 "US President Donald Trump. File image/Reuters")
US President Donald Trump has accused China of not curbing the flow of precursor chemicals for fentanyl and said that the country should start sentencing people to death for the manufacture and distribution of the chemical that is behind thousands of deaths in the US.
“I think we’re going to work it out so that China is going to end up going from that to giving the death penalty to the people that create this fentanyl and send it into our country,” Trump said. “I believe that’s going to happen soon.”
While Washington has long blamed Beijing for supplying fentanyl to the country, China has defended its drug control record and accused Washington of using fentanyl to “blackmail” China.
The development comes amid easing US-China tensions as both countries try to reach a deal on tariffs. Earlier this year, Trump imposed a 20 per cent tariff on China over the fentanyl issue, hoping to stem the drug problem.
Trump signs executive order
The president hosted congressional leaders and families affected by the fentanyl epidemic as he signed an executive order to stop the supply of the deadly drug into the US.
The Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act will increase prison terms for drug offences involving fentanyl-related substances. It will also classify all fentanyl-related substances, particularly imitation versions of the drug, as Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act, placing them on the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s list of the most dangerous drugs.
More than 450,000 Americans have died of synthetic opioid overdoses over the past decade, with millions more addicted.
“Under the HALT Fentanyl Act, anyone who possesses, imports, distributes, or manufactures any illicit FRS (fentanyl-related substances) will be subject to criminal prosecution in the same manner as any other Schedule I controlled substance,” a White House document related to the executive order read, according to CNN.
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Beijing has also taken a series of actions on counter-narcotics in recent weeks. These included adding two more fentanyl precursors, 4-piperidone and 1-boc-4-piperidone, to a list of controlled chemicals starting on Sunday.
Last month, Chinese state media reported that immigration officials have seized more than 2 tons of drugs and arrested 262 suspects for drug smuggling so far this year.
Chinese officials also said they had prosecuted more than 1,300 people and arrested over 700 more nationwide for drug-related money laundering offences between January and May this year, a 2.1 per cent year-on-year increase.
With inputs from Reuters