Mexico's president has said American families are to blame for the fentanyl overdose crisis because they don't hug their children enough.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's comments followed statements this week about the crisis caused by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid trafficked by Mexican cartels that is responsible for more than 70,000 overdose deaths a year in the United States. .

López Obrador, known as Amlo, said family values ??have been destroyed in the United States because parents do not let their children live at home for too long.

On Friday, the Mexican president told a press conference that the problem was caused by "the lack of hugs, of support".

"There is a lot of breakup of families, there is a lot of individualism, there is a lack of love, brotherhood, hugs and supports," Amlo said of the crisis in the US. He has repeatedly emphasized that Mexico's family values ??are what saved the country from the wave of fentanyl overdoses.

Experts say Mexican cartels are making so much money now from the US market that they see no need to sell fentanyl in their home market.