Millions, for sure.
Many millions.
I want to explore this black market industry,
meet the dealers,
the people combating this medical crime,
and the people risking their lives for their own health.
[Crimewave]
[Fake Drugs]
My father is a pharmacist.
He works in a very highly regulated environment
where you have to have a prescription,
you have to go to a doctor to get your medicine.
But then with my friends, they come to Mexico City.
They don't have to come with the prescription.
They don’t have to potentially even see a doctor.
They just go to one of the pharmacies
and just ask for the medication they’re looking for,
and they get it.
So it's as quick as that.
So as much as it's simple and easy,
it also makes me wonder how dangerous that can be.
I’m heading near the US-Mexico border to Zona Norte,
a red-light area of Tijuana
where medical tourists often travel to pick up cheaper meds.
There I’m meeting with a former opioid user
who has regularly traveled to pharmacies on the border
for around ten years to buy Percocet without a prescription
after he got hooked on opioids in the US.
He wishes to remain anonymous
and is going to secret film inside of one of these pharmacies,
pick up some of the Percocet,
and then I’m going to test them to find out what’s really in them.
-What’s up? -What’s up, man?
-How you doin’, G? -Pretty good.
Cool. Cool. Cool.
Yeah, man, can I just get two Perc 30s?
The two Percocet 30 milligrams, please?
OK, here.
OK, I’m going to give you the money.
How did you get into Percocet?
So, like, a year or two ago, I remember trying to buy some heroin,
and some guy gave me a blue pill.
And he was like, “It’s just way better. It’s Perc 30s.”
But I was like, “Nah, I do heroin. That’s not going to touch me.”
Because I was just like, “Perc 30s? OxyContin 80s are like Perc 80s.
It’s what they probably call them.”
So I was just like, “This ain’t going to touch me, bro.”
He was like, “Take it for free. Trust me, you’ll feel it.”
Anyway, long story short, I took a hit, and it fucking laid me out.
And I already had a tolerance to opiates.
So I was like, “What the fuck is that?
That’s not a real Vicodin or Percocet.”
I was like, “That shit ain’t real, bro.
I do heroin, and that shit put me on my ass.”
Do you know anyone who has died from consuming these pills?
I do, yeah.
A close friend of mine had a tolerance to it.
Ended up taking a full Percocet, and it took his life.
Do you have any idea of what might be in them?
I have no idea.
So how would you feel if I told you
we’re going to test it?
Yeah.
Yeah? You’re cool with that?
Yeah, I want to know.
-You want to know? -Yeah.
I’m going to use a portable spectrometer
intended for Border Patrol to test if the drugs are counterfeit.
Alright. This is going to be a little tricky.
I must look so shady right now.
Now, I think I’ve grounded it enough.
Arm laser.
Oh, fentanyl!
Says, “CAS NA illicit drug,”
and a red label pops up.
A Percocet pill is meant to have oxycodone as its active ingredient.
This fake pill is instead cut with a deadly mix of fentanyl
and methamphetamine.
Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin.
And the overdose rate in the US is climbing
with the introduction of this illicit opioid.
It’s estimated that there were 90,000 drug overdoses in the US in 2020.
According to the DEA, while Chinese fentanyl seizures are down,
the new source of fentanyl are Mexican cartels,
specifically the Sinaloa
and the Jalisco New Generation cartels,
who are essentially criminal armies that rule with impunity.
We’re headed to Tepito, one of the largest black markets in Mexico City,
where you can find counterfeit medication, makeup, clothes,
anything you can think of.
I’m meeting with a local boxing legend called Jorge,
who’s going to be my guide for Tepito.
Here it is, Tepito.
Is this the pharmacy?
Yes, yes.
-There’s all kinds of medicine. -Yes.
Like, for back pain,
children’s medication.
-Pain pills. -There is just about everything.
Let’s walk.
OK, let’s go. Let’s go.
Yeah, we need to move fast.
I could tell that it’s sort of risky to stop by there.
And then I also noticed a motorbike passed by us,
and I hear that the people who are on the motorbikes
are often from the cartel.
So that’s also making me a bit nervous.
This is as far as we can get.
But to there, there are dangerous people.
Dangerous people, right?
It’s too late already, too late.
This is the real tough hood, guys.
It’s getting a bit hot,
as we suspect cartels or gang spotters have noticed us filming.
Jorge insists that we leave.
