The United States and China on Saturday agreed to work together to combat the flow of fentanyl and other related drugs coming into America from China. Fentanyl is more potent than even heroin, and its influx has led to overdoses and deaths in parts of the country already ravaged by heroin and prescription painkillers.
The new agreement comes as President Obama makes a state visit to China this weekend.
The White House statement on the deal disclosed few specifics, but said China has agreed to crack down on exports of substances that are controlled in the US, but not China. The countries have also agreed to exchange more law enforcement and scientific information, with the potential for “coordinated actions” at a later date.
“These are important steps, but there is still much more work we can do to protect Americans from dangerous and increasingly lethal narcotics,” National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. He urged Congress to approve the $1.1 billion in funding to combat the opioid crisis that Obama has requested.
Much of the fentanyl flooding the United States can be traced back to China. It is often mixed with heroin to produce a more potent high, sometimes without the knowledge of those using it.
Fentanyl is believed to have been a factor in the West Virginia town that saw 26 overdoses in a matter of hours last month and in the overdose death this year of the legendary musician Prince.
Prince, he had a knee op, got prescribed Fentanyl, (OxyContin) dead 18 months later. Most don’t last very long on that prescription, horror!
Fentanyl IS oxycodone, ie a PRESCRIPTION drug. It doesn’t come from China, it comes from AFGHANISTAN. All those poppy fields the USA troops had to PROTECT for American pharma companies. So does this mean the Sackler Family, and their pharma company can not longer sell Oxycontin? Please clarify Mr USA president?
Fentanyl is not Oxycodone. That is a very dangerous thing to put out there should an uninformed individual take your word for it. Using Morphine as a baseline, 20mg of IR Oxycodone is equivelant to 30mg of Morphine. Fentanyl is believed to be 80 to 100x stronger than Morphine. This is why Fentanyl is dosed in *micrograms* not -milli-grams. Lets assume Fentanyl is in fact 100x stronger than Morphine: If a person is taking 180mg of oral Morphine a day and switches to Fentanyl Patches, their dosage would be 1800 -micro-grams per hour over 24 hours. That is a mere 1.8 -Milli-grams for the entire 24 hour day. It sounds like a lot to those who aren’t familiar but if that 1.8 -milli-grams were taken in one shot sublingually then the person would be..quite dead. It is important that anyone reading a comment such as yours, Angela, doesn’t walk away with the very dangerous misinformation you included in your comment. And I won’t both addressing the differences between Oxycodone and Oxycontin except to say once again there are important differences.
Also, Fentanyl does not come from poppy fields. It is 100% synthetic. Purely man made. And it most certainly is made in clandestine labs all over the world. Your own neighbor could be making some.
The US, more than any other country, seems incapable/unwilling to see the fundamentally flawed approach in dealing with drug trafficking. As long as, there is someone willing to buy drugs, there will always be someone happy to sell them. The US should face the sad reality that it has a population addicted to drugs and try to go to the root of the question (like, why so many people want to use fentanyl?). Admittedly, that probably would mean questioning the whole working of the US society and its way of life.
Yep that Sackler pharma company, they love a good supply, they billionaires instantly after getting FDA approval to flog stuff MORE addictive than heroin. Who are the drug dealers again? They were selling this prescription stuff by the BUCKETLOAD in Florida, all totally LEGAL, seems pharma can sell it all they want, but if someone on sells ONE pill, they go to jail for 7 years, all goods confiscated? Now doesn’t that sound like a pimp, get everyone addicted, then get them to on flog the stuff. Meanwhile Sackler family, sit back mafia millionaires.