Good governance key to ending US fentanyl crisis

Drugs and substance abuse in the United States have been a major social problem for years. In recent years, the abuse of opioids has become a public health crisis across the US. The previous Donald Trump administration repeatedly accused China of illegally exporting fentanyl to the US and worsening the opioid crisis, and imposed sanctions on Chinese entities and individuals.

The Joe Biden administration has maintained that policy, on May 30 imposing sanctionson 17 people and entities based in China and Mexico who it accused of enabling production of counterfeit fentanyl-laced pills, in one of its latest unfounded moves to prevent the import of opioids fueling the "drug epidemic".

The US approach lacks basis and is seriously inconsistent with the actual situation. Its real purpose is to pass on the buck to China and other countries for its own governance failure. Such bullying tactics will not help the US to control the "opioid epidemic".

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid used by pharmaceutical companies in painkillers and anesthetics. It is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. But fentanyl-based opioids are highly addictive pain relievers, which is borne out by an increase by more than two times in fentanyl-related overdose deaths in the US from 2016 to 2021, according to data of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The "opioid crisis", in fact, is closely related to the interests of pharmaceutical companies. Since the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies that produce opioids have been promoting the benefits of opioids, saying opioids can reduce the suffering of patients and are not as addictive as some claim it to be. Such promotions, although packaged as a scientific concept, are actually aimed at increasing the sale of their products and make more profits.

Misconceptions and the lure of profit allow doctors to prescribe more fentanyl-based painkillers, leading to an oversupply of opioid painkillers. While some big US pharmaceutical companies have been penalized for promoting and selling opioid-based painkillers, the government's campaign against the dangers of drugs and the treatment of drug addicts has fallen far short of what needs to be done.

The US administration's regulatory policies have many deficiencies. Since the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a "temporary order" to temporarily control fentanyl-related substance abuse for two years in 2018, the previous Trump administration as well as the incumbent Biden administration has extended it just before it was supposed to end, exposing the shortcomings of the move.

Although the US has managed to control the abuse of fentanyl to some extent for the time being, the creation of a foolproof system remains uncertain, which is not conducive to ending drug abuse in the long run. Permanently scheduling the entire category of fentanyl-based substances is necessary to control fentanyl abuse in the US.

China has taken active measures to control the production of and supply of fentanyl, which should help the US resolve the fentanyl crisis. In May 2019, China implemented strict control measures on the entire category of fentanyl-based substances. In terms of intensity and scope, China's control over fentanyl has far surpassed that of the US.

No wonder there is no large-scale fentanyl abuse in China. By strengthening control on fentanyl production and supply, China has been helping the US to control the fentanyl crisis.

The root cause of the fentanyl crisis in the US lies in ineffective domestic governance. The US needs to take measures to reduce domestic demand for fentanyl and strengthen the management of prescription drugs, as well as strengthen supervision of interstate drug prescribing, instruct physicians to not prescribe high doses of opioid-based painkillers, in order to reduce the demand for opioids at the source.

Improving domestic anti-drug law enforcement and border control could also help ease the US' fentanyl crisis. Washington's accusations and sanctions against Beijing will not only fail to alleviate the drug abuse problem in the US, but also undermine law enforcement cooperation between the US and China in the field of drug control.

History teaches us valuable lessons. As a country that encountered the most serious drug crisis in the world, China has suffered more than a century of humiliation since the First Opium War (1840-42). Since China suffered the evil effects of drugs in the past, China has always supported the US and other countries in their fight against drugs.

However, some US media outlets claim that China is the main source of fentanyl-based substances in the US, which is groundless and aimed at discrediting China. China is engaged in drug control law enforcement cooperation with other countries under the framework of United Nations conventions. As a matter fact, China is an integral part of the global fight against drugs and is committed to ending the global drug menace.

The US needs to reflect on its laws and rules to control the abuse of drugs, abandon its arrogance and prejudice, and take measures to improve Sino-US relations. Only on the basis of mutual respect can China cooperate with the US to combat drug abuse.

The author is an associate researcher at the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

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