MEXICO CITY, July 18 (Reuters) - Precursor chemicals used by Mexican cartels to make the deadly opioid fentanyl do not come from China, its embassy in Mexico said on Tuesday, rejecting U.S. officials' accusations.The embassy said in a statement that China had measures in place to prevent the trafficking of substances used to make illegal drugs, and added the U.S. was "blindly shirking its responsibilities" by not taking domestic action."The root of the fentanyl crisis in the United States is within itself," the embassy said.U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has been seeking cooperation with both Mexico and China in stemming the flow of fentanyl, which has fueled a health crisis and a sharp rise in overdose deaths, as well as its precursor chemicals...
2. The aforementioned control measures for fentanyl-like substances are unprecedented measures in China's drug control practices. They are a concrete demonstration of China's implementation of the concept of joint governance of the world drug problem, and have been fully recognized by the international community. After China listed the entire class of fentanyl substances, it has not received any notifications from other countries about the seizure of fentanyl-like substances from China.3. The responsibility to prevent the flow of unscheduled chemicals into drug production rests with the importing country.4. As is well known, the United States is a large producer of chemical raw materials in the world. However, while China has controlled the entire category of fentanyl substances as of May 1, 2019, the United States has yet to permanently schedule fentanyl-related substances. The United States is confusing right and wrong, blindly shirking its responsibilities and citing non-scheduled substances as a problem. This is extremely irresponsible behavior for the American people. The root of the fentanyl crisis in the United States is within itself, and reducing domestic supply and demand is the fundamental solution. What the United States must do is reflect on itself, strengthen domestic control of prescription drugs,
I can't help but relish the implication that fentanyl precursors are being made in the US (why else would you be noting that the US is a large producer of raw materials?) That's pretty silly as a distraction technique, but nevertheless a bold strategy.
[Long time readers of the blog will know that I'm not exactly a supporter of the Chinese government. I sense that the Chinese chemical sector is so large and diverse that someone selling fentanyl prcursors would actually be kind of tough to track down on the supply end, but I have no idea. I am grimly amused at the Chinese government saying that the US is responsible for preventing the importing of illegal drugs, which, fair enough. More funding for the DEA, I guess.]
The country that keeps the Uyghurs in concentration camps is scolding us on not knowing right from wrong.
ReplyDeletesince 1 kilo of fentanyl = 1 million of recreational doses; the drug gangs would need to obtain just kilo quantities of precursors (as opposed to tens/hundreds of kilos like with most other drugs) to flood the US with the stuff, and precursors to fentanyl are very common, have many legit uses. And you cannot ban access to aniline or propionic acid. There are at least three distinct routes to fentanyl, so focusing on a particular precursor will be only a minor nuisance to the manufacturers. Drug gangs of Mexico often decentralize their operations, give out the procedure and materials to a number of cooks who perform it in semi-improv conditions and fentanyl is particularly suitable to this since you do not need to work with large volumes, or have a professional setup - and if a cook overdoses accidentally by spilling it in a garage/apartment lab, someone else can be trained to take his place
ReplyDeleteIndeed, the existence of more potent fentanyl analogs means these can be produced on relatively small scales, which is completely feasible to do within the borders of the country. any random organic chemistry phd student could probably produce and then scale up n-(methyl/benzyl/phenethyl/...)-4-piperidone to a few kg even in lab hood conditions over few months at the most. if the difficulty and cost of importing precursors becomes too high, there's nothing standing in the way.
ReplyDelete"any random organic chemistry phd" ... As opposed to?
Deletei mean to say a capable person could do it, without exceptional luck or exceptional skills (beyond standard chemistry skills) - as opposed to other potent drugs such as LSD, where without ergot alkaloid precursors the chemist would have to be exceptionally motivated and talented to successfully pull that off at scale.
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