Drugs and geopolitical weapons: the terrifying fentanyl crisis

Of the fentanyl It hasn’t stopped talking in recent years. The so-called zombie drug, which makes thousands of people wander the streets every day like injected sleepwalkers, has become a public health crisis in USA. The figure is horrifying, as much as the scenes of addicts: in 2021 (the most recent count), more than 70,000 Americans died from overdoses of this synthetic opioid (about 193 a day), placing it on the list of the 10 main causes of death in the country, immediately after diabetes.

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The Trump administration focused on the problem, but COVID-19 and the electoral crisis diverted concerns. Since this year, Joe Biden’s government has made it one of its priorities.

However, their concern is not only internal but, as part of Washington’s anti-drug policy, it aims to tackle the issue at its roots: attack production and prevent narcotics from entering US territory. A task that, until now, is not producing results. Even more so if one of the actors is none other than China, his nemesis.

According to the DEA, a good part of the inputs (or chemical precursors) used for illegal fentanyl come from Chinese laboratories, while Mexican cartels are dedicated to introducing them into the United States, a profitable business for organized crime because it is a drug. which has the ideal combination: cheap, powerful, addictive and easy to transport.

In 2019, China collaborated. In fact, at the express request of the US, it prepared a list with all the variables of fentanyl and placed them under a regulatory regime. Cooperation seemed to be going from strength to strength, but the effort came to a screeching halt after the trade war then unleashed from Washington and, of course, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, there have only been disagreements between both powers and the geopolitical tension has not decreased: economic sanctions, the very delicate issue of Taiwan (the visit of Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi to the island stopped the dialogue from Beijing) and support for Russia come being obstacles that prevent China from wanting to resume any cooperation regarding fentanyl, a problem that, they consider, is a health issue for Americans.

“Attacking and smearing China will not cure the chronic problem of drug abuse in the United States, but will only delay the problem of drug control.” [en ese país] towards a major social crisis,” El Diario del Pueblo, mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, editorialized in June.

“The American pharmaceutical industry pushed, without further restriction, the consumption of opioids in North American society two decades ago, and that generated the fentanyl crisis and caused enormous demand,” Jesús Ágreda Rudenko, an internationalist and professor at the University, told El Comercio. Faculty of International and Political Studies of the Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá. “This demand in the US was met with a global context in which the supply was very significant. And China was an active producer in the international market,” he adds. “We know that China and the United States are in a situation of global competition, but voices have appeared in the United States accusing China of playing dirty and seeking to weaken them by means other than economic or military means.”

According to DEA investigations, since 2019, Chinese traffickers decided to send fentanyl precursors through Mexico, colluding with the cartels in that country.

Several Republican legislators have promoted initiatives – still without success – to classify Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations, which would provide the justification to intervene militarily in the Aztec country and put an end to drug laboratories.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has not remained silent and criticized “American imperialism.” However, his government promised to take measures to prevent the arrival of supplies to the country and attack the trafficking problem. Something in which they have not cooperated much either.

“The president has not been interested in taking action on the matter and in this six-year term the drug cartels have been allowed to strengthen impressively. And this drug is manufactured in Mexico, although he says otherwise,” says Roxana Juárez Parra, an analyst at the consulting firm Southern Pulse, from Mexico.

“Although the United States signed an agreement with China a few years ago regarding the control of chemical precursors, the black market still exists,” he adds.

However, despite all the complaints and investigations, an issue that is not discussed much in the United States is how to prevent its citizens from becoming addicted and not having such open access to narcotics.

“Latin America has widely questioned the US anti-drug policy that seeks to hit supply, something that has been implemented for 40 years and has not generated results, but it turns out that demand is not attacked,” says Ágreda.

“This drug is so accessible that it is not only a health problem, but a social problem. There are two factors: it is consumed by young people with a low educational level, and that is a terrible combination, because it is also very cheap and easy to transport, something that we had not seen before,” Juárez Parra points out.

Thus, while everyone is blaming each other, people continue dying because of a drug that was initially used as a painkiller and has now become a time bomb.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.