Stop Flooding America with Fentanyl: A Plea for Lives

Stop the fentanyl epidemic that is taking American lives!

This is the strong message conveyed by the Trump administration’s imposition of fentanyl tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico.

Currently, China remains a primary supplier of precursor chemicals that Mexican drug cartels rely on to produce fentanyl in both Mexico and Canada.

The Trump fentanyl tariffs are set at a 20% tariff on all products imported from China, in addition to existing tariffs, alongside a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican products that fall outside the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Any retaliation from China, Canada, or Mexico will not safeguard a single American life.

What is essential is a firm commitment from each nation and decisive actions that will promptly address the fentanyl crisis.

Maintaining the status quo is NOT a viable option.

The fentanyl crisis affects us all: Each American feels the impact, as everyone knows someone who has lost a loved one to this epidemic.

Survivors are engulfed in despair and suffering.

This insidious weapon of mass destruction, often described as fentanyl, is costing the nation trillions of dollars annually.

The financial burden includes both criminal-justice and healthcare expenses, not to mention the massive decline in productivity — fentanyl is the leading cause of death among prime-age workers and military-aged youth.

Officially, fentanyl-related fatalities exceed 70,000 each year, comparable to the annual number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents and gun violence.

However, this figure significantly understates the actual toll, as fentanyl is often mixed into other illegal drugs and counterfeit prescription medications.

The drug’s versatility comes from its potency, low cost, ease of smuggling, and highly addictive nature.

Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin, producing a rapid and intense high similar to heroin but making it harder to overcome.

Just four pounds of fentanyl can potentially kill nearly one million Americans, and the same amount of heroin costs five to ten times more than fentanyl.

It’s no surprise that Mexican drug cartels are eager to dilute heroin with Chinese fentanyl to deceive users and maximize profits, despite the deadly consequences.

Moreover, fentanyl is not limited to heroin; it’s being added to other drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine (speed), and MDMA (Ecstasy).

Worryingly, the Chinese government actively supports the production of fentanyl precursors through substantial subsidies to chemical manufacturers.

These merchants of death ship their toxic cargo in 50-gallon drums to various ports along the Mexican coast.

Many of these ports are controlled by China, including Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico’s largest port, ensuring minimal risk of interdiction.

In addition, drug cartels often offer security for these chemicals at the ports, shielding them from any unbribed law enforcement officials.

The Chinese government possesses the power to terminate this fentanyl trade swiftly, utilizing its extensive authoritarian mechanisms.

Yet, they have chosen not to act, as was evidenced by a notable Trump tweet from August 23, 2019 — “President Xi claimed this would cease — it hasn’t.”

President Trump astutely observed that Canada and Mexico had been negligent in combatting fentanyl trafficking effectively.

The tariffs he implemented jolted those nations into taking action, and they are now beginning to address the issue.

We must discard the misconception that fentanyl exclusively targets drug addicts involved in illicit substance use.

In fact, a significant, yet often overlooked, danger lurks for Americans who use prescription medications, leading them to believe they are immune to fentanyl poisoning.

This threat materializes in the form of counterfeit prescription drugs laced with fentanyl — including painkillers like Oxycodone and Vicodin, sleeping aids like Ambien, antidepressants such as Xanax, attentional disorder medications like Adderall, and sedatives like Valium.

Price-conscious Americans may unwittingly purchase these drugs via various social media platforms or delve into the dark web, potentially ending their lives without even realizing it.

The numbers are alarming: The Drug Enforcement Administration has seized over 80 million doses of counterfeit medications containing fentanyl in the most recent statistics.

Following the rule of ten, the actual number of fake pills infiltrating the market may be nearing one billion annually — sufficient to endanger us all.

As a final cautionary note, the equipment used for pill fabrication is of exceptionally high quality, rendering the counterfeit pills and their packaging virtually indistinguishable from legitimate drugs, making detection by even drug-company security personnel challenging without advanced testing methods like mass spectrometry and chromatography.

President Trump has vowed to dismantle this lethal fentanyl trade and has called upon China, Canada, and Mexico for their cooperation.

The ball is now in their court regarding the tariffs.

Retaliation is not a viable option — at least, not one that will sway President Trump from fulfilling his promise to the American public.

This issue transcends party lines — it is an American crisis imported from abroad.

United, we must confront this peril.

Peter Navarro is the White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.