Andrés Martínez-Fernández, Andrew Harding
Fentanyl is the “deadliest drug threat the United States has ever faced,”REF driving U.S. overdose deaths to a staggering 108,000 in 2023.REF Of those deaths, 75,000—or nearly three out of every four—were caused by synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl.REF The nearly 200 Americans who continue to die every day from fentanyl overdoses represent an assault on the societal, political, and economic health of the United States, poisoning America from within. The fentanyl crisis also brings with it a destabilizing financial cost for the country and the U.S. health care system. In 2020 alone, the broader opioid epidemic cost the United States about $1.5 trillion—up 37 percent from 2017.REF
The United States struggles to reduce the massive inflow of fentanyl. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) estimates that in 2021 alone, the U.S. government had seized enough fentanyl to kill every single American.REF At the heart of this crisis is an intricate global partnership bringing together America’s top geopolitical adversary and powerful transnational criminal organizations.
Mexican drug cartels play the most visible and well-publicized role in driving the fentanyl crisis. Across the Pacific Ocean, however, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) drives the destabilizing flow of fentanyl directly to the United States. Indeed, unknown to most Americans, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is actively funding, supporting, and pushing America’s most deadly drug threat in history. The combined forces of deadly Mexican drug cartels and hostile Chinese ambitions have delivered to the United States a destabilizing crisis and a death toll that each year eclipses the total of U.S. casualties from the Vietnam War.REF
The United States has failed to sufficiently address the fentanyl crisis with the urgency and attention it merits. Under the Biden Administration, Washington has turned a blind eye to the complicity of the CCP and the corrupt officials of the Mexican government, » Read More
https://www.heritage.org/china/report/holding-china-and-mexico-accountable-americas-fentanyl-crisis