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A young man waits for his methadone treatment at a rehabilitation center in Estonia's capital Tallinn on Friday, June 28, 2019. The tiny Baltic state has battled nearly two decades a fentanyl epidemic so severe its overdose death rate was almost six times the European average. Although police won the war on fentanyl the market shifted further towards synthetic drugs. There are signs that the U.S. is on a similar path, tipping from plant-based drugs like heroin to synthetic ones like fentanyl and methamphetamine. That could herald big changes in global narcotics supply chains and cement the role of China -- an important source of illicit synthetic drugs -- as a vital link in the worldwide drug trafficking business. (AP Photo/David Keyton)

A young man waits for his methadone treatment at a rehabilitation center in Estonia's capital Tallinn on Friday, June 28, 2019. The tiny Baltic state has battled nearly two decades a fentanyl epidemic so severe its overdose death rate was almost six times the European average. Although police won the war on fentanyl the market shifted further towards synthetic drugs. There are signs that the U.S. is on a similar path, tipping from plant-based drugs like heroin to synthetic o…

March 26, 2020

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Estonia won its war on fentanyl, then things got worse
March 26, 2020 5:17 a.m.

Estonia won its war on fentanyl, then things got worse

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Igor Smirnov was introduced to opiates the day his first son was born, when he got celebratory drunk and a neighbor injected him with an intoxicating extract of opium poppies.