(Photo : Needpix)

The pandemic that is now spreading all over the world and has nearly caused a recession is not only affecting the economy but is also greatly affecting the black market. 

Coronavirus had greatly hiked up the price of illegal drugs--heroin, methamphetamines and fentanyl as the likes of the Sinaloa cartel, which is the rival of the Jalisco "New Generation" which struggled to get their necessary chemical ingredients to make their illegal drugs which are typically produced in China but due to the outbreak there is only a limited supply.

According to Derek Maltz, a former special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Operations Division in New York, the drug cartels now find a difficult time to get their regular shipments of opioids and their chemical ingredients for their massive production of their meth or illegal drugs from China due to the recent coronavirus outbreak. 

Derek Maltz also added that the cartels still continue the production of their meth but this time it is at a slower rate, however, the demand had increased during these times of crisis and uncertainty in America. He also said that due to China's shutdown in the mainland and the other cities and also the travel coming in and out of China had a great negative impact on the production and selling of the meth ingredients in China. 

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In Wuhan, China, were the virus had originated late last year in 2019, had for the most part, stopped their production on their meth ingredient chemicals that are required in making of the drugs as it now battles the coronavirus within its own borders and in battling to make medical supplies, medicines for other countries that are severely hit with the case of coronavirus. 

According to the reports of Johan Obdola, president of the Canada-based Global Organization for Intelligence (IOSI) Coronavirus had greatly affected the operations of Drug cartels and criminal support organizations in the industry that also operates in drug trafficking. He also added that the Sinaloa Cartel's drug operations were severely affected as the Sinaloa Drug Cartels hold 90% of synthetic drug entrance in America.

Obdola added that Fentanyl which is also known as a synthetic drug originates from China and Fentanyl became the most desired drug in the past few weeks. 

He also continued that according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in China, almost 5,000 illegal drug laboratories have been processing the illegal drugs and chemicals in processing. Also, Europe and North America were known to be the main markets of it. 

The drug cartels transport the synthetic drugs through food exports, fruits, automotive equipment, toys and other products that are distributed within the network access around the United States. 

The pandemic also generated a huge loss in regard to the distribution of synthetic drugs not only in Mexico but also to drug cartels that are operating globally. 

The pandemic that had now been circulating in the world seemingly gave the drug cartels a hard time, also they lost almost 80 percent of their standard revenue for the past two months.

Fernando Posadas, a Latin America analyst for Medley Global Advisors reported that he had a hard time to import cocaine in Colombia as the supply chain distribution is now disrupted and the demand shock of it mostly came from a contraction in the United States' economy. He also added that drug consumption will be hit hard due to the fact that the people will first prioritize more basic necessities like food, medicines and house rent. They also expected that contraction in drug demand of at least 10-15 percent this year would be converted to at least 3 to 5 billion dollar loss to the drug cartels.

Corona virus' preventive measures that include quarantine, social distancing and limiting the public gatherings also affects the distribution of drugs since authorities won't allow people to go out of their homes until the ban is lifted.