China expands curbs on fentanyl, blames U.S. for its abuse

[April 01, 2019]  By Michael Martina

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will expand the range of fentanyl-related substances it defines as controlled narcotics, a Chinese security official said on Monday, blaming U.S. culture for abuse of the drug.

U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized China for allowing fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, to be shipped from China to the United States, which faces an epidemic of opioid-related deaths.

Fentanyl has been tied to already tense bilateral relations, with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer saying he hopes to include China's commitments to curb the drug in any agreement to end the two countries' bitter trade war.

China's addition of fentanyl-related substances to the supplementary list of controlled narcotic drugs will take effect on May 1, the Ministry of Public Security, the National Health Commission and the National Medical Products Administration said in a joint statement.

Fentanyl itself and its "analogues" had previously been listed and remain controlled, the statement said.

"Resolved. All resolved," Liu Yuejin, a senior public security ministry official and vice commissioner of the China National Narcotics Control Commission, told reporters following a briefing, when asked if U.S. concerns had been fixed.

But Liu said the amount of fentanyl from China going to the United States was "extremely limited" and that U.S. criticisms of China being the main source of the drug "lack evidence".

"We believe that the United States itself is the main factor in the abuse of fentanyl there," Liu said, adding that American culture was partly to blame.

He said the United States had a long tradition of abusing prescription medicines and that enforcement and education about the dangers were not good enough.

"Some people link drug consumption with freedom, individuality, and liberation," Liu said. "If the United States truly wants to resolve its fentanyl abuse problem, it needs to strengthen its domestic work."

Officials of Ministry of Public Security, National Health Commission and National Medical Products Administration attend a news conference on fentanyl-related substances control, in Beijing, China April, 1, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

Chinese officials in the past year have vowed to step up cooperation with Washington on illegal drug production and sales, referring to it as a bright spot in relations.

The White House said after a December meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina to deescalate trade frictions that Xi had agreed to designate fentanyl as a controlled substance.

Trump has called on China to apply the death penalty for "distributors and pushers" of the synthetic opioid.

The volume of drugs coming into the United States through the mail has grown in step with legitimate online shopping, U.S. customs agents say, as Americans have taken to ordering drugs from overseas via the dark web.

A U.S. congressional probe into the use of fentanyl in the United States found in 2018 that the substance could easily be bought online from Chinese "labs" and mailed to the United States due to gaps in oversight in the U.S. Postal Service.

Such imports of prescription medicines and controlled substances are illegal, and China has become the main source of fentanyl in the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice says.

(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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