Young man dies in Malaga after apparently taking cocktail of substances including alcohol, cocaine and fentanyl

A young Malaga man has died after drinking a suspected cocktail of substances including alcohol, cocaine and fentanyl.

The 25-year-old had just returned from a trip around Europe and upon returning to his parents' home, started to feel unwell. He became agitated and aggressive and was taken to the Regional Hospital in a critical condition last week. From there he slipped into a coma and died within just a few hours.

A Malaga court is investigating the cause of the young man's death, since, according to initial indications, he may have consumed a cocktail of alcohol and drugs, including a substance that is keeping the Spanish health authorities on alert: fentanyl, a synthetic opiate that is causing havoc in countries such as the United States.

According to SUR sources, the young man arrived at the hospital with the suspicion he had taken alcohol and cocaine combined with fentanyl. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has previously warned this opiate has started to be used as a cutting substance for cocaine to make it more addictive.

Various experts interviewed by SUR agreed it is difficult to detect fentanyl in these circumstances, especially if the deceased has been in hospital and received treatment, which can camouflage its presence in autopsy tests.

Another issue emergency and forensic doctors are encountering is that, in Spain, fentanyl does not appear alone, but is associated with other substances, so "it is very difficult to know what weight it really has in the cause of death", a specialist said.

In Spain, this opiate is being introduced among drug addicts, who mix it with the drugs they use on a regular basis, according to sources. However, the first confirmed death from fentanyl abuse in Spain has not yet been reported, showing its use in the country is still token and associated only with medical treatment, not as a narcotic substance.

One of these cases under investigation dates back to last March, when the body of a 58-year-old woman who had been prescribed a fentanyl patch by her doctor to counteract the pain she was suffering was found in a park in Valladolid.

This is not the case in the United States, where the substance is estimated to have caused more than 60,000 deaths in one year, Hermelo Molero, head of the Bilbao police headquarters' drug squad, told El Correo. Fentanyl is a strong synthetic opioid originally created to treat severe pain and whose effects are 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.

In Spain, it is not believed that it will end up becoming a major problem as it is in the United States, as drug use is "more linked to leisure", Molero pointed out.

Last June, Episteme Social, an organisation specialising in social research, presented a study funded by the ministry of health which showed that, on the basis of the available evidence, Spain will not suffer a fentanyl-related public health crisis in the near future.

The authorities' concern stems from the decline in opium poppy cultivation (from which heroin is made) in Afghanistan, where the Taliban ban has reduced production by up to 95%. Despite reduced availability of this substance on the market, experts fear this represents a window of opportunity for fentanyl.

However, the Episteme Social study rules out that under current circumstances heroin will be replaced by fentanyl, considering that synthetic opiates have been circulating in Europe for more than 30 years and have never been successful in Spain. Moreover, Afghan heroin is believed to be in stock to at least continue to supply the market until 2027 or 2028, while current restrictions on fentanyl production make access to this substance difficult.