THE ORIGIN OF THE SILVER BULLET

AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION (Extract from The Silver Bullet)

The Silver Bullet was born out of a recent holiday to San Carlos on the Sea of Cortez, in the state of Sonora, Mexico, four hundred and twenty kilometres south of the Mexican border (Nogales).

Conjuring up images of drugs, crime, and fiery foods, a visit to Mexico had never been on my bucket list. Unbeknown to me at the time, Sonora lies within the territory controlled by the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel.

Having casually raised the subject of cartel operations in the vicinity, I learnt that San Carlos was what might be called a ‘protected area’, the rumour being that some of the most powerful cartel members owned and kept mansions high up in the hills overlooking the bay, with their children attending local schools. And, that being the case, it stood to reason that the cartel would take care to keep San Carlos, as far as possible, free from drug misuse and violence.

San Carlos is a beautiful beach resort, with spectacular surrounding country, unspoilt by development. That is not to say that it is entirely free from crime, as I was to discover in research on my return to England.

That I had just spent – albeit only a short while – in Sonora gave me food for thought and the incentive to learn more about recreational drugs and drug cartels, and their activities over the years. Therein, The Silver Bullet was born.

With the wealth of information on the web – far more than one can possibly imagine or digest – I would venture that I have been places that few of my readers would ever go or want to go. A world that few of us would believe exists.

From magic mushrooms and cannabis to LSD (acid), cocaine (coke, crack), MDMA (ecstasy, Molly), methamphetamine (meth, crystal meth), heroin (diamorphine), and amyl nitrates (poppers): the list is by no means exhaustive.

And last but no means least – fentanyl. (Warning – spoiler.) A hundred times stronger than morphine, fentanyl was originally developed for the management of chronic pain relief. Smoked, snorted, injected, or ingested – and highly addictive. It is now frequently cut into other recreational drugs such as heroin and cocaine, and it is a killer.

Where once, many years ago, recreational drugs were sourced from nature, that is no longer the case. Synthetic drugs that need little more than the right cooking ingredients now prevail. Hidden high up in the hills – where once opium poppies (of the Papaver somniferum variety) were grown and used in the legal and illegal production of morphine, codeine, and heroin – many of the farms have been turned into fentanyl farms controlled by the drug cartels. Particularly in Mexico, but by no means exclusively.

Fentanyl cooking ingredients are sourced from far and wide, but primarily China. Supply chains are many and diverse.

During my short stay in Mexico, I witnessed neither drug abuse nor violence and look forward to renewing my acquaintance with San Carlos on the beautiful Sea of Cortez. I say no more for fear of spoiling this story.