What China needs to do to stem the flow of fentanyl to the US
- China is believed to be the primary source of the powerful painkiller, responsible for almost 30,000 fatal overdoses in the US last year
- Outlawing all forms of the drug – threatening more producers with the death penalty – is mooted, but enforcement is more complex
It is one thing touting the pledge by China and the United States to step up efforts to address the US’ fentanyl problem, but quite another to actually curtail the flow of substances flowing across borders.
Anti-narcotics analysts have said efforts to crack down on underground production of the synthetic opioid, and to enforce customs inspections and border controls, need to go beyond US President Donald Trump’s push for China to amend its laws to outlaw all variants of fentanyl.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the fentanyl issue during their December 1 meeting in Argentina, after which China said it had decided to classify the entire category of fentanyl-type substances as controlled substances.
This would criminalise many more producers, who would become punishable by the death penalty China already had in place for drug trafficking.
Fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than heroin with some more powerful derivatives, has become a staple of drug lords, but represents a nightmare for law enforcement because of highly secretive production, encrypted online transactions and its easy transportation by international mail.
The United States has named China as the main source of the deadly painkiller, which was responsible for 28,466 fatal overdoses in the US last year, according to the US’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.