DEA, US lawmakers point to China’s role in fentanyl crisis

Lawmakers are meeting Thursday, March 23, to discuss how China and other countries are helping to funnel fentanyl and other drugs across U.S. borders. They are also detailing how new tactics used by the U.S. government to confiscate fentanyl are working.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has said China remains the primary source of fentanyl trafficked into the United States. A House committee will look into how the Chinese Communist Party is financially backing the crisis that continues to be the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 45 years old.

Committee members claim that with the help of cartels in Mexico, China is able to distribute fentanyl and chemicals that cartels use to make the drug.

A U.S. delegation traveled to Mexico during the week of March 20 to discuss the fentanyl crisis with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He said he will request that China stops sending fentanyl and chemicals to make fentanyl into Mexico to help stop the drugs funneling into the U.S. 

While lawmakers try to determine and expose the source of the crisis, a new government operation, called Blue Lotus, is on the front lines. In its first week, the week of March 20, 2023, Department of Homeland Security personnel, alongside border agents, stopped more than 900 pounds of fentanyl from coming into the U.S.