The United States is going after 8 Chinese companies that it has accused of advertising, manufacturing and distributing precursor chemicals that go into the making of synthetic drug fentanyl. 12 Chinese nationals have also been arrested. Fentanyl is the leading cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States. From 2015, drug overdose deaths have increased more than 7-fold, with more than 100,000 deaths a year linked to drug overdoses since 2020. About two-thirds of these deaths are related to fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). US agencies believe that the Chinese govt isn’t doing anything to stop supply of precursor chemicals to the Mexican drug cartels.
