Rep. Scott Franklin (R-FL) believes China purposely uses fentanyl against the United States to profit off this drug epidemic.
“China is weaponizing fentanyl against the U.S. by supplying Mexican drug cartels with the chemicals they use to make it. Not only is this supply chain a moneymaker for the Chinese economy, it also kills more Americans each year than we lost in the entirety of the Vietnam War,” Franklin said in a statement to State Newswire. “It’s an attack on our country and the Biden administration must take the necessary measures by pushing back on China and securing our border. It’s time to take the gloves off.”
Even though China moved to regulate fentanyl and two of its precursors in 2019, the nation is still the top supplier of fentanyl in the U.S., although most of it is supplied indirectly, according to a Brookings Institute report. It describes China’s cooperation in counternarcotics efforts as “highly selective, self-serving, limited and subordinated to its geopolitical interests.” China has refused to accept co-responsibility with Mexico for the fentanyl epidemic and maintains that Mexican law enforcement should step up even as Chinese criminal actors expand their operations within Mexico. Approximately 1 million Americans have died from drug overdoses since 1999.
Since 2018 the relationship between the U.S. and China has deteriorated. The U.S. has adopted a tougher foreign policy posture toward China, while China has also grown more assertive about defending its interests, the Wall Street Journal reported. Chinese officials and members from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and State Department have stopped discussing fentanyl, according to officials from the Biden administration.
China leads the world in chemical exports, with between 160,000 and 400,000 chemical manufacturers and distributors located in the country, many of whom operate illegally, according to the Brookings Institute.
The DEA reported seizing more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl in 2022, enough fentanyl to kill every American. Two milligrams of fentanyl, an amount small enough to fit on a pencil tip, is considered a potentially deadly dose.
Fentanyl is cheap to produce and high in potency, so many drug traffickers mix it in with other drugs, according to the DEA, which said agents have found the synthetic opioid in basically every street drug, as well as in counterfeit prescription pills. Mexican cartels can purchase the raw chemicals from China, produce fentanyl cheaply and then mix it in with other drugs, which are then trafficked into the U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control has reported over 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Franklin was first elected to Congress in 2020, according to his website. He is a sitting member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Congress to represent Florida's 15th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives House Committee on Oversight and Reform. He served for 26 years as a naval aviator, 14 on active duty and the other 12 in the reserves.
