US warns overdose crisis will spread overseas without action from China
White House drugs tsar says Beijing needs to tighten rules on supply of raw materials to make fentanyl
Washington is increasing pressure on Beijing to crack down on illegal supplies of raw materials used to make the synthetic drug fentanyl, warning the deadly overdose crisis sweeping the US could soon spread to Europe and Asia.
Dr Rahul Gupta, the White House drugs tsar, told the Financial Times it is only a matter of time before criminal cartels in China and Mexico expand their highly profitable trade in the drug, which is 50 times stronger than heroin.
He said the illicit manufacture of cheap and easily transportable synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine are transforming the drug market, posing a risk to global security. Only co-ordinated, international action involving China, which is a major source of the precursor chemicals used to make synthetic drugs, could thwart criminal cartels, he added.
“You can divide the world up into three categories,” said Gupta, who is the first medical doctor to hold the post of director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
“One, you have a fentanyl or meth problem and you know it. Second, you have a fentanyl or meth problem and you don’t know it . . . And the third, it is coming to a shore near you very soon.”
China introduced controls on two fentanyl precursor chemicals — known as NPP and 4ANPP — in 2018 following dialogue between the US Drug Enforcement Administration and Chinese government officials. But Washington’s efforts to engage Beijing are being hampered by diplomatic tensions between the two countries. In August China suspended co-operation with the US on the fight against narcotics after the visit by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
Gupta said tackling the fentanyl crisis is one of the “top priorities” for secretary of state Antony Blinken, who is expected to travel to Beijing next month for talks with senior Chinese officials.
He said the US would also use a meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna in March to press China to further tighten rules on the transport of these raw materials.
“It is the criminal elements within the [People’s Republic of China] that are involved and engaged in production and shipping of the precursor chemicals,” said Gupta. “And we are going to say to the PRC this is an opportunity to demonstrate your global leadership on this issue.”
Washington is pressing China to enforce “know your end customer” regulations to ensure private businesses do not use middlemen that divert precursor chemicals to cartels. Proper labelling is required to track chemical cargoes and monitoring of shipping to ensure these are not diverted for illicit means while at sea, according to Gupta.
More than 107,000 people died in the US of overdoses in the 12 months ending August 2022, equal to one fatality every five minutes. Most of these deaths were linked to fentanyl and methamphetamine.
President Joe Biden’s administration is expanding access to opioid treatments to tackle the record number of overdose deaths and is reaching out to international partners to tackle the international supply chain.
Some US anti-drugs activists believe Beijing is deliberately allowing criminals to export precursor chemicals to Mexican drug cartels to further fuel the “overdose crisis” in the US and destabilise a competitor.
“This is a third opium war,” said Jim Rauh, founder of Families Against Fentanyl, in a reference to two wars fought by China to prevent trafficking in opium by British merchants during the 19th century.
“China had the same thing done to them and now they feel vindicated in doing this . . . This is a proxy war and without bullets being fired we are losing more people than we ever lost in wars.”
Gupta said there is no evidence to suggest Beijing is using illicit drugs as a tool to destabilise the US. But Washington did want to hold Chinese authorities accountable for the illicit actions of private criminal actors in their country, he said.
Concerns about the global spread of synthetic drugs are growing. Last month Europol warned Mexican drug cartels are becoming more active in Europe, including smuggling large amounts of meth into the bloc. The discovery of fentanyl production facilities in Europe raised concerns about “development of a fentanyl market in the EU”, according to a Europol report.