Peking [China]February 9 (ANI): The illegal trade in synthetic drugs Fentanyl from China has dramatically increased the number of overdoses in the United States, which has eventually led to deaths due to overdose, the think tank Policy Research Group (POREG) reported.
Fentanyl is a legally used synthetic opioid in the United States as a powerful painkiller because it is 100 times stronger than morphine and at least 30 times stronger than heroin. Fentanyl is used for cancer patients and also in surgery.
The increase in such deaths has become a major cause for concern for the US government. In addition, Chinese suppliers have withheld information.
More than 37,000 fentanyl overdose deaths were reported three years ago, the think tank reported.
Recently, US administrators took proactive measures to monitor and combat the illegal supply and use of Fentanyl. In 2015, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 70 pounds of fentanyl; three years later in 2018, it seized more than 2,000 pounds. The US opioid crisis worsened in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the think tank reported.
Chinese retailers did not share information with their customers and many customers used Fentanyl and assumed it was heroin.
China has been the main direct or indirect supplier of the lethal synthetic substance or of the precursor substances from which Fentanyl is manufactured in the United States.
Another reason for the increased use of Fentanyl is the relative ease of obtaining the drug on the dark web. The internet is used to buy it with cryptocurrency.
As the situation worsened, the US government pressured China to ban the production, sale and export of all fentanyl-class drugs.
This production was only allowed unless special government licenses were issued, but what the research team revealed is that China continues to trade illegally by hiding the drug in legal cargoes.
The increase in deaths due to this illegal Chinese human trafficking has become a major cause for concern for the US government.
Fentanyl is still manufactured all over China, from the eastern province of Hebei, Hangzhou to the western province of Xinjiang.
On the other hand, Wuhan, a city notorious for the covid eruption, is also a hub for this deadly drug.
In addition, China not only exports this drug illegally to the United States but to about 20 other countries, including Russia, Kuwait, Sweden and Brazil.
The Taliban in Afghanistan are forced to stop producing and supplying drugs as a condition of receiving humanitarian aid or dropping their “frozen” cash abroad, and as a result, illegal drug suppliers from China have reappeared to fill the gap between demand and supply. (ANI)
Source: sn.dk