China funding fentanyl crisis, House panel says
FILE – This photo provided by the U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah and introduced as evidence in a 2019 trial shows fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills collected during an investigation.
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The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has subsidized the manufacturing and export of materials used to make fentanyl through tax rebates, a House select committee alleged in a report.
A months-long investigation into Chinese websites, government documents and data points for narcotics companies has led the House Select Committee on China’s Communist Party to believe the country, under the CCP’s control, has been directly funding the global fentanyl crisis.
By giving tax rebates, the CCP directly subsidized the “manufacturing and export of illicit fentanyl materials and other synthetic narcotics,” committee Chair Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said in a press release summarizing the report’s findings. The findings also showed the CCP gave monetary grants and awards to companies that openly trafficked fentanyl materials.
The CCP holds ownership in several companies that are tied to drug trafficking, including a government prison connected to human rights abuses and that owns a drug trafficking chemical company, according to the release.
Additionally, “rather than investigating drug traffickers,” the People’s Republic of China’s security services refuse to cooperate with U.S. law enforcement, the report found.
“The fentanyl crisis has helped CCP-tied Chinese organized criminal groups become the world’s premier money launderers, enriched the PRC’s chemical industry, and has had a devastating impact on Americans,” the committee heads wrote.
Fentanyl kills more than 200 Americans each day, “the equivalent of a packed Boeing 737 crashing every single day.” It’s the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-45 and millions more who are addicted to it, the release said.
Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi suggested the federal government should create a joint task force to coordinate efforts to find weak points in the supply chain, provide law enforcement and intelligence officials more tools and enhance trade and customs enforcement measures to restrict fentanyl entry into the country.