But I still want to speak to a low-level vendor at this market
to find out what they’re selling and who supplies them.
You take this product, and you don’t know the effect.
It might be harmful.
We don’t know what’s in it.
You need to analyze it
because it could be rat poison, for all I know.
This is called cloning.
Is this legal?
The color of the box is different.
Original.
And this is wrongly done. The color changes.
-Yeah. -Yeah?
And what is the most popular medication?
What are people buying from you?
The most sought-after are the painkillers,
and antibiotics.
So do you think that the cartels are involved in this?
I don’t know.
Are you scared to tell me about the cartel?
No, I don’t know.
I feel uncomfortable.
Our time is up with the black market pharmacist,
who is starting to feel uneasy.
He seemed genuinely scared
when I asked him about the cartel’s involvement
in the counterfeit medication market,
and understandably so.
I've set up a meeting with another dealer further up the supply chain.
He wants us to meet him at the parking lot
Can you show me the medicine?
Yes, it’s pirated. I have two types: Basic and Premium.
Pirated Basic and Premium.
You can usually notice the pirated one because of the box,
and the original one is the same in both the holograms and the seals.
The pills, the tablets... everything looks just like the original.
Unless you try them, you won’t know which is the real or the fake one.
I’m looking at it, and it does look like legitimate packaging.
I wouldn’t think that any of this is fake.
It looks real.
Who are your top clients?
Like, what kind of medication are they going for?
Or do you even know?
Yes, at the warehouse we sell them to street market clients,
pharmacies, and corner stores.
So you have legal pharmacies purchasing from you
in addition to regular bodegas.
It’s mixed.
Yes, that’s right. There are pharmacies who buy them.
So that’s why they say... when people go to the pharmacy, they say,
“Why is it ten pesos cheaper at that other place?”
That’s your answer. It’s because they have fake medicine,
and they don’t notice.
My takeaway from that interview was,
as someone who takes medication for headaches and whatnot,
all of that looked pretty legit.
But none of it is. All of it’s fake.
I need to go even further up the supply chain
to find out more about the scale of this operation.
Our fixer has managed to track down
the manager of a clandestine warehouse.
[I have] a 45 with ammunition.
Everyone’s got a gun here.
If a patrol comes and stuff,
for me, it will be very suspicious if someone arrives here.
It will be very suspicious
because we have all the police under our control.
We have people inside. We have everything.
I will not allow myself to be caught, nor my team, if the police arrive.
And we will fight with bullets,
with you here or not.
For your safety and ours,
that’s why.
Understood.
So can you tell me a little bit about the medicine that’s here?
What is this?
These are just pills that sometimes make people sick.
They are pure poisons, and sometimes with illegal drugs.
It’s all strong stuff. We have the names here.
Yeah, and I also see anti-depressants.
Antibiotics, anti-depressants.
Are those your most popular ones?
Yes, but these ones are ready for pick-up.
They are already sold.
We sell it to pharmacies and other people.
How much does this cost?
The prices vary a lot.
They vary a lot,
but what happens is that they think it’s the real one.
The stronger ones are more expensive.
Most of the time, people don’t know what they are buying.
They think it’s the original one,
but in fact, it’s not the original one.
Can you tell me how much you sell in dollars?
Millions, for sure.
Many millions.
Are you associated with the cartels in any way?
That would be the big boss. I don’t mess with that.
I just do my job here.
So where else are these fake drugs being distributed to?
Not only are makeshift pharmacies
selling illegal prescription drugs in Mexico,
this is also happening in the US.
I’m in Alvarado Street in L.A.,
where we have reason to believe there are street vendors
selling potentially counterfeit meds.
I’m going to secret film, pick some up, and get them tested.
In the beginning, we started off very easy.
We just asked for medication related to pain.
But the crazy thing is just walking through that street,
there were all kinds of medication being openly sold there,
and the packaging where some looked fake.
It didn’t look like the authentic thing,
like Advil PM, Tylenol PM.
She has Oxy, look, look.
We have been looking for something strong to sleep. Do you have any?
I asked about Xanax, if they had Xanax,
and she said they did.
And she gave me this bar, Xanax bar.
The funny thing is there’s no label on it.
This was something she said I should only take half of one
because it’s so strong and will knock me out immediately.
Then she gave me diazepam, which is more benzos,
and said the same thing.
These have labels on them, but they’re different labels.
