Arlington, VA - September 30, 2016 - This week the heads of the national drug-control agencies for the United States and the People’s Republic of China, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg and Director General (DG) Hu Minglang from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of the Ministry of Public Security, met at DEA Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia to discuss ways to stop the flow from China to the United States of deadly synthetic drugs.  This meeting follows an announcement by America’s President Obama and China’s President Xi Jingping during the G20 Summit held earlier this month in Hangzhou, China that the U.S. and China will continue to work together to address the illicit supply of fentanyl and its compounds.

Chemical makers in China are the United States’ primary source of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and its compounds.  They are smuggled into the country either directly from China by Americans who order them over the Internet or from Mexico by cartels that purchase the drugs in bulk and then smuggle them, alone or mixed with heroin, across America’s Southwest Border.  When China controlled 116 chemicals, including certain fentanyl-related compounds, in October of 2015, seizures of those drugs here in the United States dropped significantly.  

Recently, the DEA and the NCB have seen an increased level of cooperation and intelligence sharing.  Last month, at the invitation of the NCB, a senior-level DEA delegation traveled to China to learn about their drug control efforts and examine steps to further bilateral cooperation.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opiate painkiller, and related compounds are often mixed with heroin to increase its potency, but dealers and buyers may not know exactly what they are selling or ingesting. These drugs are deadly at very low doses and come in several forms, including powder, blotter paper, tablets, and spray.  Overdoses in the U.S. due to these drugs have increased exponentially in recent years, and DEA has issued national warnings about the danger.    More information about fentanyl and other dangerous synthetic opiates can be found at www.dea.gov.