Jose Moron-Concepcion, PhD was invited as a special guest of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) New York Field Office, which hosted an Illicit Synthetic Opioids Interdiction Summit in New York City on April 18, 2018 at the historic Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House.
Pharmaceutical fentanyl misuse was first seen in the mid-1970s in the medical community and has emerged as a critical problem in the United States. To date, more than 12 fentanyl analogues have been produced clandestinely and identified in the U.S. illicit drug marketplace. The biological effects of fentanyl are indistinguishable from those of heroin, but fentanyl is much more potent.
Recently enacted legislation (Public Law 115-112, the INTERDICT Act) improves CBP’s ability to identify and intercept illegally-imported fentanyl, other synthetic opioids, and other narcotics. The resources made available through the INTERDICT Act play a critical role in detecting dangerous substances.
Dr Moron-Concepcion provided the audience with an update on opioid pharmacology and explained the differences between natural and synthetic opioids. In addition, he provided with an updated on recent research findings that will likely have an effect in fighting the opioid crisis that is afflicting our country.