Stepping Sober Praises Agreement Between Trump and Chinese Government
After years of pressure from the US, Fentanyl has finally been labeled a controlled substance in China.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 03, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The opioid epidemic has been affecting the American population over most of the past decade. After years of suggestion from US officials, Chinese President Xi Jinping has agreed to label the deadly opioid drug fentanyl a controlled substance. Along with the new label, it makes the drug illegal to sell to the US and doing so will result in "China's maximum penalty under the law".
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is said to be 80-100 times more potent than morphine. It is sold on the street mixed with heroin or disguised as heroin to make the drug more potent. There have also been cases where fentanyl has been mixed with cocaine, recent overdose death of musician Mac Miller was attributed to a deadly combination of the two illegal drugs. In 2017, there were over 72,000 drug overdose deaths recorded and from this number over 29,000 were due to fentanyl.
President Trump declared the opioid epidemic as a national public health emergency in 2017 and since has been trying to stop the trafficking of this drug from China as a top priority for his administration. He has said that by curbing fentanyl it will save tens of thousands of lives.
This move by President Trump and the Chinese President Xi was said to be, "The single most important step that could be taken to stop the flow of deadly fentanyl" by the Chair of the Senate's Health Committee, Lamar Alexander. President Trump has been praised for securing this agreement. Not only will this stop the fentanyl abuse in the United States, but it should also slow the rise of opioid related deaths in Australia which has also been affected by significant rises in fentanyl related overdoses.
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