Collaboration is key to solving China's opioid epidemic, US officials say

Law enforcement officials in the United States reaffirmed the Trump administration Thursday that synthetic opioids produced in China are fueling an opioid epidemic in the United States that is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people each year.

At the same time, however, they took the trouble to distance themselves from some of the heated debate on the issue and expressed cautious optimism about the collaboration between the US and Chinese drug control agencies to help counter the crisis. .

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid about 50 times more potent than heroin, is "shipped to the United States by mail or express mail from China," said Paul Knierim of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). . sub-committees of foreign affairs representatives.

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Knierim, deputy chief of operations at the Bureau of Global Enforcement at the DEA, cited the influx of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl from China and Mexico as the main reason for the increase in opioid overdoses.

Overdoses in the United States attributable to fentanyl more than doubled between 2015 and 2016, reaching nearly 19,500 deaths, compared to an overall 21% increase in overdoses over the same period, according to statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers. for Control and prevention of diseases.

Last year, the drug killed about 29,500 people in the United States, nearly double the number of people who died from a heroin overdose.

Knierim's statements come as Washington lawmakers seek new legislation that would strengthen control controls over international parcels arriving in the US to counter the influx of controlled substances and materials considered a security threat national.

The 2018 Prevention of Synthetic Surgeries and Overdoses Act (STOP Act), which was passed by the Senate on June 14 and is awaiting Senate approval, would require parcels arriving by the US Postal Service The Act also provides for the United States to provide technology to foreign entities to strengthen their outbound mail filtering processes.

But government witnesses at Thursday's hearing also found a less confrontational tone than the high-level remarks made between Washington and Beijing in recent weeks, led by a statement made by US President Donald Trump on Twitter.

"It is outrageous that the toxic synthetic heroin Fentanyl enters the US postal system from China," Trump tweeted on Aug. 20, before calling on the Senate to approve the STOP Act as soon as possible.

These comments were rejected by high-ranking votes in the Chinese National Commission for Drug Control (NNCC), with the committee member Yu Haibin calling them "totally unacceptable" and "irresponsible," according to CNN.

"The United States has no evidence that most of the fentanyl in the country comes from China," CN quoted Yu as saying. "It is very irresponsible to draw such a conclusion on the basis of some individual cases."

At Thursday's hearing, government witnesses attempted to highlight the fruitful collaboration between the governments of both countries and minimize conflictual dialogue.

There is "a lot of red dots" in the rhetoric between the two governments, Kirsten Madison of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL), acknowledged.

"But as long as we get the cooperation we need [China]it's the most important thing, "said Madison, deputy secretary of INL, an agency of the State Department.

The story continues