USA and China They resumed talks this Wednesday to stop the production of ingredients used in the production of the fentanyla lethal synthetic opiate causing an epidemic that leaves more than 70,000 deaths from overdose in the North American country.
What the US hopes is that China cooperate in attacking the companies that manufacture the chemical precursors of fentanyl and cut off financing for their commercialization. Furthermore, its neighboring country, Mexico, announced days ago that they intend to ban it.
The drugwhich is more powerful than morphine and heroin, caused an addiction epidemic in the United States, with more than 70,000 deaths annually due to overdose, becoming the main cause of death among people between 18 and 49 years oldaccording to the country’s health authorities.
The US – China meeting in the context of the fentanyl crisis
The American delegation in Beijing is led by Jen Daskaldeputy advisor for Homeland Security, and also includes senior officials from the departments of State, Treasury, Interior and Justice.
John Kirbyspokesman for the White House National Security Council, called the meetings a ”good start,” but warned that ”There’s still much to do”.
“The goal here is to create concrete actions that lead to a reduction in the precursor chemicals that are killing so many Americans,” he explained.
Daskal, for his part, warned that “synthetic drugs are killing many thousands of people,” after being received by the Chinese Minister of Public Security, Wang Xiaohong.
“President Joe Biden sent such an important delegation to emphasize the importance of this issue for the American people,” added the official, quoted by the AFP news agency.
In turn, Wang pointed out that the creation of an anti-narcotics working group of the two main world powers represents an “important common understanding” reached by Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at their meeting last November in San Francisco. He assured that the conversations held throughout the day were “deep” and “pragmatic.”
The United States assured that it will “provide a platform to facilitate coordination aimed at attacking the illegal production, financing and distribution of illicit drugs”.
“For years, bilateral anti-narcotics cooperation between the United States and the People’s Republic of China has been suspended, preventing progress“said a senior US official last week.
“But that changed at the November 15 meeting”added the official, who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity.
Mexico wants to ban it too
Five days ago, the president of Mexico, Andrés López Obradorannounced that within the package of constitutional reforms that he plans to present on February 5, there is including the prohibition of the use of chemical drugs such as fentanylwhich he called “the main problem of young people today in the United States.”
“One of the initiatives that I am going to present to reform the Constitution is to prohibit the consumption of chemical drugs such as fentanyl and other issues related to drug addiction, it is something that we have to take great care of,” said the left-wing president.
López Obrador warned that the United States “He is suffering a lot from the consumption of fentanyl and it is very painful that many young people lose their lives. There is talk of 100,000 young people.”.
The issue of fentanyl usually generates constant controversies and even friction between Mexico and the United States, since both governments accuse each other of illegally exporting it to their territory, causing havoc among those who consume it.
Source: Ambito
