Fentanyl Fuels Surge in U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths

Following a months-long investigation, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) released its findings regarding the CCP’s role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis. While it has long been established that China is by far the largest source of fentanyl precursors, the investigation set out to answer the question of whether the Chinese government, known for its highly sophisticated surveillance system, is simply turning a blind eye or whether it is actively encouraging the production and illicit trade of the drug that has wreaked havoc in the United States over the past decade. 

The report, published ahead of a hearing on Tuesday morning, finds that the latter is the case, alleging that the Chinese government directly subsidizes and encourages manufacturing and export of fentanyl materials through tax rebates, monetary grants and award to companies involved in trafficking fentanyl and fentanyl precursors, while failing to prosecute the manufacturing and export of such illicit materials, which stands in stark contrast to its tight control on domestic drug sales. 

"The Committee's work has uncovered persuasive evidence that the PRC and the CCP are not just bystanders; they are prime movers. They are knee-deep in actively sponsoring, encouraging and facilitating the production of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors for distribution in the United States,” former Attorney General William P. Barr said in his testimony on Tuesday. Barr likened the mass distribution of fentanyl to randomly shooting into a crowd, given its deadliness and the fact that its often distributed in a disguised manner in counterfeit prescription drugs such as Xanax or Adderall.

As our chart shows, the United States has seen a dramatic surge in drug overdose deaths over the past 10 years, an increase almost entirely fueled by the rise of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. According to preliminary data published by the CDC, drug overdose deaths exceeded 110,000 in 2022 with synthetic opioids involved in 76,000 of those deaths. To put this in perspective, the U.S. lost 58,220 people during the Vietnam War, meaning that fentanyl and similar drugs are now taking more American lives each year than that war did in more than a decade.

Fentanyl is up to 50 times more potent than heroin and, due to its low price, it is often used to lace other drugs, which makes it especially dangerous. According to the CDC’s latest data, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl were involved in two out of three overdose deaths last year.