More than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses from July of 2021 to July of 2022 and two thirds of those deaths were fueled by synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, according to the CDC.
Members of Congress are urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to pressure China to do more to curb the flow of fentanyl and synthetic opioids into the United States on his visit to the country which is expected to take place in the next few days.ahead of his trip highlighting China's role in the "fentanyl crisis" as one of many issues they wanted him to address.
"Virtually 98% of the precursor chemicals that are made used to make fentanyl are coming from China," Democratic Rep. David Trone of Maryland told. Getting China to engage on this crisis "has got to be Secretary Blinken's number one mission when he gets there." Trone, whose nephew died of a fentanyl overdose, believes China should commit to adopting rules requiring drug companies to know who their customers are, put into place and enforce export regulations on the chemical sector, and cooperate with US agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration and Office of National Drug Control Policy to crack down on the fentanyl trade.
Todd Robinson, the top State Department official for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, said that the effective way to approach the challenge will be through "collaboration and cooperation." China is the largest producer of chemicals that are in everyday products such as cleaning supplies. Many Chinese companies have begun producing and selling the precursor chemicals in addition to the chemicals they have already been producing.
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