China Bans Fentanyl
Finally, the Chinese government recently moved to ban the manufacture and sale of fentanyl. Foxnews.com reports that, “China announced Wednesday night that it will ban carfentanil, furanyl fentanyl, acrylfentanyl and valeryl fentanyl from being manufactured there – a move that U.S. officials at the federal and state levels say is significant and likely to be felt in communities across the country.” (foxnews.com)
The report indicates that China is the source of the bulk of the fentanyl that is ruining so many lives in the US—killing more than 700 people each year. Fox reports that fentanyl is “50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. People whose skin accidently has come in contact with it have become addicted. U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency officials see tighter fentanyl controls by China as a game-changer. When it got tougher about regulating 100 synthetic chemicals in 2015, the global supply of those substances plummeted, some as much as 60 percent, according to the DEA.” (foxnews.com)
Although the US has been begging China to ban fentanyl for a long time, they have waited and the effects have been disastrous. During the last few years, more and more dealers found profits could increase generously by cutting fentanyl with their drugs and the deadly substance has aggravated the opioid crisis in the U.S.
Again, fox reported that, “dealers discovered in the last two or so years that vast profits could be made by cutting fentanyl into illicit drugs. In fiscal year 2014, U.S. authorities seized just 8.1 pounds of fentanyl. By the first half of last year, they seized 295 pounds, according to Customs and Border Protection data. Overdose rates have been skyrocketing.” (foxnews.com)
Fox also provides a shocking summary of the statistics and effects of fentanyl recently in their report. They state that “in 2016, the U.S. lost more than 52,000 — enough to fill a major league baseball stadium — to drug overdose, 33,000 of which were from opioids. About 10 years ago, gun-related deaths outnumbered opioid-related death by more than 5-to-1. Today, more people die from opioid-related deaths than from gun homicides and traffic accidents combined. On an average day, 144 people in the U.S. die from a drug overdose, the majority are from pharmaceutical opioids or heroin or fentanyl and every day, nearly 600 people try heroin for the first time.” (foxnews.com)
Thus, China’s move to ban fentanyl production is an extremely positive one, and many people, some who haven’t ever been impacted by this substance, stand to benefit for the ban.
Sources: Foxnews.com, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration