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WASHINGTON – The Ocean County Attorney gave this warning to a panel of the House Thursday: In the next five years, synthetic drugs such as fentanyl will become the drug of choice for drug addicts.
Testifying before a subcommittee on foreign affairs in the House, Joseph Coronato said that such drugs are ordered over the Internet and delivered directly to the customer "at an alarming rate."
"The traditional drug war needs to adapt to this shift in distribution patterns and federal resources must be devoted to this issue," Coronato told the panel. "The Internet order of illicit drugs, including fentanyl, and the delivery of this drug to your door is the next storm."
The meteoric rise of fentanyl in N.J.
Deaths in the county due to a drug overdose increased from 106 in 2014 to 217 in 2016 before decreasing to 174 last year. Nearly two thirds of the victims in 2017 had fentanyl in their systems, up from 10% in 2014.
Coronato also called for more cooperation between US authorities and their Chinese counterparts, where much of the fentanyl is produced. In July, 110 pounds of Chinese-made fentanyl valued at $ 1.7 million were discovered during a routine inspection at the Port of Philadelphia.
President Donald Trump said the opioid crisis was a public health emergency and Kirsten Madison, assistant secretary of state for international drug and police affairs, said the administration was working with China to stem the flow fentanyl
"Bilateral cooperation has yielded concrete results, including arrests, seizures and dismantling of clandestine laboratories by Chinese law enforcement," Madison said. "We continue to encourage China to use all available tools to aggressively counter the threat of illegal production and synthetic opioid trafficking."
Chris Smith, NRJ, Chair of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Human Rights and International Organizations.
"Many American citizens, as well as individuals in many countries, "The global crisis has been exacerbated by the fact that deadly fentanyl is now exported from China," Smith said. China's role in this case must be brought to light. "
Jonathan D. Salant can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
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