Some say “DZ” and others say “M.”
The Xanax bar she showed us,
she said, “This is from Mexico. This is from Mexico.”
She kept saying that over and over again,
“This is from Mexico, and this is really, really strong.
It’s from Mexico and it’s strong. Are you sure you want this?”
And we paid $5 for one bar.
Now I need to get these tested to find out if they’re fake or legit.
I’m meeting with Adam Hopkins from Metrohm,
a leading manufacturer of high-precision instruments
for chemical analysis.
This is the ten milligram Xanax, right?
So that’s the Xanax that should be very, very powerful.
So we put this Xanax tablet in here, arm and acquire.
We’re just going to see what this does.
Wow, all right!
You don’t need much-- I mean, ten milligrams, that’s crazy.
Why?
Because you should never have a Xanax pill
with enough Xanax for the instrument to detect it right off the bat.
Like, that’s a lot of Xanax.
Frankly, any of these things
that are not licensed to be sold in the US on the street,
that’s a little scary to me.
The black market exists
because of the overpriced healthcare system in the US.
In 2019, over 26 million people were without health insurance.
And even people with coverage in the US
chose to receive care in Mexico because it’s much cheaper.
Now, with criminals not just distributing
fake medication to markets
but to real pharmacies in Mexico,
who are the people willing to cross the border from the US
for cheaper everyday healthcare,
knowing that their medication could be counterfeit?
We're about to meet with a woman called Lupita,
whose son-in-law operates
within the pharmaceutical industry in Tijuana.
He knows people, he goes to the pharmacies there,
and he also helps his mother-in-law get medication as well.
Hi!
-Hey! -Hi, how are you?
How are you?
I want to ask Lupita
why she chooses to get medical treatment across the border
and what she feels about recent reports of 14 patients dying
and 50 falling ill in Pemex Regional Hospital in Tabasco, Mexico,
from being administered counterfeit medication by a doctor.
To be honest, the USA scares me.
They are worried about money, not about people’s health.
There have been several people recently
that have died from counterfeit drugs in Mexican hospitals.
What are your thoughts on that?
Does that concern you?
Yes, because I also have an experience.
I bought some cough medicine.
It was like I had anesthesia in my throat,
and I couldn’t breathe.
I thought I was going to die.
It’s estimated there were as many as
3 million inbound medical travelers to Mexico
as of February 2020.
And recent reports note a strong resurgence in medical tourism
in the past few months
to nearly 100 percent in border towns, including Tijuana.
We’re going to the pharmacy to buy medicines that we need.
I want to ask Lupita’s son-in-law, Jim,
why he also chooses to buy medication across the border.
Jeez, that’s expensive.
-Huh? -It’s a little expensive.
It’s expensive here?
It depends.
So it’s more expensive than the States or--
No, no, no, no, not more expensive.
-It’s cheaper than the States? -Cheaper than the States.
Just different pharmacies here will have different prices,
-stuff like that. -Got you.
So what did you end up getting?
So I have sumatriptan. It’s a migraine medication.
It’s not a narcotic,
but in the United States, you need a prescription for it.
In the United States, the copay would be about $150
just to visit the doctor,
plus a $95 copay on the medication.
So... it adds up, definitely.
It’s a lot easier just to walk in and pay $60.
Actually, that was more like $45. I think my conversion’s a little off.
That’s significantly cheaper than the US.
Yeah, than the US, and that’s with having insurance in the US.
That’s a $95 copay.
But how do you know this is the real deal?
I mean...
I don’t.
So I take it, and it’s effective.
That’s how I know that it’s the real deal.
OK, so you feel it.
I feel it.
But don’t you ever wonder or worry whether it’s fake or not?
It’s in the back of my mind, for sure, initially.
But I’ve never had a bad experience so far.
So the benefits outweigh the risks for me, I would say.
The majority of healthcare in Mexico is a lifeline for people.
But from what I’ve seen, there’s a shift in the black market
from lifestyle drugs to what are meant to be life-saving drugs
by cartels and independent criminals
who are exploiting the demand for medication
by victims of the overpriced healthcare system in the US.
The most shocking element of this is the move by criminals
to synthesize the effects of powerful pain medication,
in turn exacerbating the opioid crisis.
Mostly, what I’ve seen highlights the greater sickness
of the inability of our medical system
to deliver care in a cost-effective way
across a broad spectrum of society.