Opinion | America’s opioid crisis won’t be solved without India’s help

Like China, India has a large pharmaceutical sector that provides precursor chemicals. But it lacks China’s drug policy control

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Tricia Theriault, from New Hampshire, reacts during the Fourth Annual National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day event in Times Square, New York City, US, on August 21. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:30am, 5 Dec 2025Updated: 8:16am, 5 Dec 2025

Much has been written about China’s alleged role in the US opioid crisis. Chemicals from Chinese suppliers have supposedly been used by Mexican cartels to produce fentanyl, which is then trafficked into the United States where it has fuelled a deadly overdose crisis.

Successive US administrations have pressured Beijing to crack down on its chemical industry. China has taken repeated steps to regulate precursors, including most recently last month when it restricted 13 new chemicals at US President Donald Trump’s request.

But less has been said about India’s role. Like China, it has a huge pharmaceutical and chemical sector that provides precursors for illicit drug manufacturers, while diverting pharmaceuticals, like tramadol, to the black market.

India’s role in the narcotics trade has prompted concern in Washington. In 2022, a bipartisan US opioid commission warned that India was “not far behind” China as a supplier of precursors.

“India also has large chemical and pharmaceutical sectors that are known to export synthetic drug precursors to trafficking organisations in Mexico. It could be only a matter of time before illegal production migrates to India or elsewhere,” the report noted.

According to officials cited in a 2022 Brookings Institution report, the illicit production of precursors in India and their export are “extensive” while “drug policy control in India is significantly below that of China”.

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