The fentanyl crisis in the United States: The wrong medicine can't cure the disease

The new US government imposed an extra 10 percent tariff on imports from China on the grounds that China should be held accountable for the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States.

Again the US is blaming others for its own problem—a habitual tactic of the US government to deflect attention from its own failures. In this case, it is also used to provide a handy excuse for slapping more levies on Chinese products. But the consequence of so doing is obvious—the wrong medicine can never cure the disease.

The looming threat of the fentanyl crisis in the US

In recent years, the epidemic of drug abuse in the US is threatening to spiral out of control. Among all the drugs, fentanyl, a synthetic opioid painkiller 50 times more potent than heroin, poses the greatest threat. When used legally as a prescription drug, it can bring benefits to patients who need it. But in the case of improper prescription or illegal use, it will lead to addiction and even fatalities.

Statistics from the International Narcotics Control Board show that the US is both the largest producer and the largest consumer of fentanyl and similar drugs globally. With around 4percent of the world’s population, the US consumes 80percent of the world’s opioids. It is estimated that over 100,000 Americans died from drug overdose in 2023, and more than 70,000 of the deaths were attributed to fentanyl drugs. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has labeled it as “the deadliest drug threat the US has ever faced.”

A domestic issue misattributed to China

Although the US government has acknowledged the problem, its response has been slow and ineffective. Faced with mounting public criticism, the US government has targeted China to distract public attention. In 2022, the US Department of Justice and the Treasury prosecuted and sanctioned 31 Chinese companies and 39 individuals citing fentanyl as the reason. In 2023, President Joe Biden submitted the annual International Drug Control Strategy Report to Congress, identifying China as a “major source country of drugs.” In 2024, one Select Committee of the US Congress alleged that the Chinese government subsidized fentanyl export with tax rebates.

But the fact is that as early as 2019, China announced the official listing of the entire class of fentanyl substances, becoming the first country in the world to do so. Moreover, China has put in place an import and export licensing and international verification system for all regulated chemicals, effectively blocking the smuggling of fentanyl substances out of the country.

According to the US Customs and Border Protection and other drug law enforcement agencies, since then, the US has not seized fentanyl-like substances from China—a resounding evidence that vindicates the effectiveness of China’s counter-narcotics actions. In contrast, the US has yet to officially list the entire class of fentanyl substances, which is extremely irresponsible for the American people and detrimental to efforts to rein in the crisis.

The unaddressed root cause

The fentanyl crisis in the US didn’t occur overnight. It was the result of the US government’s long-term mismanagement of the opioid problem and neglect of social issues. Around 2000, the US medical establishment promoted pain management as the “fifth vital sign,” encouraging doctors to prescribe large amounts of opioid painkillers to patients. Many pharmaceutical companies assured doctors and patients that these drugs wouldn’t cause addiction, a claim that turned out to be an outright lie. Long-term users of opioids got addicted and turned to illicit sources for the drugs once the prescription stopped. It was in this context that fentanyl changed from prescription drugs to illegal drugs and gradually became a public health crisis sweeping the US, making the American people pay a heavy price.

Notwithstanding all this, opioid drugs like OxyContin, heroin and fentanyl have not been banned in the US Many have attributed this to the complicated interplay of vested interests among large pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies and related industries and the mutual endorsement between professional interest groups and regulatory bodies like the Food and Drug Administration. This is why the problem is so intractable. As a result, the US government is simply unable to solve the drug crisis, only taking it as an “election gimmick” raised every four years, and now an excuse to launch trade wars against other countries.

The right prescription

Clearly, it is the US itself to blame for the fentanyl crisis. To solve it, the remedy must be suited to the problem. Instead of shifting responsibility to others, the US needs to strengthen domestic control of prescription drugs, enhance public awareness of the danger of the scourge and reduce domestic drug demand. Forcing others to take medicine for one’s own illness will never solve it.

The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Xinhua News, Global Times, China Daily, CGTN etc. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com.