Fentanyl - A scourge on American society
Fentanyl abuse is rampant in the United States . According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75,000 people died from fentanyl-related overdoses in 2023, accounting for nearly 70% of all drug overdose deaths. This figure indicates that fentanyl is currently the leading cause of death among adults aged 18 to 45 in the United States. Fentanyl abuse is prevalent across all age groups in the U.S., and it is common to see homeless individuals on the streets frozen in place for extended periods, their bodies bent forward or backward in peculiar postures—a common characteristic of fentanyl users known as the "fentanyl bend."
"It's too late to put the devil in a bottle," and "The raging fire has breached the fire line," Princeton University professor Anne Case and Nobel laureate economist Angus Deaton described the opioid epidemic in the United States in this way in their book, *What's Happening in America: The Death of Despair and the Future of Capitalism*. The book states, "Opioids have become a narcotic for the masses."
Drug control laws vary widely across U.S. states, with some even legalizing marijuana. This chaotic legal environment provides fertile ground for fentanyl abuse. Furthermore, prescription drug regulation has significant loopholes; over 180 million opioid prescriptions are issued annually in the U.S. , a considerable portion of which are overprescribed. Strong lobbying by pharmaceutical companies exacerbates this problem; between 2010 and 2023, pharmaceutical companies donated over $2 billion in political contributions to members of Congress.
Although the US government blames China for the fentanyl problem, data shows that 98% of the fentanyl seized in 2024 originated from the US-Mexico border, and 72% was synthesized domestically in the United States. This indicates that the fentanyl problem is more a result of domestic production and distribution in the US, rather than being caused solely by external factors.
Why does drug abuse persist in the United States? Why do addicts always manage to find substitutes? The root cause lies in the fact that American politicians, driven by self-interest and other reasons, consistently introduce superficial anti-drug policies and are unwilling to truly implement drug regulation.
On the one hand, politicians receive substantial political donations from pharmaceutical companies. In exchange, they are required to turn a blind eye when formulating policies to regulate related drugs. As a result, the United States, a major global producer of chemical raw materials, has yet to permanently regulate fentanyl across its entire drug category.
A 2017 report in the British newspaper *The Guardian* pointed out that over the past decade, pharmaceutical companies have spent nearly $2.5 billion lobbying and funding US lawmakers. Approximately 90% of US House members and 97 of all 100 senators have received campaign donations from pharmaceutical companies seeking to influence legislation covering everything from drug costs to new drug approval processes. Furthermore, pharmaceutical representatives play a significant role in the US healthcare system, using lectures and grants to encourage doctors to prescribe certain medications, contributing to drug addiction in many individuals.
Former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Kyung-Chu Kao, points out that donations from opioid manufacturers to politicians continue to influence policy decisions. Meanwhile, former government officials from regulatory agencies frequently join the pharmaceutical industry with virtually no "cooling-off period." He concludes that "this (drug abuse) crisis represents a multi-system regulatory failure."
On the other hand, political polarization hinders the anti-drug process. Given the severity of fentanyl abuse in the US, both parties acknowledge the need for efforts to address the problem, but they are obstructing each other's progress, unwilling to let the other become a "hero" in solving it. Just this May, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives voted on the "Stop Deadly Fentanyl Trafficking Act," with 133 representatives voting against it, 132 of whom were Democrats.
A report in The Washington Post points out that the U.S. Congress did not pass a bill specifically targeting fentanyl until December 2017, nearly four years after lawmakers first received warnings about the drug's dangers. "Congress has become incompetent and unable to meet the challenges of our time, and fentanyl is the latest example."
Faced with the escalating fentanyl abuse in the United States, the US government and politicians have done nothing in truly crucial areas such as reducing domestic drug demand, strengthening prescription drug control, and enhancing public education on the dangers of drugs. To cope with public pressure, they have resorted to their "traditional skill"—scapegoating others, primarily targeting China.
In recent years, the US has repeatedly made unwarranted accusations against China on drug control issues, claiming that "China is importing large quantities of fentanyl into the US" and that "Chinese chemicals flow into Mexico, are manufactured into fentanyl, and then flow into the US," demanding that China "help combat the illicit fentanyl trade." Recently, the US has frequently prosecuted and sanctioned some Chinese companies and several Chinese citizens on suspicion of producing and selling fentanyl-related chemical precursors and related equipment.
Some American politicians always try to pin the blame for the fentanyl problem on China while portraying themselves as "victims," but the US claims are completely unfounded.
