President Xi Makes Good on His Promise to Crack Down on Fentanyl

In early December, President Trump wrote on Twitter that one of “the very exciting things to come out of my meeting with President Xi of China” was his promise to criminalize the sale of deadly Fentanyl coming into the United States.

President Xi just made good on his promise to President Trump.

China says it will crack down on all types of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, following a plea from the US.

All fentanyl-related substances will be added to China’s list of controlled narcotic drugs from 1 May, officials said. It will possibly slow the sale of the dangerous drug.

China’s export of the drug, which American officials say accounts for the vast majority of the fentanyl that ends up in the United States, has long been a source of tension in relations, the NY Times reported.

The U.S. says the synthetic drug is being sold on the internet and sent by post from China, fuelling the opioid crisis.

U.S. authorities list all fentanyl-related products in the most dangerous class of drugs.

The spread of fentanyl in the United States over the last five years has resulted in record numbers of overdose deaths; it became the leading cause of overdose deaths in 2016 and contributed to 28,466 of the roughly 72,000 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted in 2017.

In 2017, the US announced the first ever indictments against two Chinese individuals for conspiracy “to distribute large quantities” of fentanyl as well as other opioids.

This issue has become an issue in the Trade War dispute with China.

PowerInbox