Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-08-31)

BloombergBusinessweek August31, 2020

M 43

akingtheirwaydowna narrowcountryroadinthe

MexicanstateofSinaloaonemorninginMay 2019 ,

membersofa counter-narcotics squad were struck

bya strong chemical smell. They pulled over, and a small

reconnaissanceteamclimbedoutoftheirvehicles,then

stalkeddowna trail.Behinda thicketoftrees,tuckedina

clearing,theyfoundanopen-airdrugfactory—not a huge sur-

priseinSinaloa,thecapitaloftheglobalnarcoticsempirebuilt

byJoaquín“ElChapo”Guzmán.Fivecauldronsforcooking

heroin stood exposed to the sky, flaked with rust. In the camp’s

makeshift living quarters, bags of tortilla chips and a cooler of

unopenedPepsissuggestedthecookshadleftinhaste.

Thesoldiersdiscoveredthesourceofthesmell:acetic

anhydride, a clear liquid that reeks like vinegar. Except for

the sap drained from opium flowers, it’s the only thing truly

requiredtomakeheroin,andit doesn’ttakemuchofthestuff

todothejob.Soldiersfoundsomeinsidefour18-literjugsthat,

whenfull,couldhaveproduced 80 poundsofhigh-quality

“Chinawhite,”witha U.S.streetvalueofatleast$3.6million.

Aceticanhydridehas legal usesin laboratories and

factories—the most common use is in the production of ciga-

rette filters. But under international drug laws it’s one of the

most strictly controlled “precursor and essential chemicals”

for the production of illegal narcotics. For 30 years the U.S.

government has aggressively pushed almost every nation in

the world to sign on to global treaties and pass domestic laws

to keep potential drugmaking chemicals away from narcotics

syndicates. Acetic anhydride was placed in the highest cate-

gory of control in 2001. Yet the acetic anhydride seized that

morning in Sinaloa was bottled, branded, and sold in Mexico

by a $12.3 billion publicly traded U.S. company, Avantor Inc.

Narcotics Crisis

WI

TH

(^) U.S. (^) INGREDIEN
TS
MADE IN MEXICO
By Cam Simpson,
Michael Smith,
and Nacha Cattan
Photograph by
Jake Naughton
The cartels
make heroin and
methamphetamine
using chemicals
produced in Mexico
by U.S. companies,
and then send
the drugs to America