According to Reuters, the US Justice Department last Friday (June 23) filed criminal charges against four Chinese chemical manufacturing companies and eight individuals over allegations they illegally trafficked the chemicals used to make fentanyl.
On May 30, the US Department of Treasury announced sanctions on seven Chinese entities and six individuals, citing the sale of pill press machines, die molds and other equipment to the US and Mexico that can be used to manufacture fentanyl.
At present, people can see drug addicts in rags wandering on the streets in the US with impaired consciousness. As one of the first countries in the world to control drugs, why can't the US control fentanyl in the country? With the increasing drug abusers, what is the capability of the US government in addressing this issue?
American families are deeply harmed by fentanyl
Currently, the US has become the country with the most severe drug problem in the world, accounting 12 percent of global drug abusers, three times its proportion of the global population. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US shows that in 2022 alone, over 100,000 people died from drug overdoses (OD).
According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics (NCDAS) in the US, between March 2020 and March 2021, there were 9,677 reported cases of OD deaths, a 36.1 percent increase compared to the previous period. Among the NCDAS data categorized by drug types, opioids accounted for the highest proportion of OD deaths, reaching 67.8 percent, and among all opioids, fentanyl is the most lethal.
Fentanyl is commonly used for clinical anesthesia and has an analgesic effect approximately 100 times stronger than morphine, making it highly addictive.
In recent years, fentanyl has gradually become an important ingredient in the production of new drugs in some countries.
NCDAS statistics have found that 2 milligrams of fentanyl can cause death, and doses as low as 0.25 milligrams put users at risk of OD. The data shows that over half of the OD deaths in the US are caused by fentanyl, with a total of 42,700 deaths from fentanyl overdose in 2020.
The fentanyl abuse statistics on NCDAS official website
Furthermore, the number of teenagers dying from drug overdoses grows the fastest in the US.
Data from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that from 2010 to 2021, the number of OD deaths among American teenagers increased from 518 deaths per year to 1,146 deaths per year.
Among them, the number of deaths caused by fentanyl OD rose from 253 in 2019 to 884 in 2021. In May, CNN reported the account of an American mother. After her child used prescription drugs at a friend's house, he quickly became hooked, moving on to cocaine, heroin and later fentanyl. The mother stated that the accessibility and use of drugs have turned her city into a dangerous and deadly "playground."
Gao Jingzhu, former Deputy Minister of the US Department of Health and Human Services, stated that drug abuse and addiction in the US is one of the most destructive public health disasters. In addition to imposing a heavy burden on public health, it also leads to millions of people becoming homeless, unemployed, dropping out of school, and experiencing family breakdowns.
The bell that has long been tolling goes unnoticed
Although drug abuse and addiction have become two of the most destructive public health disasters, the US government still allows it to thrive and even attempts to shift the blame for the drug epidemic onto other countries.
As early as 2015, when fentanyl began to sweep through the state of New Hampshire in the US, then-US Senator Kelly Ayotte proposed legislation to combat fentanyl. In the bill, she suggested that anyone convicted of distributing a certain amount of fentanyl should be sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. In the months leading up to her proposal, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had also issued a "national alert" on the surge of fentanyl.
Screenshotof DEA official website
However, Ayotte's proposal ultimately did not pass. According to the Washington Post, at that time, the US Senate was attempting to pass another criminal justice reform bill aimed at overhauling sentencing for drug offenses, including reducing mandatory sentences. Ayotte's bill conflicted with this criminal justice reform bill.
According to records on the official website of the US Congress, no members supported Ayotte's proposal at the time, and the early warnings about fentanyl went unnoticed.
In 2017, then-US Congressman Thomas J. Rooney reintroduced the bill, but once again it failed. In an interview with the Washington Post, Rooney stated that he did not know the reasons for the bill's failure but suspected that electoral politics played a role. "I get it. I understand that there’s some people who need victories more than people like me, somebody from a more competitive district."
Behind the US fentanyl crisis lies a web of intertwined interests
In addition to the Congress which has turned a blind eye to fentanyl, US interest groups have also fueled the fentanyl problem. Pharmaceutical lobbying groups have always been significant political donors in the US, and they oppose making the illegal manufacture and distribution of substances such as fentanyl a criminal offense.
In 2016, the industry successfully lobbied Congress to pass a bill limiting the DEA's ability to go after drug distributors. According to NPR, the industry's lobbying efforts led to the amendment of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The old law's key word was changed from "imminent" to "immediate", raising the standard for the DEA to issue "immediate suspension order" against drug distributors. The bill was ultimately signed into law by then-US President Obama.
According to data from the website "OpenSecrets," from 2016 to 2022, the three largest drug distributors in the US, Cardinal Health, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen, spent over 40 million USD lobbying on various drug-related issues and legislation.
Joe Rannazzisi, former Deputy Assistant Administrator of the DEA, said in a joint interview with CBS and the Washington Post: "This is an industry that allowed millions and millions of drugs to go into bad pharmacies and doctors' offices, that distributed them out to people who had no legitimate need for those drugs."
Screenshot of CBS website
According to a disclosure by the New York Times, in 2020, McKinsey & Company, as a management consultant for Purdue Pharma, proposed an notorious suggestion: giving Purdue’s distributors a rebate for every OxyContin overdose attributable to pills they sold. For every case of drug addiction, the distributor would be rewarded 14,810 USD. This suggestion undoubtedly worsened the already severe drug abuse crisis in American society.
Screenshot of the New York Times website
On March 1, 2023, the US House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Surveillance held a hearing titled "The Fentanyl Crisis in America: Inaction is No Longer an Option". Representative Lucy McBath, who attended the hearing, pointed out that the fundamental cause of the opioid crisis is negligence.
Co-presented by GDToday and School of Journalism and Communication, Jinan University
Author | Zhang Xiao (intern)
Editor | Olivia, Steven, Lydia, Jerry
