President Trump has made combating the flow of fentanyl and its analogues from China and other countries a top priority. And over the past year, his administration has made historic progress in the battle against these deadly opioids being trafficked into the United States.
The public knows all too well that these trafficked synthetic opioids are killing tens of thousands and driving drug overdose deaths across our nation.
In December 2018, Trump secured a commitment from Chinese President Xi Jinping to address the issue of fentanyl trafficking. Since then, the Chinese government has taken a series of concrete and deliberate actions in response to his request. On May 1, 2019, China permanently scheduled all fentanyl drugs as a class, which places substances under regulatory control and makes them illegal for manufacture, possession, or sale. This action has denied traffickers their well-known tactic of switching from one fentanyl analogue to another to avoid detection and prosecution.
Since then, the Chinese government has engaged the U.S. to improve its ability to detect synthetic drugs, and it has increased its law enforcement information-sharing with American agencies. Moreover, last September, the Chinese government invited senior officials from our embassy in Beijing to witness the conviction and sentencing of nine individuals for fentanyl trafficking. Due in large measure to these efforts, by the end of 2019, the U.S. saw a measurable decrease in the flow of fentanyl and its analogues directly from China into the U.S.
Here at home, in February 2018, the Justice Department placed all fentanyl-related substances under control as Schedule I drugs on a temporary, emergency basis, which by law will expire on February 6, 2020. If both houses of Congress fail to pass legislation in the coming days, these dangerous fentanyl analogues that have ruined so many lives and caused so many American deaths will be released from their current regulatory control. This would be a significant obstacle to law enforcement’s ability to prevent the purchase, shipment, sale, or possession of these often-fatal drugs.
The fentanyl class-scheduling action that the Chinese government took in May 2019 is the same one the U.S. took on a temporary emergency basis in February 2018. Throughout 2019, the Trump administration worked with Congress and across the federal government to craft a legislative solution to make this temporary class scheduling of fentanyl permanent. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, along with the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, worked to reconcile two important aspects of the issue: controlling substances being brought into the country before they can kill Americans, while at the same time ensuring our researchers have access to these substances to determine if any have medical merit, including perhaps even the potential to help address the opioid crisis.
The Senate recently passed the bipartisan Temporary Reauthorization and Study of the Emergency Scheduling of Fentanyl Analogues Act, which extends the scheduling order for 15 months. If the House does not act now, the Chinese government will have more regulatory and legal control over these substances than the U.S. We cannot let this happen. Further, as drug trafficking networks relocate to other countries in response to stronger regulations in China, our ability to hold other nations accountable where illicit fentanyl producers operate will be significantly diminished unless we permanently schedule these drugs. It would badly undermine our ability to save American lives.
As the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, I believe it is imperative that the House act now to pass the Senate-approved bill and prevent a vital regulatory action from lapsing, letting known dangerous substances loose on our communities once again. Through Trump’s strong leadership and visionary diplomacy, we worked with the Chinese government to implement a permanent solution in China. It is time for the House of Representatives to enact the Senate-passed bill and then continue working with the Senate on a permanent fix.
The clock is ticking — Congress must act now.
U.S. Drug Czar Jim Carroll serves as director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
