Translated by Michela Scappaticci
Fentanyl is the substance at the core of the discussion and negotiations in the China-US agreement held on 15 November 2023 in San Francisco. But what are we talking about?
According to the DEA, - United States Drug Enforcement Administration - Fentanyl is a drug that can be used for painkilling and analgesic purposes. It is a very potent substance: about a hundred times more than morphine and fifty times more than heroin.
This drug was created in 1959 by Dr. Paul Janssen with the aim of creating a prodigious anaesthetic. Because of this effect, it is mainly used to relieve the pain of cancer patients; but it can also be used in veterinary medicine. There are side effects that not only cause physical discomfort, but also lead to real addiction. As an opiate, the main consequences of its administration are euphoria and dizziness. When an abnormal dose is administered, however, the result can be anxiety, sweating, respiratory depression and even cardiac arrest.
This particular drug, as well as other synthetic drugs, are a serious threat to the US, which considers them the cause of most deaths in their country.
In fact, overdose related deaths have doubled from 2015 to 2021. Now the number is 107,000 compared to 52,000 per year. This means that more than 150 people a day die of overdoses.
Fentanyl is considered to be a much more powerful and, above all, cheaper drug than heroin, and it is also used with other synthetic drugs. In addition to this, many substances derived from it are available today. The largest exporter of this drug until 2019 was China. It ranked first not only in the export of fentanyl into the US black market, but also of other opiates responsible for US deaths. After the agreement reached by the two countries, the market shifted from China to Mexico, where the Chinese companies themselves continued their smuggling activities.
Sanctions by the US authorities were not enough to stop this market and it was necessary a meeting between Biden and Xi Jinping on the issue.
The agreement reached by the two countries included a commitment by the Chinese government to prevent not only the export of fentanyl, but also the other substances needed for its production. On the other hand, the US government has promised to remove Chinese companies from the blacklist if they keep the agreement between the two countries.
What looks like a possible solution to a social problem, also looks like a possible opening for dialogue between the two countries.
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