"Scourge". RIR warns of increased fentanyl use in the EU
The top candidate of the Reagir Incluir Reciclar (RIR) party for the European elections today warned of the increase in consumption of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, emphasizing that the European Union (EU) is not prepared "to face this scourge".
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Política Europeias
"The consumption of synthetic substances has been increasing. This will lead us to fentanyl, which is a much cheaper drug and for which we are not effectively prepared. And when I say we, it's not just Portugal, but all of Europe", Márcia Henriques told Lusa.
Speaking after a meeting at the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, in Lisbon, the party leader considered that Europeans are not "prepared to deal" with fentanyl, which caused 107,000 overdose deaths last year in the United States.
"This is an issue that has not been addressed in the [European] Parliament for over 20 years (...) and we are here with an imminent danger that is reaching Portugal. It is a reality that we are not prepared to deal with, nor do we have ways to combat when it gets here. We have the example of the United States. It makes perfect sense to be alert and raise awareness in the European Parliament to debate this issue", stressed the RIR leader.
Márcia Henriques highlighted "the level of corruption that exists around the drug business", stressing that there needs to be more inspection of ports throughout the European area.
"Europol has a very active signalling of all these situations, but, there you have it, the drug business involves many millions [of euros]. This is a bit of a cat and mouse game. We are prepared to act in a certain way, but, on the other side, they are already trying to reverse the rules. Therefore, monitoring and policing must be constant", she said.
Around 373 million European voters are called to vote for the European Parliament between 06 and 09 June. In Portugal, the vote is on the 9th.
720 MEPs will be elected, 21 of whom are Portuguese.
A total of 17 parties and coalitions are running in the elections: AD, PS, Chega, IL, BE, CDU, Livre, PAN, ADN, MAS, Ergue-te, Nova Direita, Volt Portugal, RIR, Nós Cidadãos, MPT and PTP.
Read Also: IL insists that Europe needs to grow to respond to current challenges (Portuguese version)
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